Are Server Speed Tests Accurate?

 While browsing the web the other day I discovered a website which claims to measure the speeds of Web Hosting Providers. Now there are plenty of sites who measure website speed but that is a whole different metric altogether. The thing is. The site in question is not actually measuring the speed of web hosts but is in fact measuring website speeds. We know this because we tested three different sites on the same server and were presented with three radically different results. Further testing of this website revealed that the so called test the user gets to run is not a live test at all but the results are served via cached results of the tests which are actually run on a “more than weekly” schedule. If you click on the SpeedRank Graphic on the results page it will take you to a page which tells you this.

Now don’t get me wrong. I have no issues with measuring the speed of a website or that of a web host. Especially that of a web host. Someone should actually do that. Correctly. The problem I have is this: The Fast Hosts website is misleading to consumers. Unless you want to know how fast a web hosts website is. Which I don’t know how that’s any help. All that’s needed to win that contest is an all text website.

The main thing is make sure what you’re measuring when using speed to look for a web host.

You can check the speed from your computer to our server here. Speed Test

Greg Hicks