You’ve probably been there. You pay for a "Gigabit" connection, but when you run a speed test on your phone while sitting on the couch, the needle barely hits 300 Mbps. It’s frustrating. You feel like you're being ripped off. But then you call your ISP, and they insist the line is perfect. This specific gap in understanding—the "it works at the door but not on my screen" problem—is exactly why SamKnows RealSpeed exists.
Most people treat a speed test like a single snapshot. They tap a button on a website, see a number, and judge their entire internet experience based on it. Honestly, that’s like trying to judge the health of a city's plumbing by looking at one leaky faucet in an upstairs bathroom. SamKnows RealSpeed changes the math by looking at the pipes and the faucet at the same time.
The Dual-Test Secret
So, what actually happens when you run a SamKnows RealSpeed test? Unlike a standard Ookla or Fast.com test, RealSpeed performs two separate, sequential measurements.
First, it talks directly to your router. If you have a SamKnows-enabled hub—like the Virgin Media Hub 4 or Hub 5—the test runs on the router itself. This measures the "speed to the property." It’s the raw, unfiltered bandwidth your ISP is actually delivering to your front door. No Wi-Fi interference, no old laptop processors slowing things down, just the pure data.
Second, it runs a test on the device you are actually holding. This is the "speed to the device."
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When you see these two numbers side-by-side, the mystery usually evaporates. If the router is getting 1100 Mbps but your phone is getting 40 Mbps, the ISP isn't the problem. Your Wi-Fi is. Maybe it's a thick wall. Maybe it's a 2.4GHz band bottleneck. Or maybe your phone's network chip just can't handle the heat.
Why This Matters for 2026 Home Networks
In 2026, our homes are crowded. We have smart fridges, three different gaming consoles, and probably some forgotten tablet in a drawer still trying to sync photos. Traditional speed tests get "bullied" by this traffic.
SamKnows RealSpeed is built into the firmware of the router. Because of this, it can see through the noise. It knows when a scheduled test is running and can isolate the measurement from the rest of your home’s background data. This is a massive leap over the old "Whitebox" days. Remember those? You had to plug a separate little box into your router just to get decent data. Now, thanks to the Cisco acquisition and integration into the ThousandEyes platform, that logic is just... there. It’s part of the ecosystem.
Breaking Down the Hardware
Not every router plays nice. To use RealSpeed, you basically need a "SamKnows-enabled" device. This usually means:
- Virgin Media Hubs: Specifically the Hub 4, Hub 5, and the newer 5x.
- The SamKnows Whitebox: For those whose ISP hasn't integrated the software directly.
- Specific ISP-provided routers in regions like New Zealand (where the Commerce Commission uses this tech to keep providers honest).
If you put your router into "Modem Mode," RealSpeed usually breaks. Why? Because the SamKnows "agent" (the tiny bit of code that does the heavy lifting) lives in the router’s management layer. When you bypass that layer to use your own fancy mesh system, the agent can't see the incoming WAN (Wide Area Network) speed anymore.
The "Fake Speed" Controversy
You’ll see people on Reddit or ISP forums claiming SamKnows is "fake." They argue that because the ISP recommends it, the results must be rigged to show the full advertised speed.
That’s a bit of a conspiracy theory that ignores how networking works. The reason the "Speed to Hub" looks "perfect" while your "Speed to Device" looks "bad" isn't because the test is lying. It’s because the test is finally showing you the truth about your internal bottleneck.
I’ve seen cases where a user was getting 1.2 Gbps to their Hub 5, but only 90 Mbps to their PC. They were furious. Turns out, they were using a Cat5 cable from 2004 that was capped at 100 Mbps. A standard speed test would have just shown 90 Mbps, and the user would have blamed the ISP. RealSpeed showed the 1.2 Gbps at the hub, which immediately proved the problem was the cable.
RealSpeed vs. Everything Else
| Feature | Traditional Web Test | SamKnows RealSpeed |
|---|---|---|
| Testing Point | Browser to Server | Router to Server AND Device to Router |
| Accuracy | Varies by Wi-Fi/Device | High (isolates the ISP line) |
| Hardware Needed | None | Enabled Router or Whitebox |
| Troubleshooting | Guesswork | Pinpoints the bottleneck |
How to Get the Most Accurate Numbers
If you want to actually use SamKnows RealSpeed to fix your internet, don't just run it once.
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First, check the URL. Most people access it through a specific ISP portal (like Virgin Media’s "RealSpeed" page). Make sure you aren't on a VPN. A VPN will encrypt your traffic and route it through a different server, which completely breaks the "Router-to-ISP" measurement. It'll just look like a standard, slow web test.
Also, watch out for "Private Relay" on iPhones or similar proxy settings in browsers like Chrome or Brave. These act like mini-VPNs. If RealSpeed can’t "see" your router’s IP address directly, it can’t trigger the hub-side test.
What the Data Tells You
- High Hub Speed / Low Device Speed: Your Wi-Fi is the culprit. Change your channel, move the router, or get a mesh system.
- Low Hub Speed / Low Device Speed: The problem is likely the physical line outside your house. This is when you call the ISP and actually have proof.
- High Latency at Hub: This is the "ping spike" issue. Even if your speed is high, high latency at the hub suggests a congested local exchange or a fault in the ISP's routing.
The Bottom Line
SamKnows RealSpeed isn't just another speed test; it's a diagnostic tool that finally stops the finger-pointing between customers and support teams. By splitting the test into two parts, it forces honesty on both sides. The ISP has to prove they are delivering the bits to the door, and the user has to acknowledge that their 10-year-old laptop might be the reason Netflix is buffering.
If your internet feels slow, stop using random websites to test it. Find out if your router supports RealSpeed. Run the dual test. If the "Speed to Hub" is hitting your contract targets, it’s time to stop yelling at your ISP and start looking at your Wi-Fi settings.
To get started, head to your ISP's specific RealSpeed portal while connected to your home Wi-Fi. Ensure any VPNs are disabled and check if your "Speed to Hub" matches the package you’re paying for. If the gap between the hub and your device is more than 50%, consider switching to a 5GHz Wi-Fi band or using an Ethernet cable for high-demand devices like gaming PCs or 4K streamers.