Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
dougj
Member
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:00 am
Location: Provo, UT, USA

Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#1

Post by dougj »

It appears that the speed test via the firewall tools in tm.lds.org are not accurate. After applying the most recent cisco firewall update, the speed test did not show an improved speed. Google fiber tech support had me try a different test site and the actual results were significantly improved.

I ran tests both bypassing the cisco firewall and going thru the cisco firewall, wired and wifi. In every case, the lds speed test was in the 20Mbps range while the non-lds speed tests were upwards of 50-90 Mbps (thru the cisco firewall) and over 500 Mbps when bypassing the cisco firewall.

(We have google fiber in our buildings. Wish we had the newer firewalls so we could take more advantage of the available bandwidth.)

So, I guess this is a little birdie asking if the lds speed test can be updated to allow for accurate test results at higher speeds. Having those accurate results would have saved me a call to google.

Thank you.
Attachments
Google_SpeedTest_Results_wifi_thru_cisco_router.png
(136.22 KiB) Downloaded 2009 times
LDS_vs_Google_SpeedTest_Results_bypass_cisco_router.png
(225.05 KiB) Downloaded 2009 times
User avatar
Mikerowaved
Community Moderators
Posts: 4734
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:56 am
Location: Layton, UT

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#2

Post by Mikerowaved »

I noticed long ago that the LDS speedtest server was in itself too bandwidth starved to show accurate results for anything other than a moderate DSL connection.

speedtest.net is pretty much the gold standard nowadays. With it I consistently get high 900's on a 1000Mbps line, while speedtest.lds.org doesn't even show 30Mpbs.
So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#3

Post by russellhltn »

LDS speedtest is still useful in assuring that there are no bottlenecks between you and the church servers. People like to think of "the internet" as some big magical cloud, but the reality is that it's a network of connections - and from time to time traffic does have difficulty getting from "here" to "there" even if it's OK with getting everywhere else.

I'm not sure as you'd get more than 20MB bandwidth from any church server anyway. I don't expect to see conference in 4K UHD anytime soon.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
User avatar
Mikerowaved
Community Moderators
Posts: 4734
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:56 am
Location: Layton, UT

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#4

Post by Mikerowaved »

russellhltn wrote:LDS speedtest is still useful in assuring that there are no bottlenecks between you and the church servers.
I don't agree. Say you're with an ISP like Comcast and they provide your building with a 35Mbps DL speed. One day you decide use the link in TM that takes you to speedtest.lds.org only to make the horrible discovery you're only getting 20Mbps. Everywhere else, you show 35Mbps EXCEPT to the church's servers. This may [falsely] lead you to believe there IS a bottleneck somewhere between your building and CHQ that needed to be addressed.
russellhltn wrote:I'm not sure as you'd get more than 20MB bandwidth from any church server anyway. I don't expect to see conference in 4K UHD anytime soon.
The church certainly has FAR more BW than 20Mb - it would be ridiculous to think otherwise. Personally, I don't think it's a raw BW issue, but rather the positioning of the server that handles the speedtest traffic. It's most likely throttled behind layers of firewalls and switches, or it's possibly even a VM running in some data center.

I'm not asking for gigabit results, but (IMO) it SHOULD be able to handle at least the BW that our meetinghouse firewalls can, which is now approaching 100Mbps throughput with the new 881W configuration.

(BTW, even without 4K video, the church still has to lease additional BW and server capacity every 6 months when conference rolls around to meet the high demand of streaming ten of thousands of simultaneous video feeds, but that's a topic for a different thread.)
So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#5

Post by russellhltn »

Mikerowaved wrote:Say you're with an ISP like Comcast and they provide your building with a 35Mbps DL speed. One day you decide use the link in TM that takes you to speedtest.lds.org only to make the horrible discovery you're only getting 20Mbps. Everywhere else, you show 35Mbps EXCEPT to the church's servers. This may [falsely] lead you to believe there IS a bottleneck somewhere between your building and CHQ that needed to be addressed.
That's an education issue. If you're getting 20, that's normal. If you're getting significantly less than that, then you've got a problem.

Mikerowaved wrote:The church certainly has FAR more BW than 20Mb - it would be ridiculous to think otherwise. Personally, I don't think it's a raw BW issue, but rather the positioning of the server that handles the speedtest traffic. It's most likely throttled behind layers of firewalls and switches, or it's possibly even a VM running in some data center.
I didn't say it was the church's BW. And if the other servers are behind those same layers, then I'd want the speed test behind the same layers as a test that I'm not being excessively throttled.

Mikerowaved wrote:I'm not asking for gigabit results, but (IMO) it SHOULD be able to handle at least the BW that our meetinghouse firewalls can, which is now approaching 100Mbps throughput with the new 881W configuration.
Why? What is going on in a meetinghouse that needs more than 20Mbps from church servers? Frankly I doubt if the church servers can support 20Mbps per meetinghouse on the same meeting time block.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
User avatar
Mikerowaved
Community Moderators
Posts: 4734
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:56 am
Location: Layton, UT

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#6

Post by Mikerowaved »

russellhltn wrote:That's an education issue. If you're getting 20, that's normal. If you're getting significantly less than that, then you've got a problem.
You're missing my point. Where does the education come from? How is an STS supposed to KNOW that 20Mbps is "normal" and that he doesn't have a problem that needs to be addressed?? There is nothing out there that indicates the server has a BW limitation in anything I've read or seen, including TM or the speedtest.lds.org website itself.
So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#7

Post by russellhltn »

Mikerowaved wrote:Where does the education come from? How is an STS supposed to KNOW that 20Mbps is "normal" and that he doesn't have a problem that needs to be addressed?? There is nothing out there that indicates the server has a BW limitation in anything I've read or seen, including TM or the speedtest.lds.org website itself.
Ah. It's getting better, but training has always seemed to me to be a chronic issue. Fortunately, this seems like it should be an easy and cheap fix if the text on the website is updated.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
dougj
Member
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:00 am
Location: Provo, UT, USA

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#8

Post by dougj »

The point is that I just upgraded the Cisco 881 firewall which was supposed to take the speed from 35ish Mbps to upwards of 80Mbps. We have a 1Gbps google fiber connection. I should have seen that increase but was mislead by the slow lds speed test. I then went through various troubleshooting steps that could have been avoided had the lds speed test been accurate. I'd like to use the lds speed test since it's readily available on tm.lds.org but I need to trust it.

May I humbly request that it be configured so we can trust it. Thank you.
CleggGP
Church Employee
Church Employee
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:55 pm

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#9

Post by CleggGP »

The "Internet Speed Test" tool in TM links to speedtest.lds.org, which may measure up/download speeds from the meetinghouse to/from lds.org. This may be useful for measuring transmission speeds for webcasts from that source. As suggested, use a different Internet speed test tool for testing local ISP throughput.
User avatar
Mikerowaved
Community Moderators
Posts: 4734
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:56 am
Location: Layton, UT

Re: Speedtest via tm.lds.org firewall

#10

Post by Mikerowaved »

CleggGP wrote:The "Internet Speed Test" tool in TM links to speedtest.lds.org, which may measure up/download speeds from the meetinghouse to/from lds.org. This may be useful for measuring transmission speeds for webcasts from that source.
I think a single sentence on their website stating the limitations would clear up 99% of the confusion and concerns that many STS's go through (including myself) when they first see the slower than expected results.
So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
Post Reply

Return to “Meetinghouse Internet”