Speed tests that measure latency

TL;DR

Measuring latency seems to be hard for speed tests. There is a lot of variation in the measurements.

Speed tests that measures latency relative accurate are:

  1. Cloudflare
  2. Fast
  3. Meter.net
  4. Ookla Speedtest
  5. Open Speed Test
  6. SamKnows RealSpeed
  7. SpeedOf.me
  8. SpeedSmart
 

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Method of measurement
  3. Speed tests to test
  4. The measurements
  5. Conclusions
 

Introduction

Some speed tests measure more than just the download speed. Beside download speed one of the network characteristics is latency.

Latency

SpeedGuide.net gives an excellent definition of latency.

Latency, or simply delay is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. Latency is often measured by sending a packet that is returned to the sender and the round-trip time (RTT) is considered the latency.

Latency is related to the distance between the designated points.

Hence, the expected latency can be calculated. Use tools such as:

View this list at ZOMDir.com

Note that in our study Does distance matter? we found a proportional relationship between measured latency and distance.

 

Method of measurement

For this test we visit the speed test and try to measure the latency (if possible).

 

Speed tests to test

Because this is a relative simple test, the unique speed tests as collected at ZOMDir will be tested.

Speed tests only

Note that we will not test specific online ping tools like:

View this list at ZOMDir.com

This because we test speed tests only.

 

The measurements

  1. Astound speedtest doesn't measure latency
  2. Bandwidth Place Ping 29, 20, 20, 21, 22 milliseconds, median 21 ms
  3. Bredbandskollen Response time 24.89, 24.07, 24.07, 24.30, 23.64 milliseconds, median 24.07 ms
  4. Broadband Speed Checker Ping 19, 21, 19, 21, 22 milliseconds, median 21 ms
  5. Cloudflare Unloaded latency 14.0, 14.0, 14.0, 13.0, 17.5 milliseconds, median 14.0 ms
  6. Comparitech Ping 178.85, 113.29, 147.53, 114.46, 112.33 milliseconds, median 114.46 ms
  7. Fast Unloaded latency 10, 17, 11, 14, 14 milliseconds, median 14 ms
  8. Fireprobe Ping 22, 22, 20, 20, 21 milliseconds, median 21 ms
  9. Google Fiber Ping 116, 114, 113, 113, 116 milliseconds, median 114 ms
  10. Internet Speed at a Glance Latency 118, 101, 87, 113, 89 milliseconds, median 101 ms
  11. LibreSpeed Ping 44.0, 46.0, 43.0, 45.0, 44.0 milliseconds, median 44.0 ms
  12. M-Lab Latency 7, 6, 10, 6, 10 milliseconds, median 7 ms
  13. Meter.net Ping 13, 13, 13, 13, 12 milliseconds, median 13 ms
  14. N Perf No results
  15. Ookla Speedtest Ping (Idle Latency) 14, 13, 13, 14, 13 milliseconds, median 13 ms
  16. Open Speed Test Ping 15, 15, 15, 14, 14 milliseconds, median 15 ms
  17. SamKnows RealSpeed Latency 11.2 (15.8), 11.3 (16.1), 11.2 (16.5), 11.1 (15.4), 11.0 (15.6) milliseconds, median 11.2 (15.8) ms
  18. SamKnows (original) Latency 24.0, 24.9, 22.2, 24.4, 21.4 milliseconds, median 24.0 ms
  19. SpeedCheck Latency 41.9, 30.4, 31, 30, 29.2 milliseconds, median 30.4 ms
  20. SpeedOf.me Latency 17, 16, 17, 17, 17 milliseconds, median 17 ms
  21. SpeedSmart Ping 16, 15, 17, 17, 16 milliseconds, median 16 ms
  22. Speedtest4.PHP doesn't measure latency
  23. TestMy.net Ping (to Google) 26.3, 25.8, 24.3, 26.1, 25 milliseconds, median 25.8 ms
  24. Toast doesn't measure latency
  25. Which Broadband Speed Test Latency/ping 24, 26, 24, 27, 27 milliseconds, median 26 ms
  26. Xfinity xFi Speed Test Latency 161, 158, 163, Error, 156, 159 milliseconds, median 159 ms
 

Conclusions

Of the speed tests tested

  1. 4 speed tests doesn't measure latency (or don't work at all)
  2. 1 speed test measures latency in the range of 6-10 milliseconds
  3. 8 speed tests measures latency in the range of 11-20 milliseconds
  4. 9 speed tests measures latency in the range of 21-50 milliseconds
  5. 0 speed tests measures latency in the range of 51-100 milliseconds
  6. 4 speed tests measures latency in the range of 101-200 milliseconds

When we perform a linux ping to google.com we measure an average latency of 15 milliseconds.

Hence these speed test measures latency best:

  1. Open Speed Test Median ping 15 ms
  2. Cloudflare Unloaded median latency 14.0 ms
  3. Fast Unloaded median latency 14 ms
  4. SpeedSmart Median ping 16 ms
  5. SamKnows RealSpeed Median latency 11.2 (15.8) ms
  6. Meter.net Median ping 13 ms
  7. Ookla Speedtest Median ping (Idle Latency) 13 ms
  8. SpeedOf.me Median latency 17 ms