Verizon FIOS speedtest -- not happy with results

I have run the speedtest multiple times...both using the verizon tool (http://my.verizon.com/micro/speedtest/broadband/) and speedtest.net. Results are always in the range of 5.0 to 8.0 Mbps I upgraded to the 35/35 data plan. Why should the results be so far off from the plan I am paying for?

I am running a Mac OS X Version 10.6.7. I have rebooted. My computer is clean and running well with no issues. I am sitting right next to the Verizon supplied router when running the tests.

Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions?

Much appreciated

Accepted answers

Anti-Phish1

@shocklizzard wrote:
I was actually set to wireless channel number 4. I switched to 6, because 1 and 11 were taken.
Each channel is 5Mhz wide, but 802.11g uses 20Mhz (4 channels), which is why you want to be 5 channels away from others.
Since you were using channel 4, you were overlapping channel 3 and half of channel 2, while your neighbor on channel 1 was overlapping channel 2 and half of channel 3.
Here's a good FAQ on the subject:
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/14250

All comments

cbwoodstock91

Dear shocklizzard,

The question is how acurate are the online speed tests? don't feel bad

you will find many online speed test , however i would like to share the following information with you

The way speedtest(any site) works or what does the ADSL speed test measures?

The ADSL speed test provides results taking as reference data download speed in the user PC or MAC, since the latter receives more information that it is sent when surfing the internet. Technically, the possibilities gathered by the ADSL speed test are measured by the elapsed time when the user starts downloading a file (TC=getTime), and when it finishes downloading, taking into account the size -in bytes- of the package sent. ADSL speed is measured by the quotient resulting from the time and the size of the package sent. For the test to measure the data properly, it will be necessary that the PC in which is performed the test is only using nothing other than a web browser with internet connection. Moreover, it is recommended to close all tabs and web browsers containing other websites. It's always advisable to perform the test with the highest amount of available resources, essential when tested in a LAN with other PCs using broadband.

My friend has fios service 20/5 and he checked his service speed in different sites, you can try too. I leave you

some sites if you want to compare

speedtest.verizon.net

19.94/4.479

speedtest.net (Tampa server)

20.49/4.2

speakeasy.net/speedtest (Atlanta server)

20.4/4.4

Let me know what happened

your friend charly brown

somegirl

@shocklizzard wrote:
I have run the speedtest multiple times...both using the verizon tool (http://my.verizon.com/micro/speedtest/broadband/) and speedtest.net. Results are always in the range of 5.0 to 8.0 Mbps I upgraded to the 35/35 data plan. Why should the results be so far off from the plan I am paying for?
I am running a Mac OS X Version 10.6.7. I have rebooted. My computer is clean and running well with no issues. I am sitting right next to the Verizon supplied router when running the tests.
Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions?
Much appreciated

Based on your statement about proximity, I'm guessing you are running these test while connected wirelessly. For an accurate test, you need to be hardwired to the router. Once you run that test, you can figure out whether you are having trouble with the connection from Verizon or your wireless network. Where to begin troubleshooting depends on that answer.

jmw1950

Several points:

As others have pointed out, wireless is NOT a good way to run a speed test. To many variables involved, and under the best of conditions, it is unlikely that 802.11g could provide reliable 35mbps performance,

35mbps service requires much more buffering for full performance than most systems have as a default. On PC's Verizon offers the high speed internet optimizer. Vista and Windows 7 dynamically adjust the buffers based upon usage. I don't know how to tweak the buffering scheme on a Mac, but you need to make sure it is large enough.

The other thing you may be able to do is run a speed test that actually provides some information about where the bottlenecks actually are. I don't know if http://ndt.anl.gov will work on a Mac or not. It is a Java application, so it may, but if you run it, in the additional information tab, and the statistics tab is information about the buffering, network congestion, and what portion of the time your performance is sender versus network limited. That should provide you with some some clues about what the issues are.

Generally with FiOS what is advertised, is what you get. FiOS is not sensitive to distance from the Central Office (CO), weather, quality of the copper pair from the CO etc. I have FiOS 20/5 and it routinely tests at 19.5/5.8.

stevegeller1@gmail.com

Well that was some great advice I received. When I connect directly to my router via cable, the results from the various speed tests are excellent. They are ~40 Mbps Upload by ~20 Mbps Download. Since I am never connected directly to the router and rely completely on wifi in my house, I checked my speeds again. I found that my speeds increased dramatically when I turned off the baby monitor I have for my daughter. Additionally, I closed all other applications and safari windows on my Mac. I also turned off my wireless printer and the wifi on my phone. Even after taking all of those steps and testing once again over the wifi on my Mac, I am getting results of ~ 15 Mbps Upload by ~18 Mbps Download. Is there an issue with my wireless network as to why the Upload speed is almost of third of what it is when connected directly to router?

Anti-Phish1

cbwoodstock91 wrote:

The question is how acurate are the online speed tests?

Verizon's speedtest sites are very accurate because they are totally within Verizon's network. They are the only sites that support will consider if a user thinks there is a problem with his speed. Verizon has no control over routing or latency on other networks.

cbwoodstock91 wrote:

i would like to share the following information with you

The OP is looking for some help with his problem and not for you to cut and paste some text from another site about what a speed test is. I'm pretty sure the OP knows what a speed test is..

