This is just to funny
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/10/virgin_media_speed_checkers/Virgin Media believes it is being shafted by comparison sites offering ISP speed checks, and has called on them to improve their techniques ahead of the launch of its 50Mbit/s upgrade.
Switching sites are becoming an increasingly powerful force in the near-saturated broadband market. uSwitch recently said the tightening of household belts during the ongoing economic turmoil had prompted more internet users to change their ISP.
Virgin Media now says its lab tests show the web-based methods used by the comparison sites are often flawed, and that it will publish the results online. The firm is worried that mismeasurements of as much as 40 per cent will be further amplified once it boosts its top package from the current theoretical 20Mbit/s maximum download speed to 50Mbit/s next month.
Web-based speed testers typically work by timing how long it takes to download and upload a small file. Virgin Media charges that such a test only measures how long it takes for a file to get from one place in the internet to anothe, rather than actual throughput on a customer's line. The files transmitted are often too small to give an accurate picture too, it alleges.
So all of a sudden people are using the internet in ways that make Virgins speed seem slower, whilst they may want to grab the headlines with maximum theoretical speeds, whining about folks methods of testing that speed means we are obviously going to have to take Virgins claims with a pinch of salt as a benchmark is a benchmark. I,m sure other ISP's would like to change the assesment methodology when they too feel their speeds are slighly lacking, whats next, gold plated connectors ???
