Inter-continental mobile performance testing!

I figured I might as well be productive whilst I was on my way to the airport so I set my phone (Android HTC Desire) to do some automated performance testing using 3PMobile.com’s Browser2.

Since I am on my way to #VelocityConf what better site to test that http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011?

I set it up as the first test on my test page here - http://demo.seriticonsulting.com/3pmobile/index.htm and you can see the Javascript required for the testing below. It tests the URL and then waits 120secs and loops back around. I can stop it at any time from the app UI on the phone.

<script>

function do_velocity_loop_test()

{

var urls = ""; // The list of URLS to AUTOTEST

urls += "http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011\n";

urls += "loop delay 120\n";

js5o9.autotest( urls );

}

</script>

You can see the tests following the route from my home in Guildford, Surrey, to London Heathrow Terminal (about a 35 min drive when the traffic is good).

The results averaged out at around 10secs or so for the 620Kb, 44 object page.

Fast forward about 12 hours and I am in the taxi from SFO to the Avatar Hotel, Santa Clara which will be my home for the next week.

So what’s the performance like roaming on AT&T?

Utterly abysmal is the answer!

My first test, with a reasonable signal strength of 26 ASU, came in 3x slower at 30secs.

The big culprit here, compared to my Vodafone network in the UK, is that the AT&T network still uses the older EDGE network, instead of the much faster HSDPA.

_di_cellular_network_type	=>	EDGE
_di_cell_tower_current_time	=>	06/12/2011 03:05:55 PM PDT
_di_cell_tower_current_id	=>	GSM cid/7651 lac/6039 mcc/310 mnc/410
_di_cell_tower_current_signal_strength	=>	26 asu

You can see the test location below as we drove out of the SFO carpark in the taxi.

The other tests just got slower and slower, taking nearly 2 mins in some cases!

If we look at a test that took 1m50sec we can see from the Webkit timing events (see table at the bottom of the blog) that basically no external events were registered between ~11 seconds and ~88seconds.

Basically the AT&T network took a holiday…

Anyway, once I got to the hotel I decided to do a “back to back” test of the Avatar hotel’s free speed-limited 512Kbps Wifi with the mobile network whilst sat around the pool… and the wifi romped it in with 16.49secs compared to the 55sec it took over the mobile network (still Edge, 16 ASU).

I look forward to doing some more testing later in the week!

Standard WebKit Timing Events (for the 1m50sec test on AT&T)

