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Category: Blog

  • Quic vs Voyager: A (bigger) Comprehensive Look

    I’ve recently made the switch to Quic from Voyager. And as part of that, I decided to make another comparison blog post, but this time with a lot more metrics.

    The fine details

    T’s & C’s: Speed Tests

    So this is how I made it fair. On the 26th and 28th of September 2022 I ran 3 series of speed tests. Here’s the raw results if you’re keen – good luck it’s messy.

    To help make it more fair, I’ve chosen the “8AM” results. A few reasons, this is a fairly peak time of the day, plus I’m a night owl, so I wouldn’t be awake at that time, and I’m the only one on this internet connection. This technically means that Voyager’s speed tests were conducted on a public holiday, but that doesn’t seem to skew the results.

    For each server, 2 tests were run back to back. I’ve then selected the best numbers from each.

    T’s & C’s: Ping Tests

    As for the ping tests, I have taken all results from my SmokePing server, as an average over 24 hours from these dates:

    Voyager – 24th September 2022
    Quic – 27th September 2022

    The results

    Speeds

    Okay, here you go. The “best” results are underlined.

    Server/LocationISPLatencyDownloadUpload
    Spark, AucklandVoyager5.67921.36516.73
    Quic7.94747.02479.05
    2degrees, Auckland, New ZealandVoyager6.66784.6508.63
    Quic6.53854.4498.43
    Voyager, Auckland, New ZealandVoyager5.64921.63516.86
    Quic6.6883.49506.51
    Vocus, Sydney, AustraliaVoyager30.8918.51204.39
    Quic29.55595.25187.28
    Vetta, Sydney, AustraliaVoyager28.39835.06153.09
    Quic29.02935.81223.64
    Vocus, Melbourne, AustraliaVoyager42.14918.13181.37
    Quic41.27668.53148.18
    Optus, Melbourne, AustraliaVoyager39.99809.56159.79
    Quic41.85862.84174.75
    Vocus, Perth, AustraliaVoyager74.46864.99161.68
    Quic76.04566.65131.09
    Verizon, Tokyo, JapanVoyager142.63577.0477.86
    Quic257.33382.1346.47
    fdcservers, Tokyo, JapanVoyager288.88685.6272.15
    Quic212.23455.4867.14
    GSL Networks, Tokyo, JapanVoyager166.97757.160.98
    Quic126.92856.2789.16
    Jio, Kolkata, IndiaVoyager174.69483.2884.12
    Quic180.43420.7662.34
    Vi, New Delhi, IndiaVoyager291.78187.4686.19
    Quic294.95216.3759.93
    Powernet, New Delhi, IndiaVoyager299.94378.4252.43
    Quic304.44467.7757.79
    Gayatri, New Delhi, IndiaVoyager188.59889.0745.33
    Quic299.27699.5136.67
    3BB, Bangkok, ThailandVoyager345674.7656.07
    Quic330.05413.7634.76
    TOT, Bangkok, ThailandVoyager145.72776.1266.96
    Quic173.23396.4537.59
    Biznet, Jakarta, IndonesiaVoyager134.59315.7281.09
    Quic133.6465.13106.8
    CBN, Jakarta, IndonesiaVoyager217.72765.06104.66
    Quic397.67602.4348.87
    MyRepublic, SingaporeVoyager118.9824.7374.14
    Quic119.25410.462.34
    Singtel, SingaporeVoyager193.26925.4386.61
    Quic240.83810.0970.54
    M1 Limited, SingaporeVoyager122.13742.0282.57
    Quic204.8209.5847.31
    Vodacom, Cape Town, South AfricaVoyager430.75423.7343.04
    Quic394.42396.622.8
    MTN, Cape Town, South AfricaVoyager421.28263.3917.32
    Quic437.64602.3738.45
    Comcast, San Francisco, CA, United StatesVoyager131.42504.52103.7
    Quic187.96606.9735.73
    Unwired, San Francisco, CA, United StatesVoyager137.13435.6293.76
    Quic137.55750.4761.01
    Spectrum, Los Angeles, CA, United SatesVoyager147.42666.8171.06
    Quic175.22530.6659.77
    Frontier, Los Angeles, CA, United SatesVoyager133.7882.46104.19
    Quic181.26844.6658.29
    AT&T, Houston, TX, United SatesVoyager182.04529.39117.38
    Quic212.91667.6779.59
    Comcast, Houston, TX, United SatesVoyager170.3449.9890.55
    Quic239.78456.2238.23
    CenturyLink, Houston, TX, United SatesVoyager211.57326.7959.81
    Quic216.18630.2550.08
    Windstream, New York, NY, United SatesVoyager282.57430.4271.13
    Quic196.53274.0555.07
    Spectrum, New York, NY, United SatesVoyager196.36489.1860.22
    Quic190.44353.3685.18
    Contabo, New York, NY, United SatesVoyager197.5183.279.65
    Quic242.71517.9539.1
    TELUS, Vancouver, BC, CanadaVoyager149.76707.0282.24
    Quic188.56454.3642.56
    Bell, Vancouver, BC, CanadaVoyager145.03706.8792.5
    Quic164.35453.9666.56
    Frontier, Vancouver, BC, CanadaVoyager148.89819.3966.11
    Quic150.37612.9940.11
    Bell, Toronto, ON, CanadaVoyager193.19690.2362.85
    Quic212.84565.1131.36
    TELUS, Toronto, ON, CanadaVoyager199.85702.0564.77
    Quic239.53443.5648.38
    fdcservers, Santiago, ChileVoyager290.24498.4936.42
    Quic347.56643.439.98
    EdgeUno, Santiago, ChileVoyager271.7457.4440.7
    Quic358.53526.7415.5
    Vodafone, London, United KingdomVoyager271.79796.0178.8
    Quic308.21830.1774.84
    Coreix, London, United KingdomVoyager263.93898.4538.72
    Quic255.09573.527.24
    Vodafone, Manchester, United KingdomVoyager275.86130.8769.95
    Quic313.44168.9348.19
    M247 Ltd, Manchester, United KingdomVoyager263.03432.167.83
    Quic268.15588.7632.88
    Orange, Paris, FranceVoyager265.5479.9327.7
    Quic296.91601.8535.38
    SFR, Paris, FranceVoyager278.8743.4137.84
    Quic266.42646.634.56
    Tiscali, Rome, ItalyVoyager290.8438.6740.97
    Quic282.74653.3441.33
    TIM, Rome, ItalyVoyager299.4879154.62
    Quic305.13624.4382.13
    Deutsche Telekom, Berlin, GermanyVoyager289.51478.9871.62
    Quic284.6670.7629.3
    Inter.link, Berlin, GermanyVoyager285.38484.7434.25
    Quic311.95587.7130.14
    Ookla, Oslo, NorwayVoyager287.8453.3556.64
    Quic285.84558.1227.84
    Telia Norge, Oslo, NorwayVoyager292.51382.5258.91
    Quic314.47429.7531.06
    Turkcell, Istanbul, TurkeyVoyager307.52394.0736.39
    Quic313.09617.6130.69
    Turk Telekom, Istanbul, TurkeyVoyager309.92395.1257.76
    Quic314.66433.9963.93
    TurkNet, Istanbul, TurkeyVoyager323.08720.7776.66
    Quic313.75613.9542.36

