I ran across a good utility to check a host's Internet connection speed...

http://www.hostpulse.com/app/networktools/ping.asp

It works for most host sites but others it just times out saying that the server is not present...

Since the utility is based on pinging a server, I tried doing a ping from my Dos prompt and got a "request timed out".

I know that the server is there since I can access their site via my browser.

I'm wondering if some hosts are blocking the ability to ping their server, or perhaps they are using some special firewall?

Anybody have any ideas?

I'm just trying to get an idea of the relative speed between hosts prior to purchasing a hosting plan.

Thanks,
Dave

Well, I was just trying that on us, and the first time we came back ranked #4, the second time #12, and it did not find us on the next 3 times, then came back on the 5th time ranking us #5 again.

This seems to be a good script, but maybe the server it is on is having some high loads that is causing this.

Well, two of the hosts I have tried consistently give no results... either through the utility script or by pinging.

I'm glad you think the utility is pretty good... perhaps someone else can benefit from it.

Thanks,
Dave

Originally posted by NodeHost
Well, I was just trying that on us, and the first time we came back ranked #4, the second time #12, and it did not find us on the next 3 times, then came back on the 5th time ranking us #5 again.

#2, #2, #7.

Looks we found the game to play for the weekend :)

Greg Moore

my host is Ranked 24.

Dave,

Some network administrators block ICMP packets. Pings and traceroutes work by using ICMP packets, therefore if those are blocked at the router or firewall level you will not get a reply from the ping command. The reason why some admins do this is because they can prevent DoS and other types of attacks that use raw sockets.

We ranked #2 a minute ago, #7 just now. But honestly, while I think their service can give a rough indication, it really is not scientific and can not be used to tell you which host is the fastest.

Originally posted by avara
We ranked #2 a minute ago, #7 just now. But honestly, while I think their service can give a rough indication, it really is not scientific and can not be used to tell you which host is the fastest.

Agreed. Besides it is measuring the speed from *THEIR* location only. True speed must be measured from several different locations over a long period of time. ;)

Thanks All...

I understand that this method of determining speed has its limitations but it should give rough order of magnitude speed numbers...

It sounds like a better method would be to write a script that fired off pings from multiple locations and averaged out the response over time and location.

Glad you folks are enjoying the new toy though :)

1 32 *******.net
2 34 HostCentric.com
3 34 SpeedyWeb.com
4 34 webhosting.com
5 34 Superb.net
6 34 *****.com
7 47 zdwebhosting.com


i am #7 :)

Yes, I love this utility. We have always ranked no.1:

1 32 hostnexus.com
2 32 *******.net
3 34 HostCentric.com
4 34 SpeedyWeb.com
5 34 webhosting.com
6 34 Superb.net
7 34 *****.com
8 47 Media3.com
9 47 HalfPriceHosting.com
10 47 Interliant.com

Some hosts have firewalls which prevent the Ping test, we ranked #2 the first time then #1 on the second attempt :D

1 32 ukwebsolutionsdirect.net
2 32 *******.net
3 34 HostCentric.com
4 34 SpeedyWeb.com
5 34 webhosting.com

We're not a web host but I thought I'd try this out on my server anyway, just for fun. We got

#2
#1
#1
#1

What I don't get is since so many web hosts are getting 1st and 2nd etc... why does it still only show those same websites... I think it would be useful for them to show the 25 fastest hosts to use the service.

Originally posted by dragonhawk
I think it would be useful for them to show the 25 fastest hosts to use the service.

I think the ones being shown are paying a monthly fee. :confused:

That is a good script..... i just recorded No1. @ 32ms


I like the script, well found :)

Just read he above posts..... ahhhh welllll.... :(

Maybe short lived excitement.

Wel I have just tested this and we came up 1st each time, wow. lol. I wonder if they are based in the same datacentre as us?

I have just checked and they are based at innerhost, which is in the same area as the datacentre we are in, that would explain our quick response time. - Not saying that we aren't quick.

Rank Average
Ping Time Websites
1 11 focalhosting.com
2 32 *******.net
3 34 HostCentric.com

traceroute to hostpulse.com (207.21.231.111), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
...
4 12.125.21.161 (12.125.21.161) 5.347 ms 3.821 ms 5.864 ms
5 gbr2-p51.ormfl.ip.att.net (12.123.32.142) 4.157 ms 4.082 ms 5.079 ms
6 ar5-p3110.ormfl.ip.att.net (12.123.32.94) 4.113 ms 3.984 ms 3.764 ms
7 ormfl35c3.internap.com (12.126.144.82) 9.552 ms 8.669 ms 9.240 ms
8 border3.ge3-0-bbnet2.mia.pnap.net (216.52.160.71) 9.548 ms 8.561 ms 8.654 ms
9 innerhost-1.border3.mia.pnap.net (216.52.162.206) 23.470 ms 11.107 ms 10.388 ms
10 ge4-7.CORE4.MIA2.INNERHOST.NET (216.87.0.6) 17.987 ms 14.779 ms 27.854 ms
11 *

There are definitely flaws that they should mention:

20 82 Hostpro.com
21 110 he.net
22 110 Intermedia.net

They should add to the black text under the box: "and geographical location relative to this server/website/whatever."

Not to be a party-pooper or anything, but ping times are are poor way of determine the "speed" of a particular server. A ping test measures network latency - thats it. It doesn't measure HTTP response time, check to see if the HTTP server is even running, doesn't really correlate to free memory or CPU cycles on the machine either.

Generally speaking, the farther data has to travel, the higher the latency will be. The farther the distance, the higher the ping time. There's nothing that can be done about this. The other major thing that affects network latency is network congestion. If your web host has a 10Mb/sec pipe and is constant pushing 9Mb/sec+, you are going to see very high ping times (well over 300ms ...)

Overall, ping is a great tool for troubleshooting connectivity / network issues. However, its uses as a benchmarking utility are very limited.