Why Does SpeedTest Seem Slow?

Our IPs often geolocate to our Atlanta location despite where your VPS is geographically located. This causes SpeedTest to choose the wrong server by default.

The Problem

SpeedTest automatically selects a test server based on your IP's geolocation. If your Seattle VPS's IP geolocates to Atlanta, SpeedTest will test against an Atlanta server, showing poor results due to the cross-country distance.

The Solution: Manually Select a Server

To get accurate speed test results, you must manually specify which server to test against based on your actual VPS location.

Step 1: List Available Servers

List servers by location

# For Atlanta VPS
./speedtest-cli --list | grep "Atlanta"

# For Seattle VPS
./speedtest-cli --list | grep "Seattle"

# For New York VPS
./speedtest-cli --list | grep "New York"

Step 2: Run Test Against Specific Server

Test specific server

./speedtest-cli --server 4964

Replace 4964 with the server ID from your location search.

Why This Happens

IP geolocation is determined by databases that map IP addresses to physical locations. These databases:

Not Always Accurate

Databases may have outdated information

Show Allocation Owner

May show our main office address instead of server location

Don't Reflect Reality

Don't always match actual server location

Update Delays

Can take time to update when IPs are reassigned

Alternative Speed Testing Methods

Using wget or curl

Download test file

# Download 100MB test file
wget http://speedtest.tele2.net/100MB.zip

# Or use curl
curl -O http://speedtest.tele2.net/100MB.zip

Using iperf3

Bandwidth testing

# On server
iperf3 -s

# On client
iperf3 -c server-ip-address

Testing Network Quality

Speed isn't everything. Network quality matters too. Use our Looking Glass to test:

Latency

How quickly packets reach their destination

Packet Loss

Whether data is being dropped

Route Quality

The path packets take to reach destinations

Jitter

Consistency of latency over time

Pro Tip

Test at different times of day and to multiple destinations. This gives you a better overall picture of network performance than a single speed test.

Expected Performance

RamNode VPS come with high-speed network connections:

Most locations offer 1Gbps or 10Gbps network ports
Actual speeds depend on distance, routing, and server load
Local tests (same data center) should show near-line-rate speeds
International tests may be limited by geographic distance and routing

Still Seeing Slow Speeds?

If you're still experiencing slow speeds after testing against the correct location, check:

VPS Resources

High CPU usage can limit network performance

Disk I/O

Slow disk operations can bottleneck downloads

Network Configuration

Improper settings can limit throughput

Firewall Rules

Restrictive rules may slow connections

Need Help?

If issues persist, contact our support team with your speed test results and we'll help investigate.