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Although internet connection is fast enough (8 Mbps, wireless speedtest), I'm having trouble streaming radio from a certain site. Here's the peculiar thing: the stream seems to run smoothly on other ISPs, so I'm suspecting that this might be a peering issue.
How can I test my connection speed with a certain site or server?
Pieter
Posted 2011-01-18T16:25:20.083
Reputation: 676
3
Since you can download from that certain site, albeit at a reduced speed, your ISP may be engaging in traffic shaping rather than in outright banning of certain sites/ports/protocols. This is a more difficult situation to diagnose, but not an impossible one.
The instrument to do this is Glasnost, a Java based series of tests taking aim exactly at ISPs´ traffic shaping of BitTorrent, EMule, Gnutella, Youtube, and so on. Each test is longish (several minutes), and basically compares the speed of different services between their servers and you: if they detect large discrepancies between service data transfer rates, then they have made it at least likely that your ISP is engaging in traffic shaping.
The test comes from a Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, which, judging from this Web page, is a fully legitimate Institute of the highly prestigious German Max Planck Society. So, while activating Java is always a security risk, you are not risking much from these guys. But pls do remember to de-activate Java as soon as you are done, for your own safety, and especially if you are on Windows.
MariusMatutiae
Posted 2011-01-18T16:25:20.083
Reputation: 41 321
Being highly prestigious is hardly worth any trust without HTTPS, which those guys don't seem to support correctly (at least my browser complains when I click on "Start testing"). So it's about as safe as running Java on any other site. – Dmitry Grigoryev – 2016-12-19T22:35:58.797
Sounds like "ostriches don't engage with predators, they just hide their heads in the sand" – Dmitry Grigoryev – 2016-12-19T22:49:01.283
With all due respect, I don't think that everyone in academia is clueless about web security. – Dmitry Grigoryev – 2016-12-19T23:08:13.200
1however, notice that its no longer active since 2 2017!!!! (Due to the lack of java applets in modern browsers) [http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/glasnost.php]
however its code can still be downloaded from here so you can setup the system yourself [https://github.com/marcelscode/glasnost] – U.V. – 2018-11-13T13:01:35.770
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Here is a free open-source tool that periodically checks your Internet connection. What the tool does is to trigger a file download every X minutes, logs the speed and displays it graphically:
Important: You can enter a custom test URL into the Loggger app, in this case it would be the URL of the problematic website/download.
Note: Speed Test Loggger is stated as a free and open-source side project of the a9t9 Web Automation Team and it runs on Windows 7, 8, 10...
timfredo
Posted 2011-01-18T16:25:20.083
Reputation: 117
Again, this isn't testing my internet speed against a specific site (e.g. google.com). – Pieter – 2016-12-17T09:00:10.703
Sure it does. Click the wrench icon to open the settings dialog. There, in "Download URL" box, select the "Custom:" option. Replace the default "http://loggger.com/bigfile.zip" entry with the URL of an existing test file. e, g. a file from your Google drive (if google is the test website).
– timfredo – 2016-12-17T15:12:06.420Apologies, I misunderstood this a little bit and Superuser seems to have locked in the votes. If I understand this right, this tool relies on you finding a sufficiently large file on the host you want to test (otherwise the test results will be skewed due to connection setup/breakdown overhead) to get a speed measurement for that server? – Pieter – 2016-12-17T18:56:07.383
Yep, exactly. Of course, the faster the connection, the bigger the file should be. Typically files between 2-50MB are good. – timfredo – 2016-12-17T21:08:35.773
@Pieter Basically you cannot change idea after a (little) while... until the text is modified. timfredo can [edit] its own text, for example, adding some comments more, or the steps that the user has to do... [I'm going to add some specification of the program, so you can change your vote]... – Hastur – 2016-12-19T10:24:56.867
-2
Two simple tools will give basic information about your connection to a certain website :
ping
The command ping website measures round-trip time
from your computer to the specified website.
If this seems excessive, use the next tool.
tracert
The command tracert website breaks traversal time into steps
from your computer to the specified website,
so you can see at which stage the slow-down occurs.
For more information, or if you suspect that your ISP varies the connection speed in function of what you are doing at the moment, you could use a broadband measuring tool to measure the evolution of your speed over time.
NetWorx
One free tool for example is NetWorx, which generates bandwidth monitoring and data usage reports. This tool is only free during 2016, so better download it before 2017 arrives.
harrymc
Posted 2011-01-18T16:25:20.083
Reputation: 306 093
I would really like one of the down-voters to explain why. – harrymc – 2016-12-19T22:21:55.803
Maybe they're trying to get that secret silent killer hat ;) – Dmitry Grigoryev – 2016-12-19T22:45:33.310
-2
Yes, go here. It is a wonderful speed test site for internet. You just select which server you want to test your speed with (they have servers you select from) and it tests upload speed, download speed, ping, distance from server being tested with, and more. I'm guessing this could help little bit since with this, you could test a server in the other servers general area.
David
Posted 2011-01-18T16:25:20.083
Reputation: 6 975
2-1 not for a certain site or server, just measures your max speed. – BloodPhilia – 2011-01-18T16:45:41.783
Well I said that you could test from a list of servers. I didn't know if he wanted to check for speed to a server that was the the other servers general area which could help @BloodPhilia. – David – 2011-01-18T16:48:55.447
1Web of Trust says that this software maker has engaged in the distribution of trojans. I don't know if I can trust that... – Pieter – 2011-01-19T21:26:41.937
http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/raccoonworks.com – Pieter – 2011-01-19T21:26:58.253
Hmm, good point. Thanks for sharing that @Pieter. – David – 2011-01-19T21:50:40.900
Have you tested the site from other computers using different ISPs? It could be that the radio site is overloaded and is serving everyone slowly. – Sir Adelaide – 2016-12-16T02:06:13.453
1@moonman239 I have restored the question to its original form. The info you deleted, that streams run fine when connected to different ISP,s is not irrelevant at all: it is very important. It also is the question to which most of us have provided an answer. Please do take these elements in consideration when changing a question. – MariusMatutiae – 2016-12-18T05:20:04.520
@MariusMatutiae "The info you deleted, that streams run fine when connected to different ISP,s is not irrelevant at all: it is very important." Please explain. To me, it sounds like "It works everywhere else". Well, OK, and it's good to know the problem isn't necessarily the server, its your connection to it. The question asks how to test the connection, and that is the question I want the focus to be on. – moonman239 – 2016-12-19T20:34:43.813
@moonman239 The fact that a stream runs at different speeds, depending on the ISP, may mean that one ISP is engaging in traffic shaping (i.e., giving priority to some kind of traffic at the expense of other kinds), while some other ISPs do not, thus allowing the full use of the connection badwidth. – MariusMatutiae – 2016-12-19T22:44:24.957
@moonman239 It also means all configurations are Ok, there is nothing to touch in the pc in question, and the problem must be identified elsewhere, possibly even upstream of the LAN the pc finds itself in. – MariusMatutiae – 2016-12-19T22:57:48.227