#	Time Absolute	Time Relative	Time Since Last Event	Event Name	Event Description
1	1307916760779	0	0	loadUrl	http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011/
2	1307916760786	7	7	onNewPicture	hitcount=1 width=320 height=576
3	1307916760789	10	3	onDraw	hitcount=1
4	1307916760801	22	12	onPageStarted	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011/]
5	1307916760833	54	32	onProgressChanged	10 percent
6	1307916760833	54	0	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011/]
7	1307916760977	198	144	onDraw	hitcount=2
8	1307916763523	2744	2546	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/stylesheets/general.css?1307677801]
9	1307916767245	6466	3722	onLoadResource	URL=[http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.2.6/jquery.min.js]
10	1307916767257	6478	12	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/javascripts/application.js?1307677801]
11	1307916767311	6532	54	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/javascripts/ui/minified/jquery.ui.all.min.js?1307677801]
12	1307916767316	6537	5	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/javascripts/ui-ext/ui.bgiframe.min.js?1307677801]
13	1307916767320	6541	4	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/javascripts/ui-ext/ui.stars.pack.js?1307677801]
14	1307916767324	6545	4	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/javascripts/ui-ext/ui.dimensions.js?1307677801]
15	1307916767329	6550	5	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/javascripts/ext/jquery.form.min.js?1307677801]
16	1307916767376	6597	47	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011/public/template/css/228/1307121630]
17	1307916767379	6600	3	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/2011v1_common.js]
18	1307916767383	6604	4	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011/public/template/js/228/1307121630]
19	1307916767390	6611	7	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/2011v1_css.css?061011]
20	1307916767437	6658	47	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_css.css?03]
21	1307916767441	6662	4	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/javascripts/superfish.js]
22	1307916767446	6667	5	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/live_modalpanel.js]
23	1307916767500	6721	54	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/print_css.css]
24	1307916767507	6728	7	onProgressChanged	13 percent
25	1307916767907	7128	400	onProgressChanged	14 percent
26	1307916768995	8216	1088	onProgressChanged	15 percent
27	1307916769503	8724	508	onProgressChanged	16 percent
28	1307916770462	9683	959	onProgressChanged	17 percent
29	1307916771234	10455	772	onProgressChanged	18 percent
30	1307916771512	10733	278	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/stylesheets/themes/enation/enation.all.css]
31	1307916771528	10749	16	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/stylesheets/ui.stars.css]
32	1307916771580	10801	52	onLoadResource	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/stylesheets/global.css]
33	1307916771892	11113	312	onProgressChanged	19 percent
34	1307916772485	11706	593	onProgressChanged	20 percent
35	1307916772842	12063	357	onProgressChanged	21 percent
36	1307916777808	17029	4966	onProgressChanged	22 percent
37	1307916779863	19084	2055	onProgressChanged	23 percent
38	1307916780821	20042	958	onProgressChanged	24 percent
39	1307916781972	21193	1151	onProgressChanged	25 percent
40	1307916782446	21667	474	onProgressChanged	26 percent
41	1307916782924	22145	478	onProgressChanged	27 percent
42	1307916783335	22556	411	onProgressChanged	28 percent
43	1307916784698	23919	1363	onProgressChanged	29 percent
44	1307916785185	24406	487	onProgressChanged	30 percent
45	1307916785907	25128	722	onProgressChanged	31 percent
46	1307916786765	25986	858	onProgressChanged	32 percent
47	1307916787723	26944	958	onProgressChanged	33 percent
48	1307916788583	27804	860	onDraw	hitcount=3
49	1307916788871	28092	288	onProgressChanged	34 percent
50	1307916789702	28923	831	onProgressChanged	35 percent
51	1307916792961	32182	3259	onProgressChanged	36 percent
52	1307916793519	32740	558	onProgressChanged	37 percent
53	1307916795115	34336	1596	onProgressChanged	38 percent
54	1307916796452	35673	1337	onProgressChanged	39 percent
55	1307916797059	36280	607	onProgressChanged	40 percent
56	1307916798782	38003	1723	onProgressChanged	41 percent
57	1307916800115	39336	1333	onProgressChanged	42 percent
58	1307916841236	80457	41121	onReceivedTitle	Velocity 2011 - OReilly Conferences, June 14 - 16, 2011, Santa Clara
59	1307916841294	80515	58	onReceivedTouchIconUrl	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/orm-iphone-icon.png]
60	1307916841362	80583	68	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/scripts_functions.js?012611]
61	1307916841444	80665	82	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/scripts_init.js?012611]
62	1307916841527	80748	83	onLoadResource	URL=[http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js]
63	1307916841532	80753	5	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_mobile_header.jpg]
64	1307916841599	80820	67	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/14/web2008_live_widget_top.gif]
65	1307916841604	80825	5	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_bullet.png]
66	1307916841656	80877	52	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_footer_top.gif]