    Now these results are interesting, overall Quic seems to be slower on average, but shines to a few locations, my guess would be completely different routing, but don’t quote me on that… I’m not a network engineer. Do not fret, though, the latency numbers get interesting.

    Latency

    Amazon AWS

    AmericaVoyagerQuic
    Canada (Central – Montreal) – ca-central-1208.6199.3
    Brazil (São Paulo) – sa-east-1309347.5
    USA (East1 – N. Virginia) – us-east-1207.5198.3
    USA (East2 – Ohio) – us-east-2209.5200.2
    USA (West1 – N. California) – us-west-1137.5144.2
    USA (West2 – Oregon) – us-west-2156146.8
    Europe
    Germany (Frankfurt) – eu-central-1281.1269.1
    Sweden (Stockholm) – eu-north-1311.8287.8
    Italy (Milan) – eu-south-1292.2278.5
    Ireland (Dublin) – eu-west-1284.8265.4
    United Kingdom (London) – eu-west-2273.6256.4
    France (Paris) – eu-west-3273.7263.7
    Asia / Pacific
    Hong Kong – ap-east-1159160.7
    Japan (Tokyo) – ap-northeast-1192.5187.8
    South Korea (Seoul) – ap-northeast-2197.5193.6
    Japan (Osaka) – ap-northeast-3193.1189.4
    China (Beijing) – cn-north-1197241.3
    China (Ningxia) – cn-northwest-1220.1256.2
    India (Mumbai) – ap-south-1183.4180.6
    Singapore – ap-southeast-1124.6120.7
    Australia (Sydney) – ap-southeast-232.834
    Indonesia (Jakarta) – ap-southeast-3139.6135.3
    Africa / Middle East
    South Africa (Cape Town) – af-south-1337.3406.5
    Bahrain – me-south-1275.9339.8

