Yes speedtest.net license a white label version where the ISP can
apply the branding for example Xfinity/Comcast test is just speedtest.net
in a new dress.

As you mentioned ISPs like it because they don't have to pay for as much
bandwidth and locating it in their noc can avoid "testing" a lot
of other things. Things both in their control, and out of their control.

Also externally hosted tests did themselves no favours by
being single stream so were quickly crippled by only running as fast
as the TCP send/receive maximum window sizes let them for the
latency, but speedtest was (on the quiet!) loads of parallel streams.
I've learned that customers want to believe the fastest result they can
possibly get.

In fact a super successful speed test would ask the user how
fast their line is supposed to be, then it would display some nifty
graphics for a while and then display that speed back, plus 3% extra :)


On Fri, Aug 14, 2015 at 6:28 PM, Richard Mortimer <richm@oldelvet.org.uk>
wrote:

>
>
> On 14/08/2015 08:30, jb wrote:
> > hey, Leo is a good guy :)
> >
> > If someone was to explain to him bufferbloat he'd probably find a way to
> > include something on it in a future show.
>
> Leo did mention bufferbloat towards the end of that segment around 1:51
> when he was explaining the dslr results screen. But it would have been
> nice if that had been mentioned to the caller direct.
>
> I have also heard Leo and Steve talk about bufferbloat on Security Now
> occasionally. A quick search shows that they devoted a whole episode to
> it in March 2012
> https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-345.htm
> https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-359.htm
>
> Just one thing to note about the ISPs preference for speedtest.net. My
> ISP here in the UK use what is I think a co-located (rebadged)
> speedtest.net server in their data centres. I think that doing it that
> way means they are testing from their core network to me and can
> discount any wider internet issues outside of their control. They also
> get to see the results direct from the server so they do not need to
> "trust" my version of the results.
>
> I had a problem a few months back and they told me to test there instead
> of at dslr. However their license key for the speedtest server had
> expired and it gave me a nice error screen revealing a lot of the setup
> behind the curtains that revealed it was powered by speedtest.
>
> Regards
>
> Richard
>
>
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 2:36 AM, Dave Taht <dave.taht@gmail.com
> > <mailto:dave.taht@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     but missed talking about it. Peaking at 600ms of delay at 100mbit,
> >     shown at about 1:45.
> >
> >     see vlog at:
> >
> >     https://www.twit.tv/shows/the-tech-guy/episodes/1204?autostart=false
> >
> >     and spends 5k a month on his internet access.
> >
> >     --
> >     Dave Täht
> >     worldwide bufferbloat report:
> >     http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/results/bufferbloat
> >     And:
> >     What will it take to vastly improve wifi for everyone?
> >     https://plus.google.com/u/0/explore/makewififast
> >     _______________________________________________
> >     Bloat mailing list
> >     Bloat@lists.bufferbloat.net <mailto:Bloat@lists.bufferbloat.net>
> >     https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/bloat
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Bloat mailing list
> > Bloat@lists.bufferbloat.net
> > https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/bloat
> >
>