A desktop application that capture internet speed over a period of time

Question

We can check the internet connection speed by using speedtest.net. This is an invaluable tool to check whether your ISP is really delivering its promise.

However, we can only use speedtest.net by explicitly interacting with it,ie: click on it, wait for results, repeat. If we want to obtain the average speed of our internet connection, we need to do it many times over the course of a day.

Is there any desktop application that automates the above? It may or may not use speedtest.net to check the uploading/downloading speed, but the important point is that it must be able to automate the above things and store the results somewhere so that we can plot graphs of internet speed vs. time and other nice things.

P/S: I am aware of another SU question on this almost simliar topic. But the solution that is suggested in the answers ( such as this one)makes me feel that I either don't understand the question and how the answers can help me, or that question is different from mine. What I want is a simple, consumer-oriented desktop application that simply automates the internet speed checking done by speedtest.net, how hard can it be? But the the tools suggested by the answers above looks so daunting that I think it is reserved for network admin specialist.

Answer 1

TestMy.net is a speedtest alternative. It automates net dl/ul/combined speed testing over a period of time. You can set min/max download size and can set it to perform the test for you every 5 minutes if you wish (or more reasonable 1-2 hours). Later you can go back to the site and check your results, which will be collected over time.

If you need app for monitoring the network bandwidth try Du Meter or NetSpeedMonitor. Both can check current speed and both are able to create reports/logs and export them. Both are lightweight. The real difference is that DU Meter isn't free (30-day trial though), whereas NetSpeedMonitor is. Give both a shot and compare them with speedtest.net to see if they are accurate enough.