    Digital Ocean

    North AmericaVoyagerQuic
    USA (New York City 1) – nyc1196.9228.3
    USA (New York City 2) – nyc2194.1228.5
    USA (New York City 3) – nyc3197203.5
    USA (San Fransisco 1) – sfo1159.8137.2
    USA (San Fransisco 2) – sfo2163137
    USA (San Fransisco 3) – sfo3163.5137
    Canada (Toronto) – tor1196190.4
    Europe
    Netherlands (Amsterdam 2) – ams2286.6264.8
    Netherlands (Amsterdam 3) – ams3288.3274.3
    Germany (Frankfurt) – fra1286269
    United Kingdom (London) – lon1227.9256.1
    Asia / Pacific
    India (Bangalore) – blr1260.2290.4
    Singapore – sgp1118.9120.3

    Oracle Cloud

    AmericaVoyagerQuic
    USA (East – Ashburn) – us-ashburn-1199.1240.2
    USA (West – Phoenix) – us-phoenix-1144.1147.4
    USA (West – San Jose) – us-sanjose-1166.2136.1
    Brazil (East – São Paulo) – sa-saopaulo-1329.9351.1
    Brazil (Southeast – Vinhedo) – sa-vinhedo-1308.5310.3
    Chile (Santiago) – sa-santiago-1304.6322.9
    Europe
    France (South – Marseille) – eu-marseille-1279.3281.8
    Germany (Central – Frankfurt) – eu-frankfurt-1284.4266
    Italy (Northwest – Milan) – eu-milan-1280.1292.1
    Amsterdam (Northwest – Netherlands) – eu-amsterdam-1227.1274
    Stockholm (Central – Sweden) – eu-stockholm-1292.3292.3
    Zurich (North – Switzerland) – eu-zurich-1292.1291.7
    United Kingdom (South – London) – uk-london-1266.4256
    United Kingdom (West – Newport) – uk-cardiff-1276.2328.2
    Asia / Pacific
    Australia (East – Sydney) – ap-sydney-130.435.9
    Australia (Southeast – Melbourne) – ap-melbourne-141.346.3
    India (South – Hyderabad) – ap-hyderabad-1164.7281.9
    India (West – Mumbai) – ap-mumbai-1170.8282.1
    Japan (Central – Osaka) – ap-osaka-1172.2186.1
    Japan (East – Tokoyo) – ap-tokyo-1171.4187
    Singapore – ap-singapore-1122120.1
    South Koera (Central – Seoul) – ap-seoul-1192273.1
    South Koera (North – Chuncheon) – ap-chuncheon-1191.9236.9
    Africa / Middle East
    South Africa (Central – Johannesburg) – af-johannesburg-1431.6338.2
    Saudi Arabia (West – Jeddah) – me-jeddah-1330.1319.3
    United Arab Emirates (Central – Abu Dhabi) – me-abudhabi-1208207.2
    United Arab Emirates (East – Dubaiu) – me-dubai-1198.5198

    OVH Cloud

    North AmericaVoyagerQuic
    Canada (Quebec) – ca-ovh-beauharnois201207.3
    USA (East – Hillsboro) – us-ovh-hillsboro146164.6
    USA (West – Vint Hill) – us-ovh-vinthill199.9193.7
    Europe
    Germany (Limburg) – de-ovh-limburg293.2279.1
    France (Gravlines) – fr-ovh-gravelines282.5270.8
    France (Roubaix) – fr-ovh-roubaix277.7277
    France (Strasbourg) – fr-ovh-strasbourg302.2275.8
    United Kingdom (London) – gb-ovh-erith277270.1
    Poland (Warsaw) – pl-ovh-warsaw302.5299.5
    Asia / Pacific
    Australia (Sydney) – au-ovh-sydney29.230
    Singapore – sg-ovh-singapore122120.1

    In conclusion

    Quic seems to be a good choice. I really love the ability to diagnose my ONT directly from their website.

    If you do end up deciding to go with Quic and would like to give me some love, use my referral code, I earn $50 which helps a broke nerd like myself:

    https://account.quic.nz/refer/893192

    Also, all of this data was entered manually by hand (it took hours), so there’s probably a mistake or two, but all the data is public, so you can confirm yourself with the raw data combined with my SmokePing instance.

  • 2degrees vs Voyager: A Comprehensive Look

    In New Zealand, we’re spoilt with choice when it comes to the internet, often, so much so, that people can struggle to pick an ISP. 2degrees and Voyager are some of the nerds’ favourite providers, so let’s put them head to head.

    All these tests were performed on exactly the same hardware, the only change being the ISP.

    Speed

    Let’s dive into the spreadsheet here, all results are an average of two tests performed back-to-back. The “best” results are underlined.

    2degrees: Friday-10pm (5th March 2021)
    Voyager: Friday-10pm (26th February 2021)

    Now, these times may be biased, so I have many more results recorded throughout the week and may post another table from another time, one time I had in mind was 4 am.

