Internet Benchmark software

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul L
  • Start date Start date
P

Paul L

Hi all,

Just wondering whether anyone could recommend me a good quality program
which allows internet speed benchmarking?

Thanks.
 
Hi Paul - Well, you don't state whether you're broadband or not, but
assuming you are, this is the best site I'm aware of for speed testing
because it offers multiple locations so that you can see the effect of
different geo distances. I've found it to be quite consistent and
repeatable.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Some cautions -

1. If you are using ad blocking in Zone Alarm, turn it off for the duration
of the test(s). Other ad blockers may also possible interfere.

2. There are a large number of variables involved in the determination of
your actual speed. You need to make multiple runs of these tests from all
of the test locations at that site, at various times of day, on various days
of the week to get a fair assessment of the speed range you are actually
experiencing.

3. DNS lookups from DNS servers on the net can in some cases consume
considerable time, particularly where bad hops are involved. You may want
to immediately repeat a test so that you can see the effect of using the
cached results the second time. You'll find it illuminating, I suspect. If
you're looking at performance improvement, look into using a local DNS
server on your on machine. I highly recommend Treewalk, here:
http://ntcanuck.com/ Easy install and works just as advertised right out of
the box. ntcanuck also has a news server which has groups which may be of
interest - news.ntcanuck.com

4. TCP/IP parameters are some of the most significant variables over which
you have any control which affect your network speed. I strongly recommend
using the appropriate parameter sets from Cablenut, here:
http://www.cablenut.com/ Be sure that you also download and use the Update
Package. READ CAREFULLY the Help/Readme and spend some time in the Cablenut
forums to get up to speed - this is by nature a complicated issue. I would
recommend that you start with the parameter set from the Update package
which most closely approximates the nominal up/down speeds offered by your
ISP. You can then experiment from there, if you're so inclined, but that
set will likely offer significant improvement over the OS defaults without
further tweaking.
 
Jim said:
Hi Paul - Well, you don't state whether you're broadband or not, but
assuming you are, this is the best site I'm aware of for speed testing
because it offers multiple locations so that you can see the effect of
different geo distances. I've found it to be quite consistent and
repeatable.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Some cautions -

1. If you are using ad blocking in Zone Alarm, turn it off for the duration
of the test(s).

2. TYou need to make multiple runs of these tests from all
3. DNS lookups from DNS servers on the net can in some cases consume
considerable time,

4. TCP/IP parameters are some of the most significant variables over which
you have any control which affect your network speed.
Click to expand...

Jim;

Thanks for the beefy write-up. Lots of good stuff to chew on here.
(Can you tell I'm hungry?)

-Sparky
 
Thanks to you both for your assistance.

I do have a broadband connection. I have installed the treewalk program...
does treewalk require any other configuring to be done at this stage???

I have run the Treewalk control panel and have ensured that the start button
is pressed. I am assuming that the rest is automatic.

I had already had cable nut, but was unsure how to configure the TCP. Now I
am browsing the forums and slowly slowly I'll tweak my system.

Thanks again for your assistance.
 
Thanks to you both for your assistance.

I do have a broadband connection. I have installed the treewalk program...
does treewalk require any other configuring to be done at this stage???

I have run the Treewalk control panel and have ensured that the start button
is pressed. I am assuming that the rest is automatic.

I had already had cable nut, but was unsure how to configure the TCP. Now I
am browsing the forums and slowly slowly I'll tweak my system.

Thanks again for your assistance.
 
Hi Paul - No, you don't really need to do any additional configuration
although you should run Start|Programs|Treewalk|Tools|Check Config and Check
Server just to be sure the install was OK if you didn't already do this.

One additional thing - You might want to download and install the ICANN
Slave-root Addon, available at the original link I gave from which you
downloaded Treewalk. If not, as an alternative you should probably update
the ICANN Root-hints every now and then (in S|P|T|config). (Both of these
are functions used to keep Treewalk updated as to DNS resources available on
the net. I'd recommend the Addon - then you won't have to do anything
more - Treewalk will handle any necessary updating.)

If you want to learn a little more about the technical side of what's going
on, then download/open the .pdf On Line Manual (you'll need the Adobe Reader
or Foxit Reader), and you should read the Treewalk ReadMe for future
reference, both of these in S|P|T|Docs. Remember that the forums
(newsgroups) I mentioned before are available and helpful for any problems
you think you might have or (more likely) if you have questions about
things - don't be at all shy about asking - people there will be very
helpful. (For example, if you're wondering why I only mentioned ICANN when
ORSC and ORSN are also available. :) )
 
Hey there Jim,

I have downloaded and installed the ICANN package.

I'll take your word that it is a good addon which takes out the manual work
of using Treetalk.

Thanks for that.

For the moment that information serves me well... my next task will be to
tweak through at cablenut to tweak my internet connection.

The main reason I want to tweak through my internet connection is to receive
smooth streaming internet TV.

Most of the time it is smooth, but I want it tweaked as much as possible.

alright ciao for now!
 
Hi Paul - Well - first time you've mentioned that. Be aware that the
Cablenut stuff is intended to optimize the parameters associated with the
TCP/IP protocols (principally TCP) and will mostly improve typical Internet
browsing functionality which is where it's used. The protocols such as
RTSP/RTP used for streaming media are quite different, and the Cablenut
improvements will likely not show anything very obvious there (except maybe
when used by streaming media servers in certain specialized situations such
as getting streams through corporate firewalls and such.) You might want to
take a look here for some ideas to improve your streaming media performance:

Optimizing Microsoft Windows Media Services 9 Series
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/f/4/8f47ea6a-254a-421b-9542-c3e5965c8be7/optimize_web.doc
 
I'm reading through the streaming media guide document, so far it seems to
be good.


Will still tweak around with the TCP for general internet speed.
 
Back
Top