While this is not a perfect solution by itself, it is one that can be practically implemented and used to gather reliable data. There are several approaches to gathering this speed test data, but the most common is deploying a browser-based speed test survey that relies on the users completing the tests on their own. When designed correctly, locally deployed speed test surveys can address many of these limitations. In order to address the limitations of the public datasets, many governmental entities and third-parties are launching their own speed test surveys to collect more local and complete datasets. This makes it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from a single speed test. Longitudinal data is harder to come by – Network performance measurements reflect a snapshot in time that may not accurately represent the typical performance of that connection.Unknown reason for performing test – Speed tests are initiated for a wide range of reasons, including testing out a new service connection or device, troubleshooting poor performance, assessing the performance of WiFi in different locations throughout the home, etc.

Were there other bandwidth consuming processes running on the device?.

Was there crosstalk from other devices or users?.

Which devices are utilized for the test?.

What is the technology type of service?.

Service subscribed to by the participant.

If an anchor institution, identify whether it currently subscribes to mass-market retail broadband services.

Type of Location – Is it a business, residence, anchor institution,?.

Lack of metadata and contextual data – The data included in the public datasets does not include information that is necessary to fully understand the results, such as:.

While there are public datasets available from Measurement Lab and Ookla, there are several well-documented limitations to this data, including:

Additional methodologies can be considered, although further vetting should be undertaken before relying on data from other methodologies to form conclusions and inform decisions. To get the most robust dataset, we recommend developing and deploying measurement tools that are extensible to include multiple methodologies.Īt a minimum, we recommend using tools that collect data using a variety of methodologies, including those used by NDT7 and Speedtest methodology. There are key differences between NDT7 and Speedtest by Ookla, each of which provides valid and valuable insight into the network performance. While there many of these tests available, the two most commonly utilized methodologies are: There are various differences in the methodologies used by different network performance testing tools.

Is speedtest by ookla reliable