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Speedtest by ookla for pc11/23/2023 A normal globe-means-internet or a router icon would be preferred, as it caused me some confusion as to which network interface was being used for testing. Uses Wi-Fi signal icon for networking, even though I tested with Ethernet. Both apps defer the decision as to what network interface to use for testing to Windows, but Ookla confuses the issue with a poor icon choice. This is a bit confusing when you’re testing with a device with both a wired Ethernet connected as well as a wireless Wi-Fi connection as there’s no way to determine what network interface is used. OST uses the regular Wi-Fi signal icon to represent networking throughout the app. Ookla Speedtest is almost the same, but chooses to fill the whole screen with the three most recent results instead. The Microsoft Network Speed Test app lists previous tests in a plain table and don’t utilize available screen space all that well. There isn’t much else to these apps except for the networking speed tests except that both apps keep histories of your previous test results. Microsoft designed an app for the United States market - where bandwidth is expensive and speeds are slow - and Ookla designed an app for the international market where speeds often exceed 50 MBps. This is probably the result of different design cultures. I also find it telling that the “speedometer” user interface for Microsoft Network Speed Test app only goes up to 50 MBps whereas Speedtest by Ookla can measure up to 500 MBps before the needle surpasses the maximum value. The app has been updated four times in the Windows Store since the first time I alerted them about their incompetence the issue. I’ve contacted Microsoft about the issue two times, first in September 2015 through multiple channels but haven’t receive any sort of acknowledgment of the issue. Ookla’s app doesn’t have any such problems. This makes the test results from Microsoft’s app entirely untrustworthy as you’re never sure what you’re testing against. Quite a few ISPs still runs web caches to speed up networking for their customers (and save on costs if bandwidth is expensive in the area.) This may cause issues for anyone testing their network speeds behind a web cache/accelerator or other caching appliance, or who is running a web accelerator software on their computers. The 2,5 GBps speed is maxing out what my local network can perform rather than the external network which is usually what you want these types of services to reliably test. The result I get are between my local Windows PC and my local Squid web cache server over fiber optic cable and 10 gigabit network cards. Since the test downloads don’t specify any caching headers, caches will just store these by default. Files hosted on this platform aren’t assigned any caching policies out of the box, and Microsoft’s team working on the Network Speed Test app didn’t configure any caching headers for their test “ blobs”/files. So, what is going on here? After some digging, I found out that Microsoft tests download speeds against Azure Storage Blobs, part of Microsoft Azure “cloud offerings”. Microsoft Network Speed Test inexplicably measures 2,6 GBps. Ookla Speedtest measures my download speed at 160 MBps, which is slightly above the expected 150 MBps my ISP promises. When I run speed tests with the two apps, I get quite different results. Azure has no local presence in Africa, Russia, and only one in South America. That is still 34 regions around the world, but you’re limited to testing against only one. Microsoft Network Speed Test ( MNST) can only test against the geographically closest Microsoft Azure data center. Through partnerships with large web hosting providers and internet service providers ( ISP), Ookla can not only tell you how fast your internet connection is to servers in your region but anywhere in the world with over 6000 test servers to choose from. Ookla Speedtest ( OST) has a wide network of servers you can test your network speed against scattered all across the world. Which is the better network speed testing app for Windows: Microsoft Network Speed Test or Ookla Speedtest? One wins by default as the other is entirely incompetent and created without much knowledge of decades old technologies!
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