It is a Fibre Optic network circuit connecting your site to the emPSN network, which is a fully symmetrical service allowing the bandwidth capability of 100Mbps upload and 100Mbps download at the same time.

To test and demonstrate the capability of this you can perform a speed test yourself.  For an optimal speed test you should use a computer’s wired connection, plugged in directly to the managed router. The computer should be a high specification, running nothing other than the speed test tool – so all AV, apps, tools etc. should be disabled.  All these factors can affect the test results and a low specification computer may not even be able to test close to or above 100Mbps.

There are several factors that would influence the minor differences in speed test results. This will mainly be due to the other small amounts of data being sent which frames the overall package, in addition to the actual data being transferred. The point on the school network at which the work station that the measurement of speed takes place and of course any other traffic from other users using the connection at the time the speed test is carried out will effect results.  If for example a speed test is performed on a work station, connected by Wi-Fi or even over the school LAN, this will affect the results.

KCOM offer an on network speed test from the emPSN data centre using the address http://92.43.65.20.  Use of other Internet based speed test tools may vary in performance, load and quality. If your speed test does not return a result within 5% percent of the 100Mbps, there is potentially an issue with your connectivity service.  This should be reported to KCOM via https://portal.kcom.com