Subject: [tsvwg] PI2 Parameters - more misconceptions

From: Sebastian Moeller <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2021 21:29:55 +0100

Dear All,

PI2 Parameters keeps missing the mark:

"As a sanity check, 25 ms compares reasonably well with the global averages given on Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index page:

• 20 ms fixed and 37 ms mobile (Apr 2021 data); • 24 ms fixed and 42 ms mobile (Apr 2020 data).

Ookla’s data is collected from self-selecting users who use speedtest’s algorithm to find the closest CDN-based servers [Ook21]. The page gives a sin- gle global figure without details of the method used."

This misunderstands how Oookla's speedtest net is created. Anybody can offer/add measurement servers, fulfilling a few requirements (like >= 1 Gbps internet access) that are unlikely for end-users to achieve over their internet access link (but see Switzerland or France where end-users can get 10Gbps internet access) and hence likely mean that participating servers are located n well-connected data centers, but likely-in-a-data-center is not not correctly described as "closest CDN-based servers". I understand that occasionally we need to make do with somewhat sub-optimal numbers, but the very least we need to do is to correctly describe the numbers (independent of the interpretation we base on such numbers)...

Regards
	Sebastian