Bandwidth Testing

Considerations

1. For best results test with a wired (copper/fiber) connection.
2. The performance of the computer running this test may have a significant impact on the test results.
3. Other activity on your network may impact your test results significantly.
   
   1. For better results, bypass your network during and outage window and test directly from the Network Access handoff.
      1. If this is not an option, we recommend connecting your test computer to your network as close as possible to the Network Access handoff.
         
4. graphs.wiscnet.net uses 5 minute polling and averages, so short speed tests that will fall within a 5 minute polling cycle won't be reflected as maximums on graphs.wiscnet.net.
5. iperf3 performance is better than web browser based tests.

Web Browser Speed Tests

• http://speedtest.wiscnet.net/ - WiscNet's locally hosted web based speed test site. This server has 100Gbps connectivity and runs OpenSpeedTest.

• https://fast.com/ - Alternate speed test hosted by Netflix but served from WiscNet's network (if you are coming from WiscNet)

WiscNet iperf Speed Tests

• iperf is a network testing tool used to help measure network throughput
• iperf is developed by ESnet / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• For more information please visit:
  • http://software.es.net/iperf/
  • https://github.com/esnet/iperf
• WiscNet hosts both iperf2 and iperf3. Both are on the server iperf.wiscnet.net. Use iperf3 if at all possible.
• iperf.wiscnet.net is only available to WiscNet members
  • WiscNet also hosts a perfsonar server, which is available publicly
    • https://www.perfsonar.net/

iperf3 Installation

There are many publicly available guides online. Here are some common examples:

macOS with Homebrew:

brew install iperf3

Windows with Windows Subsystem for Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt install iperf3

Linux - Redhat:

sudo dnf install iperf3

Linux - Debian:

sudo apt install iperf3

iperf3 Test Examples

We recommend using iperf3 TCP tests with four parallel threads when possible for up to 10Gbps tests. UDP tests (not documented here) may cause a service interruption if not used carefully.

iperf3 Download Test

iperf3 testing download speeds from the member's perspective, 4 threads in parallel, for 900 seconds/15 minutes, using TCP. The [SUM] row results in Mbits/sec or Gbits/sec.

iperf3 -c iperf.wiscnet.net -P 4 -t 900

Example

iperf3 -c iperf.wiscnet.net -P 4 -t 900

<output shortened/omitted>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ 7] 8.00-9.01 sec 22.4 MBytes 187 Mbits/sec 
[ 9] 8.00-9.01 sec 24.9 MBytes 208 Mbits/sec 
[ 11] 8.00-9.01 sec 22.4 MBytes 187 Mbits/sec 
[ 13] 8.00-9.01 sec 41.4 MBytes 346 Mbits/sec 
[SUM] 8.00-9.01 sec 111 MBytes 928 Mbits/sec 

<repeats until the test is completed>
<output shortened/omitted>

iperf3 Upload Test

iperf3 testing download speeds from the member's perspective, 4 threads in parallel, for 900 seconds/15 minutes, using TCP. The [SUM] row results in Mbits/sec or Gbits/sec. "-R" for reverse added to this test.

iperf3 -c iperf.wiscnet.net -P 4 -t 900 -R

iperf3 -c iperf.wiscnet.net -P 4 -t 900 -R

<output shortened/omitted>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ 7] 8.00-9.00 sec 31.6 MBytes 265 Mbits/sec 
[ 9] 8.00-9.00 sec 20.2 MBytes 170 Mbits/sec 
[ 11] 8.00-9.00 sec 33.4 MBytes 280 Mbits/sec 
[ 13] 8.00-9.00 sec 25.5 MBytes 214 Mbits/sec 
[SUM] 8.00-9.00 sec 111 MBytes 929 Mbits/sec 

<repeats until the test is completed>
<output shortened/omitted>