Why Speedtest is NOT the Ultimate Troubleshooting Tool 🚫⚡

Everyone and their dog 🐶 has run a Speedtest at some point. “Hey, my Internet is slow, let me check Speedtest!” But here’s the cold, hard truth—Speedtest, especially the Ookla-hosted ones, is often a terrible way to measure real-world performance.

Yes, you heard me. Your favourite Speedtest might be lying to you. 👀

Let’s break down why Speedtest is not the holy grail of troubleshooting and what you should be using instead.

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🎭 The Problem with Ookla Speedtest

Most people just fire up speedtest.net, hit “Go,” and think they’re getting the full picture. Nope. Here’s why:

1️⃣ ISP-Hosted Servers are a Conflict of Interest

ISPs self-host their own Speedtest servers. This means when you run a Speedtest, there’s a good chance you’re not actually testing your real-world Internet performance—you’re just testing how fast you can talk to your ISP’s own equipment. 🤦

🔴 What’s wrong with this?

• The test never leaves the ISP’s network, so congestion, routing issues, and peering problems are completely ignored.

• ISPs often prioritise traffic to their own Speedtest servers, meaning you might get better speeds than in real-world use.

• Many of these servers are hosted on dodgy, old hardware, meaning the results are wildly inconsistent.

Think of it like running a 100m race on a treadmill in a controlled room—sure, you might be fast, but can you sprint in a thunderstorm? ⛈️

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2️⃣ Speedtest Ignores Fairness

Speedtest runs a single TCP stream (or a few) to saturate your connection. But that’s not how real-world traffic works!

🔴 Real traffic includes:

• Multiple users/devices at once (your phone, laptop, smart TV all competing for bandwidth)

• Applications with different priority levels (Zoom calls, gaming, Netflix, etc.)

• Jitter and packet loss, which affect voice/video more than just raw speed

Speedtest doesn’t care about any of this. It just throws as much data as possible down the pipe for a few seconds and calls it a day. That’s not how the Internet actually works.

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3️⃣ Latency? What Latency?

Speedtest hides latency issues by running tests in a way that makes everything seem smooth. Real networks experience jitter, congestion, and buffering, but Speedtest only shows you a basic ping (which is often misleading).

🔴 What’s wrong with this?

• It doesn’t show real-world bufferbloat (high latency when your connection is under load)

• It doesn’t expose peering problems (bad routing between ISPs)

• It doesn’t reflect the latency-sensitive nature of apps like video calls or gaming 🎮

You can have a 500 Mbps Speedtest result but still have terrible Zoom calls and laggy gaming. Speedtest won’t tell you why.

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🎯 The Best Speedtest Server in SA? Afrihost!

Not all Speedtest servers are created equal. If you must use Ookla’s Speedtest, make sure you select Afrihost’s server manually. Why?

✅ Afrihost’s server is well-connected and has stable results
✅ It’s not hosted by an ISP trying to game the numbers
✅ It gives a more realistic view of your Internet performance

But let’s be real—Ookla’s Speedtest is still not ideal.

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🚀 The REAL Way to Test Your Internet | MyBroadband Speedtest

If you want the most accurate and fair Speedtest in South Africa, forget Ookla. Instead, head over to https://speedtest.mybroadband.co.za/.

Why? Because this server is hosted by Teraco, on the NAPAfrica backbone—meaning:

✅ You’re testing real-world performance, not ISP-optimised nonsense
✅ You get a neutral test across multiple ISPs
✅ It’s hosted in SA’s biggest peering exchange, making it the best overall benchmark

This is the gold standard of bandwidth testing in SA. Anything else is just guessing.

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💡 Wrapping Up with the Bottom Line

Speedtest isn’t the magic bullet for troubleshooting. Most tests are:
🚩 Unfair – They ignore congestion, fairness, and real-world conditions
🚩 Misleading – ISP-hosted tests prioritise their own networks
🚩 Incomplete – They ignore key factors like packet loss and latency

If you want a real measure of your Internet performance, ditch random ISP-hosted Speedtests and use MyBroadband’s Speedtest instead.

👉 Your Internet is more than just a number. Test wisely. 💡