Welcome to the TelcoSI Blog. These blog posts are usually accessed via links from our main website (telcosi.com) but feel free to browse and search. You can see the full article by clicking on the title and you can narrow...
What are the differences between this trial and the full ISP or corporate versions of proxyNM
We offer this free residential trial service for two reasons: 1. To act on our bigger goal of improving the experience end-users get from technology. 2. To offer a simple way for potential customers to see the kind of thing...
What else is available in the ‘Application Performance’ section of the report
The free service does not offer any of the Application Performance tests. These tests are more complex and are hard to configure for a generic residential service. If you use our paid services in support of your teleworkers, remote offices...
What does the stuff at the bottom of the PDF report (‘Report and agent information’) tell us
This information is mainly to help us here at TelcoSI, should you have any odd results. There is nothing here that relates to the performance of your home broadband service or your computer. It is just administrative information to help us...
Uptime vs Reachability
In the free residential trial service we measure reachability rather than uptime. Our paid proxyNM solution offers a full uptime measurement capability however we do not deploy that in the free service. It is important to understand the subtle differences...
What are delay and latency
The terms delay and latency are often used interchangeably by telecoms and IT people. If we want to be "nit picky" there is a subtle difference but in the real world, they mean the same thing. Essentially it means the time...
Why do I see multiple service providers and/or IP addresses in my visualization
This visualization uses the IP address that we see your results coming from - typically this is the IP address your ISP assigns to the broadband modem at your home. We use this address to look up your service provider's name...
Making sense of timelines in results and visualizations
The free residential trial/service usually lasts 7 days and you will receive a report each day. The PDF report we send you will show a number of result vizualizations. In the first report, you receive there will be just one day...
Why are there gaps in my results
Gaps in the results appear as blank white gaps between the lines and areas on the visualizations. This usually means we did not get any test results from the PNM agent on your computer at that time. Often this means...
Who do I turn to for support
The issues around home broadband performance can get a little complicated. If you are not familiar with how it all works we strongly suggest you enlist the support of people more familiar with IT and Telecoms to help you out....
Typical Home Internet Setup
Home internet setups are generally very similar. Sometimes there are unusual setups but most follow a simple formula. We will try to outline it here and hopefully, you will see parallels with yours. Summary Your home network is there to...
Security and proxyNM
The TelcoSI proxyNM solution comprises a server and many agents. The server instructs the agent which tests to run, and then gathers the results. With our agents running on customer computers inside customer networks we are obliged to take security...
Supported computing platforms for the proxyNM Agent
The proxyNM Agent runs on several computer platforms. The free TelcoSI residential trial service only offers Windows and macOS support. The installation instructions for these platforms can be found here The full proxyNM solution that we sell to service providers...
Power/Sleep setup to ensure good proxyNM results all-day and all night
It may seem obvious but your computer must be on in order for the tests to be run. We want tests to run multiple times every hour of every day so we can see any variances in performance through the...
Installing a macOS proxyNM Agent
To install the macOS proxyNM agent you must do the following: 1. Download the agent 2. Unzip or open the downloaded zip file 3. Double click the installer (pkg) file and follow the prompts. This short 'how-to' video will walk...
Installing a Windows proxyNM Agent
To install the Windows proxyNM agent you must do the following: 1. Download the agent 2. Unzip or open the downloaded zip file 3. Double click the installer (exe) file and follow the prompts. This short 'how-to' video will walk...
RIp: ISP and IP Overview
Description This visualization shows the service provider and the IP address of your home network. It helps us understand if your computer (perhaps a laptop) has moved locations during the testing period or if the home network access infrastructure and/or...
RLo: Loss
Description This visualization shows the loss in your network service to our test points in Australia. As we roll this out internationally we will add other regions to these visualizations. Like other measures, this is the loss of packets from...
RDi: Disk Space
Description This visualization shows how much space your computer's system disk has free. Real world impacts If your computer system disk gets too full then finding big chunks of space for memory paging or for saving files can take a...
RFi: FileSystem Performance
Description This visualization shows the speed of your computer's filesystem (aka disk). Your computer needs somewhere to keep information permanently. This is called disk or filesystem. It is different to the memory where it keeps things temporarily. This filesystem/disk space...
RMe: Memory
Description This visualization shows how busy your computer's memory paging process has been. Your computer needs somewhere to keep information temporarily while it is working on things. This is called memory. It is different to the disk space where it...
RCp: CPU
Description This visualization shows how busy your computer's CPU has been. Your computer is incredible - it has a powerful 'brain' called a CPU which does the basic processing for your computer. Unlike men, it can do multiple things at...
RDn: DNS
Description This shows the speed of response from your DNS service. The DNS service is a network resident service to which your computers pass the name of the thing they want to access and it replies with the IP address...
RLa: Latency
Description This visualization shows the round trip delay, or latency of your network service to our test points in Australia. As we roll this out internationally we will add other regions to these visualizations. Like other measures, this is the...
RTp: Throughput/Speed
Description These show the throughput of your network service. It implies the speed of your network connection but more importantly it measures the whole network including the stuff in your house, your connection to the telephone exchange and the onward...
RRe: Reachability
Description This visualization shows the reachability of your agent from our server. It implies the uptime of your network connection but does not specifically measure it. There is a link on this page to a short article about the differences...