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The thing about speed tests causing a bad experience because they hog airtime felt like a non sequitur (since performing them is rare and manual) until I saw th

The thing about speed tests causing a bad experience because they hog airtime felt like a non sequitur (since performing them is rare and manual) until I saw this: > Many ISPs, device manufacturers, and consumers automate periodic, high-intensity speed tests that negatively impact the consumer internet experience as demonstrated But there’s no support for this claim presented frankly I am skeptical. What WiFi devices are regularly conducting speed tests without being asked?

jeffbee 1y ago
Google Nest access points do this, but they do it only when networks are idle, so I fail to see the negative consequences.
thewebguyd 1y ago
> What WiFi devices are regularly conducting speed tests without being asked? ISP provided routers, at least Xfinity does. I've gotten emails from them (before I ripped out their equipment and put my own in) "Great news, you're getting more than your plan's promised speeds" with speedtest results in the email, because they ran speed tests at like 3AM. I wouldn't be surprised if it's happening often across all the residential ISPs, most likely for marketing purposes.
- kjkjadksj 1y ago
  I have noticed Spectrum internet shits the bed at 12:30am pretty reliably.
  - typpilol 1y ago
    Really? My spectrum has been super reliable in Michigan. Way better than when I had Comcast here
- gm678 1y ago
  Pretty sure Verizon does this as well, when I had a tech come out he had access to historical speed test results from my router (I didn't ask any questions about it at the time so don't have any more info).
- lxgr 1y ago
  That would be a speedtest between the router/modem and CMTS then, not one between a Wi-Fi connected device and the ISP, no?
esseph 1y ago
Ubiquiti UniFi used to, I don't know if it still does.
- pbronez 1y ago
  It’s configurable
- nativeit 1y ago
  At least in my UniFi instance, this is only done when manually triggered, but I seem to recall a setting where it could be automatically updated daily.
joshstrange 1y ago
Eero does this automatically (mine says it was last run 2 days ago at 5:08am) and I had software on my DD-WRT router (OpenLede) that did it, though obviously not many people (overall) are running that. I used to run a docker than ran a speed test every hour and graphed the results but I haven't done that in a while now.
- Marsymars 1y ago
  Eero I think just tests internet speed from the gateway, so no Wi-Fi involved.
dlcarrier 1y ago
DOCSIS cable modems perform perform regularly scheduled tests, but it's only between devices, and shouldn't affect available bandwidth, because there's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than between the network and the Internet.
- lxgr 1y ago
  > there's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than between the network and the Internet. Really? DOCSIS has been the bottleneck out of Wi-Fi, DOCSIS, and wider Internet every time I've had the misfortune of having to use it in an apartment. Especially the tiny uplink frequency slice of DOCSIS 3 and below is pathetic.
  - dlcarrier 1y ago
    That's a bottleneck getting data out of the DOCSIS network, into your home network. There's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than can enter and exit it, which is why running communication tests between DOCSIS devices has no effect on the the usefulness of the network. Fun fact: The current workaround to the slowness of DOCSIS modems is to put more modems in your modem and trunk then together, so you can get gigabit speeds with 100+ megabit upstream, by simply having a half dozen or more concurrent connections.
    - lxgr 1y ago
      > That's a bottleneck getting data out of the DOCSIS network, into your home network. […] There's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than can enter and exit it […] What does that even mean? DOCSIS is a point-to-multipoint network of one CMTS and several modems. All traffic happens between modems and the CMTS. Where would the purported “far more bandwidth” be hiding? > The current workaround to the slowness of DOCSIS modems is to put more modems in your modem How does that help at all with the peak capacity of a given physical network segment? That’s like saying “the key to increasing the total capacity of a road is to add more cars to utilize all lanes”. If you use all physical uplink bandwidth of DOCSIS yourself by hypothetically “using more modems”, nobody else on that segment gets anything.
toast0 1y ago
I think Roku devices might. There's a network speed indicator in the settings and I think it had values before I explicitly ran a test. My Rokus are all wired, because I'm civilized, and the test interval is very short, so that ends my investigation.

jeffbee 1y ago

Google Nest access points do this, but they do it only when networks are idle, so I fail to see the negative consequences.

thewebguyd 1y ago

> What WiFi devices are regularly conducting speed tests without being asked? ISP provided routers, at least Xfinity does. I've gotten emails from them (before I ripped out their equipment and put my own in) "Great news, you're getting more than your plan's promised speeds" with speedtest results in the email, because they ran speed tests at like 3AM. I wouldn't be surprised if it's happening often across all the residential ISPs, most likely for marketing purposes.

kjkjadksj 1y ago
I have noticed Spectrum internet shits the bed at 12:30am pretty reliably.
- typpilol 1y ago
  Really? My spectrum has been super reliable in Michigan. Way better than when I had Comcast here
gm678 1y ago
Pretty sure Verizon does this as well, when I had a tech come out he had access to historical speed test results from my router (I didn't ask any questions about it at the time so don't have any more info).
lxgr 1y ago
That would be a speedtest between the router/modem and CMTS then, not one between a Wi-Fi connected device and the ISP, no?

esseph 1y ago

Ubiquiti UniFi used to, I don't know if it still does.

pbronez 1y ago
It’s configurable
nativeit 1y ago
At least in my UniFi instance, this is only done when manually triggered, but I seem to recall a setting where it could be automatically updated daily.

joshstrange 1y ago

Eero does this automatically (mine says it was last run 2 days ago at 5:08am) and I had software on my DD-WRT router (OpenLede) that did it, though obviously not many people (overall) are running that. I used to run a docker than ran a speed test every hour and graphed the results but I haven't done that in a while now.

Marsymars 1y ago
Eero I think just tests internet speed from the gateway, so no Wi-Fi involved.

dlcarrier 1y ago

DOCSIS cable modems perform perform regularly scheduled tests, but it's only between devices, and shouldn't affect available bandwidth, because there's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than between the network and the Internet.

lxgr 1y ago
> there's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than between the network and the Internet. Really? DOCSIS has been the bottleneck out of Wi-Fi, DOCSIS, and wider Internet every time I've had the misfortune of having to use it in an apartment. Especially the tiny uplink frequency slice of DOCSIS 3 and below is pathetic.
- dlcarrier 1y ago
  That's a bottleneck getting data out of the DOCSIS network, into your home network. There's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than can enter and exit it, which is why running communication tests between DOCSIS devices has no effect on the the usefulness of the network. Fun fact: The current workaround to the slowness of DOCSIS modems is to put more modems in your modem and trunk then together, so you can get gigabit speeds with 100+ megabit upstream, by simply having a half dozen or more concurrent connections.
  - lxgr 1y ago
    > That's a bottleneck getting data out of the DOCSIS network, into your home network. […] There's far more bandwidth within the DOCSIS network than can enter and exit it […] What does that even mean? DOCSIS is a point-to-multipoint network of one CMTS and several modems. All traffic happens between modems and the CMTS. Where would the purported “far more bandwidth” be hiding? > The current workaround to the slowness of DOCSIS modems is to put more modems in your modem How does that help at all with the peak capacity of a given physical network segment? That’s like saying “the key to increasing the total capacity of a road is to add more cars to utilize all lanes”. If you use all physical uplink bandwidth of DOCSIS yourself by hypothetically “using more modems”, nobody else on that segment gets anything.

toast0 1y ago

I think Roku devices might. There's a network speed indicator in the settings and I think it had values before I explicitly ran a test. My Rokus are all wired, because I'm civilized, and the test interval is very short, so that ends my investigation.