67	1307916841698	80919	42	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/oreilly_conferences_banner.gif]
68	1307916841702	80923	4	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/banner_oreilly_ug.gif]
69	1307916841743	80964	41	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_banner_webmetrics.gif]
70	1307916841785	81006	42	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_cisco_cloud_banner.gif]
71	1307916841827	81048	42	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/makerfaire11_ny_banner_call.gif]
72	1307916841833	81054	6	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/keynote_728x90.jpg]
73	1307916841875	81096	42	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_cotendo_banner.jpg]
74	1307916841918	81139	43	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventprovider/1/oreilly-white-logo-footer-transparent.png]
75	1307916841965	81186	47	onNewPicture	hitcount=2 width=930 height=2493
76	1307916841974	81195	9	onDraw	hitcount=4
77	1307916841984	81205	10	onDraw	hitcount=5
78	1307916842991	82212	1007	onProgressChanged	44 percent
79	1307916843438	82659	447	onProgressChanged	45 percent
80	1307916843500	82721	62	onProgressChanged	48 percent
81	1307916843584	82805	84	onProgressChanged	49 percent
82	1307916843673	82894	89	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.oreilly.com/js/s_code.js]
83	1307916844135	83356	462	onProgressChanged	51 percent
84	1307916844265	83486	130	onNewPicture	hitcount=3 width=930 height=2493
85	1307916844285	83506	20	onDraw	hitcount=6
86	1307916844288	83509	3	onNewPicture	hitcount=4 width=930 height=2493
87	1307916844293	83514	5	onNewPicture	hitcount=5 width=930 height=2493
88	1307916844295	83516	2	onDraw	hitcount=7
89	1307916844631	83852	336	onProgressChanged	52 percent
90	1307916844633	83854	2	onNewPicture	hitcount=6 width=930 height=2493
91	1307916844666	83887	33	onDraw	hitcount=8
92	1307916844908	84129	242	onProgressChanged	53 percent
93	1307916845187	84408	279	onProgressChanged	54 percent
94	1307916845273	84494	86	onNewPicture	hitcount=7 width=930 height=2493
95	1307916845291	84512	18	onDraw	hitcount=9
96	1307916845515	84736	224	onProgressChanged	55 percent
97	1307916845519	84740	4	onNewPicture	hitcount=8 width=930 height=2493
98	1307916845552	84773	33	onDraw	hitcount=10
99	1307916845630	84851	78	onNewPicture	hitcount=9 width=930 height=2493
100	1307916845641	84862	11	onDraw	hitcount=11
101	1307916846021	85242	380	onProgressChanged	56 percent
102	1307916846145	85366	124	onProgressChanged	57 percent
103	1307916846598	85819	453	onProgressChanged	59 percent
104	1307916848064	87285	1466	onProgressChanged	60 percent
105	1307916848171	87392	107	onProgressChanged	62 percent
106	1307916848780	88001	609	onProgressChanged	64 percent
107	1307916848821	88042	41	onProgressChanged	68 percent
108	1307916848822	88043	1	onNewPicture	hitcount=10 width=930 height=2493
109	1307916849562	88783	740	onProgressChanged	71 percent
110	1307916849574	88795	12	onNewPicture	hitcount=11 width=930 height=2493
111	1307916849846	89067	272	onProgressChanged	72 percent
112	1307916851545	90766	1699	onProgressChanged	73 percent
113	1307916863023	102244	11478	onProgressChanged	74 percent
114	1307916863825	103046	802	onProgressChanged	75 percent
115	1307916864185	103406	360	onProgressChanged	76 percent
116	1307916864312	103533	127	onProgressChanged	77 percent
117	1307916864867	104088	555	onProgressChanged	79 percent
118	1307916865601	104822	734	onProgressChanged	80 percent
119	1307916866165	105386	564	onProgressChanged	81 percent
120	1307916866387	105608	222	onProgressChanged	82 percent
121	1307916866555	105776	168	onProgressChanged	83 percent
122	1307916866711	105932	156	onProgressChanged	85 percent
123	1307916867097	106318	386	onLoadResource	URL=[http://metrics.oreilly.com/b/ss/orvelocity,orglobal/1/H.20.2/s39131448343396?AQB=1&ndh=1&t=12/5/2011%2015%3A14%3A26%200%20420&ns=oreilly&pageName=confs%3Avelocity2011%20home&g=http%3A//velocityconf.com/velocity2011/&cc=USD&ch=confs&events=event2&c1=co... (Continued) Total length = 755
124	1307916867181	106402	84	onLoadResource	URL=[http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmwv=1.4&utmn=1483074935&utmcs=UTF-8&utmsr=320x514&utmsc=32-bit&utmul=en&utmje=0&utmfl=10.1%20r92&utmdt=Velocity%202011%20-%20OReilly%20Conferences%2C%20June%2014%20-%2016%2C%202011%2C%20Santa%20Clara&utmhn=v... (Continued) Total length = 508
125	1307916867272	106493	91	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_tab_social_open.png]
126	1307916867339	106560	67	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_tab_video_open.png]
127	1307916867409	106630	70	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/velocity2011_tab_speakers_open.png]
128	1307916867474	106695	65	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventseries/11/velocity_stay_connected_bottom.png]
129	1307916867531	106752	57	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventseries/11/velocity_stay_connected_top.png]
130	1307916867587	106808	56	onLoadResource	URL=[http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/eventseries/11/velocity_stay_connected_bg.gif]
131	1307916869991	109212	2404	onProgressChanged	86 percent
132	1307916871391	110612	1400	onProgressChanged	87 percent
133	1307916871441	110662	50	onReceivedIcon	Width=16:Height=16
134	1307916871493	110714	52	onPageFinished	URL=[http://velocityconf.com/velocity2011/]