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RAX120 - is there a software tool to watch the speed out of the router continuously?
Hi,
My router seems to output the full speed that I’m getting from my ISP when I use Speedtest and others when I use both my iPad and my Windows laptop connected directly to the router by Ethernet. My server is also connected directly to the router by Ethernet about 4-feet away from the router and an app I use shows the speed as varying almost constantly. So, instead of the short sampling given by Speedtest is there a reliable Windows or iOS app that would simply “sit” on the network and give a continuous reading of the speed?
Re: RAX120 - is there a software tool to watch the speed out of the router continuously?
Tests like that are more tricky. For general tests, you could repeatedly run a speedtest.net test, but if you want a constant transfer, then the most reliable way to do it, is to have your own VPS that has a dedicated connection above 1Gbps ( or at least twice the speed of both your home WAN connection's upload and download speed, and then have it act as a iperf server. While more expensive, it is a more reliable way to measure a single connection's throughput over a more extended period of time without being influenced by other people using the same server to test throughput.
Though often a more common method of longer term test is running 3-4 speed tests in a row every hour throughout a day in order to keep track of how your WAN throughput changes over the course of a day. This is especially more useful for people on cable internet connection since the shared throughput nature has a higher degree of variability in the speed, and knowing it will impact how you go about implementing QOS, and various other functions.
Re: RAX120 - is there a software tool to watch the speed out of the router continuously?
When it comes to determining WAN throughput, the only way is to actually measure the peak speed before buffers start to fill, or or frame retransmission's start to take place. For a utility to tell you the peak throughput of your WAN connection constantly, then it will need to saturate your connection constantly, thus rendering the connection practically useless for all other tasks.
Aside from that, windows task manager can tell you the instantaneous speed the specific computer's connection to the internet (during times when you are not communicating with other LAN devices as well), though it will not represent the top speed of the connection. e.g., if you are streaming a video that has a 10Mbps bit rate, then the system will show 10Mbps being used even if you have a gigabit internet connection.
On the other hand, if your home server is connected via Ethernet, then the PHY rate of the connection will be pretty close to what other wired clients will get. For wireless, their throughput will depend on the WiFi adapter of the client, distance to the WiFi router, and interference. A 2 stream 802.11ax client at 160MHz channel width, will get 1.7-1.8Gbps real world throughput with within around 15ft of the WiFi AP (line of sight).
A 2 stream 802.11ac client with an 80MHz channel width, will often get around 600-700Mbps under ideal conditions.
Re: RAX120 - is there a software tool to watch the speed out of the router continuously?
For the purpose of testing I would have no problem if testing for an extended period of time (at least 30 minutes) to get full statistics would not allow other processing. It is a test.
Re: RAX120 - is there a software tool to watch the speed out of the router continuously?
Tests like that are more tricky. For general tests, you could repeatedly run a speedtest.net test, but if you want a constant transfer, then the most reliable way to do it, is to have your own VPS that has a dedicated connection above 1Gbps ( or at least twice the speed of both your home WAN connection's upload and download speed, and then have it act as a iperf server. While more expensive, it is a more reliable way to measure a single connection's throughput over a more extended period of time without being influenced by other people using the same server to test throughput.
Though often a more common method of longer term test is running 3-4 speed tests in a row every hour throughout a day in order to keep track of how your WAN throughput changes over the course of a day. This is especially more useful for people on cable internet connection since the shared throughput nature has a higher degree of variability in the speed, and knowing it will impact how you go about implementing QOS, and various other functions.
