Testing Internet Bandwidth

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

What are some tools that I can use to test the bandwidth of my internet connection? I remember using some in the past, but I can't remember what they were.

[BSDfan666]

I've never had any luck with tools like that, the best method would be simply downloading from mirrors and looking for an average.

If you have a friend who runs a server and is willing, use a download accelerator.. one that makes multiple connections and downloads the file in segments. (Those do tend to show your real throughput..).

[teckk]

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

[edhunter]

you may try iperf (http://www.freshports.org/benchmarks/iperf/) for testing point to point with another person with iperf (iperf has freebsd/linux/windows build).
A also use nload (http://www.freshports.org/net/nload/) and traffic (http://www.freshports.org/net/traffic/)

all theese are freebsd ports

You may check your speed at www.speedtest.net

[bigb89]

Try this link: http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

[TerryP]

http://www.speedtest.net/ is the best I've used but can be a bit flashy...

[ai-danno]

The speedtests mentioned on dslreports and speakeasy and speedtest are decent approximations of bandwidth across the path to the testing point in question on the internet, and IPERF will show you what the connection is fully capable of between two IPERF testing points (meaning you have to have IPERF installed on each end.)

I make this distinction because IPERF is normally a good test on LAN's (testing to see if that 100Mbps between your servers is actually 100Mbps or close to it)... and those other tests referenced above are good for "Internet connection" circuit testing... but beware to the user, those outside tests are subject to lots of potential real-world issues, like problems/bandwidth capabilities on the tested endpoint, connection/path issues between the tested endpoints, and potential rate-limiting by ISP's in the path. If testing for that purpose, I would test multiple times on as many different test platforms as possible to get a real approximation of what your "internet connection" is capable of.

I used to be of BSDFan666's opinion that the "Internet Connection" tests aren't that useful, as in the past their algorithms and approximated calculations could lead to some wild responses. But lately (whether the paths on the Internet have improved or the code used in the testing has improved... or both) I've found they are much more accurate than in the past.

[BSDfan666]

Perhaps I'm just annoyed that 99% of them are Flash and Java.. the remaining ones don't acknowledge my 20Mbit connection.

[anomie]

FWIW, the CNET speed test (http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html) seems to have been relatively accurate for me over the years.