Why Are Mac Browser Download Speeds Still Varying So Much?

[rapayn1]

Using the same speed test site (Flash version):

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?flash=1

I got the following results:

Camino 1.5.5 (13,723 Kb/s download - 913 Kb/s upload - latency 34 ms)

Safari 3.1 (9,764 Kb/s download - 904 Kb/s upload - latency 28 ms)

Netscape Navigator 9.0b3 (10,746 Kb/s - 924 Kb/s - latency 35 ms)

Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.13 (13,781 Kb/s download - 925 Kb/s upload - latency 27 ms)

I would expect the Macintosh browser to perform the best, and yet it seems to be the worst. Any reason why this is consistently the case. BTW, I'm supposed to be getting 16Mb download and 2Mb upload. Before I go complaining to Comcast, I need to make sure that I have the best set-up on my end before I blame them.

[jdc]

at about 10 mbps+ its not comcast thats slowing you down, its the internet

comcast is "shared"

[mattkime]

unless you've done the test 3-5 times for each browser, you're probably just measuring the variance within running the test.

[mikebw]

Your results may hold some truth, but I would not expect Comcast to guarantee the speeds you are expecting.

[ztirffritz]

The problem with Cable connections is that you're sharing your connection with others in your neighborhood as well. There may be a kid next door who is bittorrenting a copy of every playboy centerfold while downloading 4 movies and playing halo online all at the same time. That will kill YOUR connection too. DSL may not hit the same speeds, but it is all my connection. No one else is sharing it.

[rapayn1]

Thanks for the quick replies. But also, why the differences between browsers? I did run the test multiple times and the numbers are pretty much the same each time. Why is Safari worse than Camino or Firefox or even Netscape?

[ztirffritz]

Out of curiosity, did you try testing using Webkit?

[rapayn1]

Not even sure what Webkit is. :-) Let me Google that and get back to you. So, the answer is probably no since I do not know what it is at this point.

[rapayn1]

Okay. With a sheepish grin, I now know what Webkit is. I downloaded the latest overnight build (r31388). I reran all of my browsers again:

Using the same speed test site (Flash version):

[www.dslreports.com]

I now got the following results:

Camino 1.5.5 (12,839 Kb/s download - 911 Kb/s upload - latency 47 ms)

Safari 3.1 (12,289 Kb/s download - 922 Kb/s upload - latency 62 ms)*

WebKit (10,631 Kb/s download - 913 Kb/s upload - latency 27 ms)*

Netscape Navigator 9.0b3 (13,047 Kb/s - 922 Kb/s - latency 48 ms)

Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.13 (15,138 Kb/s download - 914 Kb/s upload - latency 46 ms)

*ISP upload compression was detected. Your upload speeds may be inaccurate

Only Safari before and after Webkit prompted the ISP upload compression notice. Obviously, the numbers (download more than upload) keep changing based on the load on my node. Not as many people around here using their Internet connections at 7:30 a.m. So, there is some speed increase (especially in Firefox). I guess if I tried this test 100 times today, I would get 100 different answers. My question is still why do I not get the same download and upload speeds (within a few kilobits) with Netscape, Camino, Firefox, Safari, etc.?

[jdc]

just for giggles, just ran speed tests for you

comcast in sacramento, ca @ 845 am

FF 2.0.0.12 -- 19,550 Down, 1920 Up, 31 ms

Safari 3.1 -- 20.676 Down. 1587 Up, 27 ms

sorry, no other browsers