Broadband test Speeds

Topic

New Reply

On occasion I check what speeds my service provider of broadband is delivering. Their test circuit then downloads ‘something’ and then uploads ‘something’. My question is ‘what ‘somethings’ do they send/receive to and from my pc and what assurances do I have that they are not ‘uploading’ something from my files? Can this be checked or is it a simple matter of trust?
Ron

Reply | Quote

Replies

On occasion I check what speeds my service provider of broadband is delivering. Their test circuit then downloads ‘something’ and then uploads ‘something’. My question is ‘what ‘somethings’ do they send/receive to and from my pc and what assurances do I have that they are not ‘uploading’ something from my files? Can this be checked or is it a simple matter of trust?
Ron

It is purely an incompressible data file (like that produced by PKZIP). If you’re really worried about the content, find where it is being downloaded, and disconnect from the internet while the download is happening. Then inspect the (partial) file with a text (or hex) editor.

I personally wouldn’t even bother doing that, with a reputable testing website – the howls of abuse would be heard all over the internet if they had downloaded – and executed – anything dubious…

As an alternative, actually ask the firm what it is that they are downloading!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

Reply | Quote

It is purely an incompressible data file (like that produced by PKZIP). If you’re really worried about the content, find where it is being downloaded, and disconnect from the internet while the download is happening. Then inspect the (partial) file with a text (or hex) editor.

I personally wouldn’t even bother doing that, with a reputable testing website – the howls of abuse would be heard all over the internet if they had downloaded – and executed – anything dubious…

As an alternative, actually ask the firm what it is that they are downloading!

Yep … best policy is to ‘trust’ I think but I was curious as to what data is sent/received.
Thanks for your input
Ron

Reply | Quote