SOLVED Speedtest Bug

[wardmundy]

After installing Speedtest with apt install speedtest-cli, running speedtest produces a 403 error.

Solution now required: speedtest --secure

 

[Samot]

There's no package called speedtest, it's speedtest-cli just to clarify.

I also wouldn't consider this a bug but more an improvement/enhancement that is needed. I.e. it's not a bug if the destination is not allowing insecure traffic to hit it. Seems more like --secure should be default and using --insecure should be the flag for none secure test sites.

 

[wardmundy]

Typo. My bad. I updated my original post.

 

[wardmundy]

There's no package called speedtest, it's speedtest-cli just to clarify.

I also wouldn't consider this a bug but more an improvement/enhancement that is needed. I.e. it's not a bug if the destination is not allowing insecure traffic to hit it. Seems more like --secure should be default and using --insecure should be the flag for none secure test sites.

You used to be able to type speedtest and get the results without the app blowing up in your face. So... I'd call it a bug.

 

[Samot]

You used to be able to type speedtest and get the results without the app blowing up in your face. So... I'd call it a bug.

You absolutely sure about that? I've installed it on a few servers and run multiple tests by just doing `speedtest-cli` and it resulted in zero issues. Testing with the --secure flag had one result come back with an error and not even the same one as yours.

Considering that the app checks for the closest Speedtest.net servers in the region, servers that are managed by the individual entities hosting them, and that the server picked is random a logically conclusion could be the server being selected isn't working right.

In your example, you got a 403 Forbidden error when trying to contact a random server for the test. That means the request made it to the server and **that server rejected it**. This is not a bug in the software, it's the destination server rejecting the request. If you re-tested with the --secure flag and got the same server and it was a success...that is due to that individual servers configuration.

Now in my test below using --secure, I got an error that I was unable to connect to servers (the one selected) but running the test a few minutes later either a new server was selected (or the same one) and the test ran successfully.

I'd figure you'd be more concerned about the documented bug that will never be fixed. The larger the bandwidth connection the test is going over the most inaccurate the results can be. This tool is documented to have inconsistent results the higher speed the connection is and the author is not going to fix it.

Ubuntu 24:

root@noc-dev:# speedtest-cli
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from Vultr (x.x.x.x)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Rural Telecommunications of America, Inc. (Dallas, TX) [1.45 km]: 2.735 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 1984.15 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed......................................................................................................
Upload: 3989.50 Mbit/s

Debian 12

root@fpbx17-dev:~# speedtest-cli
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from Vultr (x.x.x.x)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Hivelocity (Dallas, TX) [0.70 km]: 1.592 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 3974.18 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed......................................................................................................
Upload: 1369.93 Mbit/s

Ubuntu 20

root@noc:~# speedtest-cli
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from Vultr (x.x.x.x)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Dish Wireless (Chicago, IL) [31.77 km]: 10.8 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 1748.27 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed...

Same Ubuntu 20 with --secure
root@noc:~# speedtest-cli --secure

Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from Vultr (x.x.x.x)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
ERROR: Unable to connect to servers to test latency.

Same Ubuntu 20 with --secure run 5 minutes after the above test

root@noc:~# speedtest-cli --secure
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from Vultr (x.x.x.x)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Metronet (Sycamore, IL) [57.16 km]: 16.368 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 1994.62 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed......................................................................................................
Upload: 4.17 Mbit/s

same Debian 12 with --secure

root@fpbx17-dev:~# speedtest-cli --secure
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from Vultr (x.x.x.x)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Consolidated Communications Inc (Conroe, TX) [304.23 km]: 5.839 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 3818.82 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed......................................................................................................
Upload: 2619.99 Mbit/s