Running an internet speed test on my mobile phone indicates that I get a much faster download speed than my ISP broadband connection (yes, that's how bad my "broadband" is). However the ping is far longer/slower on my mobile connection.
I would've thought ping and speed would go hand in hand.
I understand the concepts of ping, i.e. a measurement of a round trip between a source and destination.
So would this suggest that the mobile connection is "further" from its destination, but "wider" and capable of higher throughput?
Best Answer
The easiest way to imagine this is to think of a river - the water as data and a floating rubber duck as your ping (albeit only in one direction).
A river has two relevant properties - size (width & depth) and speed (flow rate). A large river may move a lot of water, but it doesn't necessarily mean the flow rate is high (so your duck might take a long time to get from one point to another). Likewise a small river may not move much water, but it can flow rapidly.
Of course, you can get small rivers which flow slowly, and large rivers which flow rapidly, and it is the latter which you ideally want when it comes to broadband. The two properties are however not necessarily directly linked.
A further issue is that routers on each hop of the way to and from your destination can delay the data transfer. To continue with the analogy, imagine that the river has a number of locks along its route. These locks can hold up your duck until it is ready to let your duck proceed to the next part of the river.
Disclaimer: putting your modem into a big fast river won't help.