Vodafone, TelstraClear keep top spots in TrueNet ISP tests

Webpage download speeds from TrueNet.co.nz. Lower is better.

TrueNet’s January report covering the last six months shows internet service providers have generally improved when it comes to webpage download speed.

Vodafone remained the Internet Service Provider (ISP) with the top ADSL performance, the report showed, with TelstraClear Cable still the best overall performer.

TelstraClear adjusted its ADSL performance, improving to second on the DSL rankings, which meant five ISPs downloaded TrueNet’s dummy webpage in less than 0.5 seconds, up from two when the organisation started reporting in August, it said.

TrueNet chief executive John Butt said the dummy webpage was about 0.5MB and was scaled to be equal to the top ten Hitwise pages in New Zealand.

He said the report showed there had been general improvement with ISPs in webpage download performance.

Throughput, or how long it took to download a file, by time of day showed Snap and Telecom were the only ISPs delivering performance better than 95% of their best at all times of the day.

Snap was the slowest ISP to load the dummy webpage but had a consistent file download speed performance throughout the day, TrueNet said.

“They are best at 6pm during peak usage hour, and at their slowest (97% of their best) at 3am when Internet usage is at its lowest ebb. This pattern is the opposite to most ISPs.”

Telecom had a good webpage performance and consistent file download speeds throughout the day, and was equal to Snap for overall time of day performance, TrueNet said.  Its off-peak/peak performance was typical of most other ISPs, with worst measurements occurring at 6pm, and slowest speed 96% of their best, TrueNet said.

The organisation said no other ISP delivered consistent file download performance better than 95% of their best average speed

Mr Butt said TrueNet used two techniques to test throughput.  One was to download a small file, about 300KB, and the peak speed was measured, removing the issue of ramp up, or how long it took to start downloading a file.  This was compared with downloading a larger, 5MB file and regular cross checks were performed to ensure similar results, he said.

The problem with through-put was that realistically ISPs could not change the best throughput, only as it varied throughout the day, he said.  Most connections were on ADSL he said and with this throughput was dependent on how far away from an exchange a user was.

“So we believe that webpage download is more important.”

Mr Butt said video download speed was something TrueNet was looking to target but this took development time and capacity, since TrueNet used a volunteer network, who allowed a certain amount of their data cap for the organisation to use for testing.

Throughput by time of day from TrueNet.co.nz