Virgin leads speedtest way

As has been reported previously, speed tests can be no more than indicative in the main due to the many issues with the web based ones, including of the speed test that has just declared Virgin Media as the fastest broadband service in the UK.

The broadband.co.uk speedtest is based on Ookla, and when I ran their speedtest last time the results I got were:

"So your speedtest is based on Ookla's software like many others. It can be configured correctly - with a heck of a lot of work - for higher speeds (i.e. >16Mb), and needs to run on a platform with good capacity and connectivity.

A test of my 20Mb connection - which is confirmed as running at 20Mb from doing a proper speedtest (http://broadband-faq.brion.me.uk - item #2), yet your speedtest shows results at 15-20% lower than they actually are.

Which means that it's not a valid speedtest. Yet another one."

To their credit, the site bothered to comment on the result:

"Yes, it's based on Ookla, like the majority of speedtesters are.

We are hosted in Telehouse on 1Gb fibre network locally with multiple 1Gb fiber connections to a number of internet exchanges in London, connectivity wise. We run a 1Gb fibre private network for our internal traffic so it doesn't interfere with the public interfaces. So we are happy with that portion of our tests.

I take on board your second point regarding the download of multiple files, and I'd be really interested in any pointers on improving the setup regarding this. It's fair to say though that as all the tests are carried out against the same system we can use the tests to gauge relative performances between suppliers."

Which goes to confirm that they agree that the results are indicative and that the numbers themselves don't mean a lot.

Anyway, in this case they rate Virgin Media as the fastest (supposedly 6.13Mb) ahead of O2 (5.32Mb). The site's Edd Dawson says:

"The results show the fruits of Virgin's work to improve download speeds in recent months and we expect the results to improve further for Virgin as their 50Mbps service becomes more widely available over the coming months."

Given the undoubted technological superiority of cable over DSL (and other) technologies, Virgin Media should always come out top - perhaps the speedtests are improving to show this indicatively?