[Hidden-tech] Reliable, accurate, meaningful Internet speed test?

[Robert Heller]

Is there such a thing as a reliable, accurate, or meaningful Internet speed 
test? 

We are having some weirdness with trying to figure out just what speed our 
Internet connection *really* is.  Our provider is supposed to be giving us 
20Mbits down and 20Mbits up.  It does not seem to be that and when we run 
speed tests we get 'weird' results.

Speakeasy using the *Dallas, TX* server says we are getting 12.37 down, and
18.93 up, but their *New York, NY* server says something completely different,
4.70 down and 18.93 up. What does that mean, really? Why is it faster using
the rather distant Dallas server vs. the fairly close NYC server? Is
Speakeasy's NYC server a '486? Or what? Or is there something randomly screwy
with Speakeasy Flash code?

DSLReports speed test is much better, reporting 16.16/17.7 megabit/second -- 
not too bad.  

Speedof.me's HTML5 speed test reports somewhere about 5MBits down / 20Mbits 
up.  As does speedtest_cli's Python program.  Speedof.me gives no choice of 
server.  Choosing different servers with speedtest_cli makes little or no 
difference.

Note: all of the above are from the same *hardwired* machine at about the same 
time on a generally quiet network.

Is there anything like a truely reliable and generally accurate Internet speed 
test out there?  (No I am not looking for a dead accurate speed test, just 
something with reasonable, repeatable *reliable* and *consistent* results.  
Results that make some kind of sense.

-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software        -- Custom Software Services
http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Linux Administration Services
heller at deepsoft.com       -- Webhosting Services