Test your broadband speed and data throughput

We have the fastest broadband network in Rutland and offer the highest ADSL2+ speeds in the UK using the latest DSLAM bonding technology. Here you can test certain features of your connection.

To check your broadband speed in Kb/s (kilobits per second) then visit www.speedtest.net
1Mb/s = 1000Kb/s i.e. 1 Megabit per second of speed = 1000 kilobits per second. However our fastest lines (up to 40Mb/s on VDSL and bonded EFM) are off the scale of this speedtest site! It also depends on other activity on your line.

What is the relationship between broadband speed and download file size rates?

A broadband speed of 1Mb/s will give 125KB/s throughput (Kilobytes).
Kilobytes (KB) is an amount of data.
1000KB = 1MB.
1000MB = 1GB

Rutland Telecom throughput tests (rate of download of data – not the same as speed of your line)

Firstly a file from a Microsoft server which allows fairly unlimited upload speed (so that you get a fast download speed) – but not at all times! You should see throughput approaching 1MB/s if your line is truly giving at least 8Mbps.
266MB exe file Windows Xp Service pack 2 from fast upload Microsoft server

And now try downloading a large file (600MB Ubuntu file) from a server on our network where there is no general internet contention. If you have a 20Mbps connection you should see something like 2.5MB/s i.e.12.5% of the line speed.

• On our 5Mb/s SDSL service (=5000Kb/s) you should see about 600KB/s (=0.6MB/s) file download rate whilst downloading the file above.
• On our residential 24Mbps service you should see up to 3000KB/s (3MB/s) depending on your line speed.
• On our 2Mbps service you should see up to 250KB/s (0.6MB/s).

The actual throughput is one eighth of the speed e.g. If you have 5Mbps speed (=5000Kbps), the download window will show a maximum of 625KB/s being downloaded. This means a speed of 5000 kilobits per second will see a download rate of 625 Kilobytes of data per second.

Remember the server you are downloading from may have limitations (its upload speed and the number of current connections could be limiting factors). So even thought your broadband speed has stayed constant, you will see different throughput rates even when downloading the same file. This has nothing to do with the speed of your line.

Upload speed
Rutland Telecom offers the UK’s fastest upload speeds via copper phone lines using bonding. Upload speeds are not made clear by the mass-market ISPs but are becoming increasingly important e.g. for YouTube video uploads. The best way to test upload data throughput is with an FTP client which will display the rate whilst the file is being uploaded. This will show the data throughput rate (KB/s = Kilobytes per second) – not the same as broadband speed. Upload speed (Kbps = Kilobits per second) can be tested on speedtest.net. Upload throughput achieved should be about 12.5% of upload speed unless the server you are uploading to has limitations in place.

Our single-line ADSL2+ service has a fairly constant upload speed of 0.6 to 0.8 Mbps depending on quality of copper.

Rural Broadband Speed/Quality results
Broadband speeds on our network in Rutland

VDSL2 speedtest 50m from street cabinet in Lyddington

Bonded ADSL2+ speedtest 450m from Uppingham exchange

Speed Tests (London 100 miles)
Average speed in Rutland : >18 Mbps
Average in Rutland for other ISPs: 4.2 Mbps
Average for UK ISPs: 8.61 Mbps*
See graph showing effect of distance on speed.
Data taken from speedtest.net. Data includes SDSL services limited to 5Mbps which lower the average but also VDSL up to 40Mbps and bonded ADSL2+ up to 48Mbps which increases it. The majority of connections are ADSL2+ single lines up to 24Mbps

ADSL2+ single line 1.2km from Oakham exchange

Ping Tests – quality of connection.

Pingtest on a line originally 5km from the exchange and now 2km from VDSL2 cabinet. The customer was previously unable to do online gaming or watch BBC iPlayer

Network stats:
Average packet loss: <1%
Average ping speed: <25ms
Average jitter: <2%
Line quality A – ideal for gaming
MOS 4.39 ideal for VoIP
Data from pingtest.net