    Server/LocationISPLatencyDownloadUpload
    Spark, Auckland, NZVoyager8.24ms927.95Mb/s446.82Mb/s
    2degrees6.56ms895.00Mb/s471.21Mb/s
    2degrees, Auckland, NZVoyager8.18ms915.22Mb/s455.22Mb/s
    2degrees7.72ms906.34Mb/s463.36Mb/s
    Voyager, Auckland, NZVoyager8.35ms930.62Mb/s462.33Mb/s
    2degrees7.03ms904.80Mb/s456.01Mb/s
    2degrees, Sydney, AUVoyager32.27ms917.86Mb/s405.57Mb/s
    No surprises here2degrees29.54ms922.26Mb/s452.94Mb/s
    OVH Cloud, Sydney, AUVoyager32.19ms38.26Mb/s255.63Mb/s
    Faulty server?2degrees29.89ms21.56Mb/s372.17Mb/s
    MyRepublic, SingaporeVoyager131.87ms394.92Mb/s94.31Mb/s
    2d routes via US2degrees248.39ms781.77Mb/s47.01Mb/s
    OVH Cloud, SingaporeVoyager124.84ms876.10Mb/s130.26Mb/s
    2d routes via US2degrees214.72ms846.09Mb/s99.38Mb/s
    Windstream, LAX, USAVoyager135.95ms715.63Mb/s117.71Mb/s
    2degrees137.78ms913.46Mb/s86.69Mb/s
    Spectrum, LAX, USAVoyager145.73ms447.01Mb/s158.12Mb/s
    2degrees133.78ms909.04Mb/s150.60Mb/s
    2degrees, LAX, USAVoyager132.93ms869.90Mb/s85.82Mb/s
    Upload results are so close!2degrees130.41ms923.27Mb/s84.27Mb/s
    3UK, London, UKVoyager267.30ms459.84Mb/s125.15Mb/s
    2degrees259.58ms906.84Mb/s81.34Mb/s
    ORANGE, Rennes, FranceVoyager293.72ms616.01Mb/s95.53Mb/s
    2degrees291.54ms878.31Mb/s84.28Mb/s

    Latency

    This is a tricky one, as we see from the results above Voyager really shines in the Southeast Asia region. This is because 2degrees routes traffic via the states.

    I run a Smokeping server, so we can use this to get an idea of the latency from 2degrees and Voyager.

    Server/LocationVoyager2degrees
    North America
    US East (N. Virginia)200.7ms195.0ms
    US East (Ohio)205.7ms199.5ms
    US West (N. California)140.7ms140.0ms
    US West (Oregon)160.0ms154.3ms
    Canada (Central)205.7ms202.7ms
    Europe
    Germany (Frankfurt)297.7ms280.7ms
    Sweeden (Stockholm)321.4ms286.2ms
    Italy (Milan)321.6ms287.2ms
    Ireland (Dublin)300.8ms281.5ms
    United Kingdom (London)290.4ms271.6ms
    France (Paris)295.9ms270.6ms
    Asia-Pacific
    Hong Kong151.9ms221.5ms
    Japan (Tokyo)200.2ms246.5ms
    Japan (Osaka)201.2ms252.1ms
    South Korea (Seoul)212.0ms267.8ms
    India (Mumbai)193.4ms447.1ms
    Singapore134.4ms327.4ms
    Australia (Sydney)34.3ms30.4ms
    South America
    Brazil (São Paulo)319.8ms420.2ms
    China
    China (Beijing)187.9ms443.5ms
    China (Ningxia)211.2ms339.8ms
    Middle East
    Bahrain316.4ms452.7ms
    Africa
    South Africa (Cape Town)337.1ms412.7ms

    Summary

    It’s a tough pick between the two, but here are some key details:

    • Voyager wins the fastest “national” bandwidth.
    • 2degrees wins the fastest “international” bandwidth.
    • 2degrees wins the latency tests for North America and Europe.
    • Voyager smokes 2degrees with latency to Asia-Pacific, South America, China, Middle East and Africa.

  • A lot of stuff broke – Website Corrupted

    A complete archive of my website here.

     

    When I saw “LAX03-VZ91 Service Update – Data Loss” in my inbox, I knew I was in trouble.

     

    Dear Sam Howell,

    We are sending you this email as we have discovered that two drives that mirror the same data have failed, which means any data left on the RAID 10 storage array became irrecoverable.

    While this is an unfortunate situation we would like to avoid, computer hardware failures do happen and we are not responsible for any lost data. Again, we would like to stress the importance of making backups of important data.

    We are now setting up a new VPS for you and you will be able to access it through the original IP within the next 24 hours.

    We apologise for any incovenience. Please contact us should you have any questions.

    Regards,
    HostUS 

     

    I will be restoring my website over the next few days.