Speedtest Is for Civilians. You’re Not a Civilian.
- Night Shift Engineer
- Aug 4
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 10

Let’s be honest: we’ve all run a speedtest in our browser at some point. Maybe you typed “internet speed test” into Google. Maybe you clicked that shiny internet speedometer on Ookla’s site and watched the needle spin. And hey — that’s fine. That’s how most people check their connection.
But here’s the thing: if you’re a network engineer, IT pro, or anyone responsible for making networks behave… you’re not a civilian. And Speedtest isn’t enough.
What an Internet Speed Test Is (and Isn’t)
Tools like Speedtest by Ookla are incredibly popular for a reason. They’re fast, simple, and give you a number that feels concrete. It’s the default move for anyone who wants to check if their Wi-Fi or LAN speed test results match what their ISP promised.
That kind of ”my speed check” is good for quick sanity checks: Can I stream Netflix? Is my email sluggish? Is it my connection or the server’s fault?
But if your needs go beyond casual browsing and you’re dealing with real-time services, remote offices, or critical infrastructure — then relying on a browser-based test is like using a bathroom scale to troubleshoot a car engine. It tells you something, but not what you actually need to know.
Why Your Speed Test Might Be Lying to You
Here’s the dirty little secret of browser-based internet speed tests: you don’t control the endpoints. And when you can’t control the endpoints, you can’t isolate the bottleneck.
Let’s say you run a Wi-Fi speed test from your laptop and see 20 Mbps. Is the problem your Wi-Fi? Your ISP? Some overloaded node halfway across the world? You don’t know. And you can’t know — because you didn’t get to pick the server. The test was routed for you, probably to a CDN node selected for its speed, not its diagnostic usefulness.
Now consider this: your WLAN might be flawless, but your ISP is the weak link. Or vice versa. The result — 20 Mbps — is the same either way. That means the value of the test result is close to zero. You're looking at a number with no way to interpret its meaning.
These tests are almost always TCP-only. That rules out any assessment of how your network handles UDP, which is what you actually care about for VoIP, video calls, gaming, and most real-time traffic. If you’re running a bandwidth test and expecting it to tell you why your Zoom call is jittery — you’re looking in the wrong place.
And let’s be honest: these tests are often optimized to look good, not to expose flaws. The connections are retried silently. The servers are nearby. The congestion is avoided. It’s not a diagnostic tool — it’s a marketing demo. When that needle spins high, users feel good, ISPs look good, and no one learns anything new.
You think you're testing your internet speed, but really you're measuring the slowest link in an opaque, multi-hop path — and you're not allowed to see which link that is.
It’s like testing the speed of an elevator without knowing whether it stops on your floor.
A Real Bandwidth Test Puts You in Control
Professionals do things differently. Tools like Tessabyte or iPerf give you control over both ends of the test, and that changes everything.
Want to test your WAN link? Run the server on a known remote VM (maybe in your company’s cloud environment) and connect your client via Ethernet to your router. Now you’re testing just the WAN — no Wi-Fi noise, no browser overhead, no guesswork.
Want to isolate your Wi-Fi? Run the server on a device inside your LAN. Move your laptop between rooms, switch access points, vary time of day — and now you’re measuring just the wireless link.
These kinds of tests are repeatable, scriptable, and, most importantly, targeted. You define what you're testing, not the test provider. You're not dependent on a browser, a CDN, or a distant server farm to tell you how your own network is behaving.
The Professional's Toolkit
Tools like Tessabyte and iPerf provide the features that actually matter in a diagnostic context:
Protocol choice: test TCP and UDP traffic, separately or side-by-side.
Endpoint control: run tests between any two devices you own, anywhere on Earth.
Customization: adjust packet sizes, set DSCP values, simulate burst traffic.
Local and remote testing: measure LAN, WAN, Wi-Fi, VPN, cross-data-center performance.
Automation: schedule hourly tests, capture baselines, track drift over time.
These tools may not be flashy — well, iPerf isn’t. Tessabyte actually looks pretty great. But both are powerful. Network engineers use them daily to comprehend what's occurring, rather than merely looking at an attractive figure.
But I Just Want to Know If It’s Fast!
That’s fine. But what do you mean by “fast”?
Fast to a nearby server? Fast to your critical application in another region? Fast for TCP downloads, or for low-latency UDP streams? These are different questions, and browser-based tests only pretend to answer them.
That 900 Mbps result? It’s likely from a local CDN with perfect conditions. But what if your application server is 70 milliseconds away and sitting behind a congested peering link? What if your upstream is artificially shaped? What if your router’s MTU is misconfigured and causing silent fragmentation?
Speedtest won’t tell you any of that. It gives you a number. But not answers.
TL;DR: Know When to Go Pro
Speedtest is fine for quick checks. It's designed for convenience — not precision, not flexibility, and definitely not diagnostics.
But if you're chasing packet loss, jitter, unexpected throttling, or application-level performance drops, you need something that gives you real control over what’s being tested, where, and how.
You're not testing “the internet.” You're testing your infrastructure. And for that, you need professional tools.
You’re not a civilian.
Want to go beyond Speedtest? Try Tessabyte for free.
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