Broadband Performance Tester.

Important Notes before you start.

• This test only works if you are on IPStream adsl or BTw WBC products
• Ensure you access the test from the same adsl connection as the one being tested, using your own phone number.
• Please make sure that you have the correct adsl log-in to hand before you start the test. This information should have been provided to you by your ISP and will be in the format uername@ispdomain. - eg. user@plusdsl.net . BT users should input their e-mail address.
  If you are unsure check the login details from your modem/router.
• Remember to be patient - particularly during the authentication stage.

Problems accessing the tester?

The speedtester does get very busy at peak times and can often give a "system busy" message.

I have been advised by BTw that there have recently been many users inadvertently "bogging down" the performance tester by attempting to use the tester when they are on datastream or LLU. If your adsl connection is provided by datastream or LLU then this test will not work. Several users have also attempted to test their line from say a work connection or dial-up to test their home line.

• If you are certain that you are on IPStream and you cant ever access the tester ensure that your router is set to VC Based or VCMux... and NOT LLC-Based.
• Try using Internet Explorer rather than Firefox or Opera.
  

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~ Starting the Performance Tester

To access the Performance tester ensure you use http://test.speedtester.bt.com

• Click the "Yes" radio button to confirm the instructions
• Enter your telephone number
• Click the "Go" button

You do not need to enter the Service ID but you must ensure you enter the correct phone number of the line you are testing from.

• A pop up box will ask you to confirm your telephone number. Click "OK".

The tester will now proceed to check the details on your line. This process may take a short while and you may have to wait a few minutes. A loading bar should show you the progress.

 
 
~ End User Domain Validation

You may be asked to validate your broadband connection details. This is the same information that you enter into your router and will follow the format username@ispdomain.
eg. user@plusdsl.net . BT users should input their e-mail address.
The domain name is not a mandatory field so you can just put in your ISP username into the first box.

 

 ~ Test in Progress

The type of tests performed at this stage depend upon which service you have.

• BT IPstream Max and WBC End User Access

The 1st stage involves advising you your configured download throughput speed. This is in relation to your IP profile and is an indication of the maximum speed you could expect to receive when performing a speedtest after allowing for overheads.

In this example you can see the progress bars showing the type of test being performed.

The majority of lines will be on Best Effort service, but some lines such as those which have BT Vision may have part of their service (say 500kb) classified as Assured Rate. In cases such as these users will see an additional QoS Service test performed.

• BT IPstream Fixed Rate Services

Users on a fixed rate service (including BT IPStream Max Capped Rate profiles) will be redirected straight to the BT speedtester application.

 
~ Results

Once the tests have been completed, the results will be displayed:

• BT IPstream Max and WBC End User Access

• BT IPStream Fixed rate services (inc BT IPStream Max capped rate profile)

 

 ~ Explanation of results

• Download Speed:- The actual averaged throughput speed recorded during the test.

• DSL Downstream connection rate:- The downstream rate at which your router is synchronised (connected) to the local exchange at. Your actual throughput speed will always be lower than this due to TCP/IP & ATM etc overheads.

• DSL Upstream connection rate:- The upstream rate at which your router is synchronised (connected) to the local exchange at. Your actual throughput speed will always be lower than this due to TCP/IP & ATM etc overheads.

• IP profile:- Your IP profile set on the BTw bRAS. This is an indication of what your maximum throughput (real time) speed should be.

• Best Effort Services (WBC):- There are 3 classes of best effort traffic, each given a different level of priority depending upon available bandwidth
       Priority (PBE)
       Normal (NBE)
       Sub (SBE)
  If the network was running under a full load Priority will receive 75% of available bandwidth, normal = 20% and sub = 5%. If traffic in a higher priority is not using all the designated bandwidth, then lower ranked services will also be able to utilise it.

• Assured Rate Test:- If your connection has an assured rate service (such as used for BT vision) then the tester will perform two separate tests on both QoS and Best Effort.

 

~ Additional Tests

If the performance tester detects a lower level of throughput speed than anticipated, the user will be offered additional testing.

• TAP2 - Speedtest using the ISP domain. To access this test the user must change the login on their router to bt_test_user@isp.net
• TAP3 - Speedtest which completely bypasses the ISP network. To access this test the user must chang the login on their router to speedtest@speedtest_domain

 

last updated Sep 09