More of this Feature • Part 1: Bandwidth and Speed Measurement

Join the Discussion "Does anyone have suggestions for some free or cheap software tools/utilities for testing throughput and bandwidth from the desktop to the server in a LAN?" -MAESTROG

Related Resources • Bandwidth/Speed Tests

In the initial trial, the file download completed in 118.651 seconds, yielding an average connection speed of 15 Kbps. Nine additional trials were run, with 30-second waits between each, with the results shown below.

The Toast.net summary chart suggests these results are typical for modems connecting at 28.8 Kbps or lower.

Test Analysis

 Typical Web pages incorporate a mix of text and graphics; users rarely download a single image in isolation. However, the Toast.net graphic test demonstrates the network-intensive nature of large images such as maps and diagrams. As compression works very poorly with large and complex graphics, the effective network speed often drops to one-half or lower the performance of text downloads. Image download performance consistently fails to reach the rating advertisted by the modem connection.

In these trials, image download performance attained only 40% of text download performance. The image trials yielded an effective speed 25% slower than the rated connection speed (21.6 Kbps in these trials). As in the text download trials, performance from run to run varied by roughly +/- 20%.

Toast.net Summary

Overall, Toast.net offers a useful performance measurement service. By providing both text and image download tests, users can accurately gauge the effective speed of their connection on the two most basic forms of Internet workloads. The dramatic difference in performance between the two also serves to educate users on the importance of compression in networking and the wide variation to expect in Web "surfing" performance depending on the content of a given page. Comparison charts allow one to compare their performance against other users with that their same type of connection.

Toast.net offers download testing of single files only. The service would benefit from adding additional workloads that more closely simulate typical usage patterns. For example, a mixed workload of multiple small test file and images would more accurately represent Web page downloads. Upload tests would benefit Web site publishers and would also greatly educate the general user on the difference between upstream and downstream performance (particularly for broadband connections).

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