It has been mentioned, but this experiment has been done before by players of all different levels. I think the important thing to note to new players is the concept that the results of this experiment prove.
Elo Hell does not exist but glass ceilings do exist.
Elo Hell as defined as your team holding you back (either because they are poor quality teammates or due to afk's / trolls/ feeders ). This is because both sides can be assumed equal in Solo Queue MMR wise, where you are the variable you control. Symmetry arguments show that on an average both teams will have equal amounts of feeders, leavers, etc... except with you able to make your team have less of those types of players. While unlucky streaks can happen, climbing the ladder is supposed to occur over many games, not just a select few or small number.
Glass Ceilings are your lack of skill / understanding holding you back from victory. A glass ceiling is a point where you may play above your current MMR on most occasions, but you do not play above it high enough to carry the game single handed. This means you are more reliant on your team, which means if your team is playing poorly you cannot compensate. Hitting a glass ceiling means that there is something you must learn / understand about the game (whether it be mechanical skill, game-play concept, etc....) before you can proceed without being reliant on your team. Once you gain this new ability or understanding it suddenly becomes clearer what tools you need to use to effect the game (especially when your team is losing) and you are able to carry your team again and break through that glass ceiling.
The main lesson from glass ceilings is that if you are consistently stuck somewhere, it is because you have something to learn. If you are stuck in Bronze 5, then yes you may play at a higher level, perhaps bronze 4 - 2 (or whatever range) but are you playing at a skill level that can compensate for your team? There is also a consistency issue, do you consistently play at a higher level? If you do consistently play better (but only a little better) that means you will be able to carry slightly weaker teams but may not be able to carry if you team falls a certain amount behind.
As far as I can tell, this problem only gets harder as you reach higher levels of play. This is because as you get to higher levels of play, your team becomes more necessary as it becomes harder to solo carry. This line of thinking is mainly due to "The Gatekeeper of Challenger". This was during season 3 (no masters tier). Players would get into promotions for challenger, but a player (Fabbbyyy) played so often that he was generally in your placement matches. Fabbbyyy would play ultra aggressive no matter what (there are youtube video's). This means Fabbbyyy would either win hard or lose hard (be fed or feed). With the caliber of teams at the challenger level of play, it is much harder to solo carry a game (by this I mean without any of your teams help). So with this style of play Fabbbyyy almost became the deciding factor in the match. Did he rock? His team will probably win. Did he feed like a beast? His team will probably lose.
Instead of thinking of elo hell (where you cannot get out due to your team) think of a glass ceiling (where you are missing some critical piece of information / skill that will allow you to win independent of your team). The more knowledge / skill you have compared to those around you, the easier it will be for you to work with teams of less skill.
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