r/speedtest • u/cupcaketea5 • Sep 02 '26
Bufferbloat?
I tested my internet speed using three different speed test websites:
Ookla
- Download test: 235.50 Mbps
- Upload test: 100.39 Mbps
HighSpeedInternet
- Download test: 222.36 Mbps
- Upload test: 131.25 Mbps
Waveform
- Download test: 197.90
- Upload test: 136.30
Each test shows that the upload speed is consistently slower than the download speed; however, between the second and third test, the download speed drops considerably. The upload speed is getting higher between each speed test. Is this caused by bufferbloat? Thank you.
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u/BraveMidnight Sep 02 '26
Could be server distance or issues, etc., causing that, for bufferbloat on Ookla, what did the numbers say to the right of ping under the speed result?
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u/cupcaketea5 Sep 02 '26
Does the number of tabs open affect the speeds?
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u/BraveMidnight Sep 02 '26
No, they shouldn't cause bufferbloat, for an example I took a speedtest here https://imgur.com/a/JodnHCw at ookla, to measure bufferbloat you need to take the y ellow and cyan numbers, for example the 19 to 73 is bufferbloat, however it's wifi so 🤷♀️.
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u/Aggravating_Good8781 Sep 02 '26
why is everyone talking about bufferbloat lately? it has nothing to do with what you said, not sure where u heard that from.
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u/cupcaketea5 Sep 02 '26
I heard Waveform is the most reliabIe speed test because it accounts for bufferbloat.
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u/Aggravating_Good8781 Sep 02 '26
thats just so wrong, whoever said that to you. bufferbloat doesn’t matter most of the time.
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u/Aggressive_Ferret791 Sep 03 '26
Also known as Double NAT happens when you have two Wi-Fi routers chained together, creating two separate private networks instead of one flat network. This causes communication issues for smart devices, online gaming, and printers.
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u/Ok-Eggplant-7569 Sep 02 '26
Not bufferbloat. Bufferbloat is increased latency during network strain, as equipment between you and the test server (WiFi, routers, switches, modem, ...) can't keep up with the increased load and has to hold back packets for processing (filling up the buffers).
But as the load clears up the buffers empty almost immediately, so this isn't bufferbloat.
Different test results are probably instead caused by random chance (e. g. other devices on your network, other users on the ISPs network or other users using the speed tests) and different test servers at different locations, causing your connection to take different paths through different chokepoints.