Anti-Phish1

@shocklizzard wrote:
I checked my speeds again. I found that my speeds increased dramatically when I turned off the baby monitor I have for my daughter. Additionally, I closed all other applications and safari windows on my Mac. I also turned off my wireless printer and the wifi on my phone. Even after taking all of those steps and testing once again over the wifi on my Mac, I am getting results of ~ 15 Mbps Upload by ~18 Mbps Download. Is there an issue with my wireless network as to why the Upload speed is almost of third of what it is when connected directly to router?
18/15 is a little low, but not untypical for an 802.11g connection. As others have said, there are many factors that influence wireless speed. A baby monitor and cordless phones can operate in the 2.4 Ghz band used by 802.11g.
One thing that you should certainly try is to go into the router and try changing the wireless channel. The router defaults to automatic channel selection, which is not always the wisest choice. Try setting channels 1, 6 and 11 and see which one gives you the best results. You could have a neighbor on the same channel. A wireless channel is shared with all devices on that channel, even a neighbors.

stevegeller1@gmail.com

My cordless phone uses DECT, but yes the baby monitor is in the 2.4 Ghz band.

Yes I had previously changed the wireless channel from the default to one that is not used in my neighborhood. That was something I was aware of but any other suggestions are appreciated.

Hubrisnxs

If you haven't tried all the channels 1,6 &11 then I would highly recommend it. I can't tell from your post if you did all three. I usually find that one of those three work like magic where the others are marginal

stevegeller1@gmail.com

It's been a couple of years since I did the wireless channel changes so I don't remember but I will certainly

spacedebris

Actually 18/15 is actually fairly typical on a wireless g connection. You are not likely going to improve much on that. Not with the Verizon G router anyway.

Anyone paying for anything above the 20/5 package with Verizon and using exclusively Wireless are generally overpaying as most wireless connections are not capable of those speeds. If you really want to increase the speeds, you really need to take a look at maybe switch to N wireless. Assuming that your mac is an "N" ready device, what you would want to do is get yourself a "N" Wireless Access Point (WAP) and add that to your Verizon router. One small side note, if you have any wireless devices that are not "N" systems you will need a "dual band" WAP so your "G" devices dont bring your whole network down to the "G" speeds defeating the purpose of doing the upgrade. Once you have an "N" WAP then you should be able to get speeds up closer to the 35 that you are paying for. But remember, that with wireless, nothing you do will ever make it as stable or as fast as a wired connection. All you can do is make the best of it.

stevegeller1@gmail.com

I was actually set to wireless channel number 4. I switched to 6, because 1 and 11 were taken. It looks like Im getting better results now....in the neighborhood of 25/25. The only caveat is that my wireless range extender isn't connected due to the channel change.

Thanks for all the help. I'm pleased with the results now... as long as Im relatively near the router that is. Once Im upstairs of my house, speeds of course drop off quite a bit.

Anti-Phish1

@shocklizzard wrote:
I was actually set to wireless channel number 4. I switched to 6, because 1 and 11 were taken.
Each channel is 5Mhz wide, but 802.11g uses 20Mhz (4 channels), which is why you want to be 5 channels away from others.
Since you were using channel 4, you were overlapping channel 3 and half of channel 2, while your neighbor on channel 1 was overlapping channel 2 and half of channel 3.
Here's a good FAQ on the subject:
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/14250

stevegeller1@gmail.com

That's interesting...I never knew that. Thx for sharing.

Jbarrow11

I am unable to use Verizon's spped check

I have tried 4 times but will not connect and zero information

I am running XP-64 bit...Perhaps that is the problem

vthiji10

this is my speed test result Download Speed:1.09Mbps Upload Speed:0.87Mbps and http://www.scanmyspeed.com/ predicted my above Speed Test Result..

MAYBESOMEDAY

TRY http://speedtest.verizon.com/fios300/ ITS THE NEW SPEEDTEST FOR HIGHER SPEED USERS. I HAVE 35/35 AND ITS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE GOT WHAT I PAID FOR. I GOT A NEW ROUTER AND I HAD TO REPLACE MY ETHERNET BOARD WHICH CAME WITH A NEW WINDOWS 7 OR ABOVE DRIVER. THAT DID THE TRICK. WHAT I THINK VERIZON SHOULD DO IS STEP EVERYONE UP TO 50/50 FOR THE SAME PRICE AS 35/35 !! ITS VERY EXPENSE TOO ME, I HAVE FIOS AND TELEPHONE, AND I PAY $101.32 WITH TAX. THAT'S ALOT OF MONEY FOR SOME ONE WHO USES IT NOW AND THEN!! BUT WHEN I DO, I WANT SOME SPEED JUST LIKE THE NEXT GUY !

I DON'T LIKE THE SIGNING IN PROCESS OF THIS SITE EITHER, AND THE BILLING DEPT OF VERIZON HAS NO CLUE WHAT IS GOING ON AT ALL, NONE! MAKE A CHANGE, AND ITS MONTHS BEFORE THE BILL IS RIGHT, IF EVER! VERIZON EVEN SHUT ME OFF 3DAYS AFTER I PAID MY BILL EARLY ONE MONTH!! HOWS THAT FOR SERVICE??

++THE BEST THING ABOUT THE SERVICE IS NO DOWN TIME AND GREAT TECH SUPPORT.

I DID HAVE AN APPOINTMENT FOR A TECH TO COME OUT, HE NEVER SHOWED UP, NO ONE EVER CALLED ME, I DIDN'T COMPLAIN, AND WHO KNOWS WHERE THE TECH WAS THAT DAY?? VERIZON DIDN'T ! SO MUCH FOR THAT TICKET!