Hi, I currently manage a node that is based in Freemont CA, but have been queried by a customer what the speeds are like for London visitors.

I am from Australia and not sure of a way to run a speed test, or find this out in general, from my current location. Any advice is much appreciated.

Cheers,
Rhys

From my London Linode VPS:


wget http://fremont1.linode.com/100MB-fremont.bin
--2011-03-10 23:19:48-- http://fremont1.linode.com/100MB-fremont.bin
Resolving fremont1.linode.com... 64.71.152.17
Connecting to fremont1.linode.com|64.71.152.17|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: `100MB-fremont.bin'

100%[=============================>] 104,857,600 417K/s in 2m 47s

2011-03-10 23:22:35 (614 KB/s) - `100MB-fremont.bin' saved [104857600/104857600]

so.. should be pretty good.
But it is 10pm in UK so there's slightly less 'net usage right now.

Thanks AviMarcus,

Do you know of a way I could test this remotely? I appreciate you testing for me though, that is a good gauge for me.

Cheers

Spin up a tiny London Linode, run your tests, get a prorated bill for $20/month less all the days you didn't use.


Present a nice professional (and thorough) looking test to your client and then bask in the accolades of doing a job well done.

You could just check out some looking glasses:

http://lg.level3.net/
http://traceroute.org/

I don't see why you couldn't try downloading the London test from from Fremont:

http://www.linode.com/speedtest/

Thanks waldo, but this seems to be the opposite of what I am tested ( London -> Freemont instead of Fremont -> London ) and I was not sure if this reversal would affect the outcome

Yeah, maybe you're right. From Fremont to London:

wget http://london1.linode.com/100MB-london.bin
--2011-03-10 15:03:57-- http://london1.linode.com/100MB-london.bin
Resolving london1.linode.com... 109.74.207.9
Connecting to london1.linode.com|109.74.207.9|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 104857600 (100M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: â100MB-london.binâ

100%[=====================>] 104,857,600 2.36M/s in 53s

2011-03-10 15:04:50 (1.89 MB/s) - 100MB-london.bin


As vonskippy said, spin up a London Linode. It's going to cost you less than a dollar if you do it all within a day. The approximate daily cost of a 512 node is $0.665 USD ($19.95 / 30 days)