For those wondering how the workings of Centurylink's speedtest works compared to speedtest.net stuff.. it's the same.
22.01.2013 07:39:55 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:45 http://spdtst-chgo2.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:45 http://spdtst-chgo4.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:45 http://spdtst-chgo2.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:45 http://spdtst-chgo4.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:44 http://spdtst-chgo3.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:44 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:42 http://spdtst-chgo3.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:40 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/upload.php?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:33 http://spdtst-chgo2.il.centurylink.net/crossdomain.xml208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:33 http://spdtst-chgo3.il.centurylink.net/crossdomain.xml208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:33 http://spdtst-chgo4.il.centurylink.net/crossdomain.xml208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:32 http://spdtst-chgo3.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:32 http://spdtst-chgo4.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:32 http://spdtst-chgo4.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:31 http://spdtst-chgo2.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:31 http://spdtst-chgo2.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:30 http://spdtst-chgo3.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:18 http://spdtst-chgo3.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:16 http://spdtst-chgo4.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:16 http://spdtst-chgo2.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:16 http://spdtst-chgo4.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:16 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:16 http://spdtst-chgo2.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:16 http://spdtst-chgo3.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:15 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/random350x350.jpg?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:14 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
22.01.2013 07:39:13 http://spdtst-chgo.il.centurylink.net/speedtest/latency.txt?208.110.241.182
Only difference is... CenturyLink speedtest is [mostly] on the network of Centurylink routing.
Here's a trace to the Chicago, IL to the .182 IP.
My traceroute [v0.80]
ubuntu.home.lan (0.0.0.0) Tue Jan 22 07:50:58 2013
Keys: Help Display mode Restart statistics Order of fields quit
Packets Pings
Host Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev
1. router.home.lan 0.0% 331 0.3 0.2 0.1 1.1 0.1
2. ks-76-7-12-129.sta.embarqhsd.net 0.3% 331 5.1 6.7 4.3 56.3 6.3
3. ks-76-7-223-85.sta.embarqhsd.net 0.0% 330 4.9 7.2 4.5 51.6 7.8
4. 208.110.241.153 0.0% 330 5.5 9.2 5.0 91.8 10.3
5. bb-kscbmonr-jx9-01-ae0.core.centurytel.net 0.3% 330 6.3 10.7 5.7 72.0 11.6
6. bb-mrghmoqa-jx9-01-xe-1-1-0.core.centurytel.net 0.0% 330 52.2 15.6 10.5 80.2 11.8
7. bb-mrghmoqa-jx9-02-ae0.core.centurytel.net 0.0% 330 11.3 16.1 10.6 76.2 10.5
8. bb-chcgilwu-jx9-02-ae8-0.core.centurylink.net 0.0% 330 18.7 22.7 17.8 82.2 10.8
9. bb-chcgilwu-jx9-01-ae0.core.centurytel.net 0.0% 330 69.0 21.8 17.5 87.7 11.2
10. 208.110.241.182 0.0% 330 18.4 19.4 17.4 68.3 5.5
Now, let's do a test on a speedtest.net server - just to see what the internet does to it.
22.01.2013 07:55:57 http://www.speedtest.net/api/api.php 74.209.160.12
22.01.2013 07:55:57 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:57 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:52 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:52 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:47 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:47 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:44 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:44 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/upload.php? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:41 http://69.38.192.34/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:41 http://69.38.192.34/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:41 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:40 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/random1000x1000.jpg? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:35 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/random750x750.jpg? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:35 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/random750x750.jpg? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:33 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:33 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:32 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:32 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:32 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:32 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:32 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:32 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
22.01.2013 07:55:32 http://speed01.il.towerstream.com/speedtest/latency.txt? 69.38.192.34
So, I used the server in chicago, IL, hosted by Towerstream. Let's have a peek at the routing currently going on with this...
My traceroute [v0.80]
ubuntu.home.lan (0.0.0.0) Tue Jan 22 07:58:19 2013
Resolver: Received error response 2. (server failure)er of fields quit
Packets Pings
Host Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev
1. router.home.lan 0.0% 65 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.0
2. ks-76-7-12-129.sta.embarqhsd.net 0.0% 65 5.0 5.0 4.6 5.6 0.2
3. ks-76-7-255-241.sta.embarqhsd.net 0.0% 64 5.1 5.0 4.5 6.2 0.3
4. 208.110.241.149 0.0% 64 6.1 9.6 5.5 73.6 12.0
5. bb-dllstx37-jx9-02-xe-11-1-0.core.centurytel.net 0.0% 64 20.8 22.7 20.2 48.1 5.1
6. bb-dllstx97-jx9-01-ae1-0.core.centurytel.net 0.0% 64 20.3 23.8 20.1 76.5 11.5
7. equinix.tge9-3.ar1.dfw1.us.nlayer.net 1.6% 64 22.4 23.3 21.8 26.2 1.2
8. ae0-50g.cr1.dfw1.us.nlayer.net 0.0% 64 63.5 23.1 20.7 63.5 7.5
9. xe-0-2-1.cr1.ord1.us.nlayer.net 0.0% 64 31.8 32.5 31.1 67.9 4.8
10. ae1-30g.ar1.ord1.us.nlayer.net 3.1% 64 32.8 34.4 32.3 36.9 1.3
11. as32654.xe-7-0-7.ar1.ord1.us.nlayer.net 0.0% 64 31.8 37.1 31.0 176.3 22.5
12. chi.silverip.net 0.0% 64 32.0 38.7 31.5 227.3 33.8
13. g1-0-2.dr.chi2.ill.towerstream.net 0.0% 64 31.9 32.2 31.2 37.0 1.1
14. 69.38.192.34 0.0% 64 31.9 31.6 30.9 32.4 0.3
Well, erm.. uhh.. well, definately no longer on CenturyLinks' backbone or network after hop seven. Something else happened as well, to a server that is also in Chicago, IL, I am going from Kansas City to Dallas, TX, over to Chicago, IL. Quite the nice little trip i take there.
So in the end, what am i getting at? CenturyLinks speedtest sites are [mostly] on the CenturyLink/Qwest backbone. Where as sites as seen on speedtest.net are not on the same backbone. What can this cause? some speed test sites via speedtest.net will have highly variable results. Whereas some will report highly innaccurate numbers, and some will report tests that are on the spot. CL's speedtest servers remain within the network of centurylink, which means lesser routes to the destination, lesser chance for hops to escape the network, which in the end means better chance for network engineering at CL to identify issues within their network.
TL;DR; don't rely on a single speedtest to get a quick result. Use multiple sites/servers to get your averages and numbers. :D