h a l f b a k e r y
A few slices short of a loaf.
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A digital speedometer? Either he's saying andele or he's not. |
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I suggest something more analogue. |
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Great idea. Technically speaking, you need to try the speed to know what's available, which means doing a bit of internet use. |
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It should be peer-to-peer. You could connect to a handful of nodes, and then regularly transfer 1Mb files full of random bytes in order to test how fast they can be uploaded and downloaded. |
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For example, it could connect to a representative sample of 25 nodes and upload a 1Mb file to each whilst downloading a 1Mb file from each, repeating this every five minutes. Obviously less than every five minutes if the transfers don't get completed within the five minute period. |
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With a good line and a fair wind, you could test at least 200Gb of extra bandwidth a month, both upstream and downstream. |
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As the service users increase, the speed of the internet should slow to a very slow crawl, forcing ISPs to increase their bandwidth provision. |
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Once you notice that ISPs are providing lots of nice juicy bandwidth in a last ditch attempt to get things moving, a remote trigger could be fired, disabling the entire network of speed-measuring devices and leaving all internet users with blazing fast bandwidth provision to allow them to stream whatever they want whenever they want as fast as their line will go. |
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[vince^3] Try it, you'll be thwarted by your ISPs traffic shaping software. |
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+ for the idea of a easier throughput meter. |
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I am now rather taken aback. I was under the impression that the icon in the notification area of the two PCs flashed faster when the internet connection was faster. Clearly this is not so. I'm not generally that naive about IT stuff and i'm really astonished. |
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I have not seen Speedy since the mid 1980s. I think he was expelled from the WB pantheon out of cultural correctness. |
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Well my kids have seen him on the Bugs
Bunny and Tweety Show here in Canada
within the last year, so WB might be
adopting regional discretion. |
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The idea itself highlights that ISPs
usually offer an 'up to' a particular
speed type of service. If that's the case
and it's a
'natural' slowdown then you are getting
what you pay your provider for. |
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The nastier problem is what
Spacecoyote eluded to, when ISPs like
Rogers and Bell intentionally and
dishonestly reduce the connection
speed of users using a torrent or secure
connection, under the pretence of
preventing bandwidth hogging by
'pirates'. This despite the fact that
many torrent users have a legitimate
intent (such as watching an online
stream from the Beeb or CBC). |
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What may be useful is a system that
highlights when your connection has
suddenly dropped in speed due to your
type of use, so that you can log it and
use the details to harass your ISP to
being more honest about their pricing
and shaping strategies. |
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On windows, just go to task manager*, and click on the networking tab. You get a nice graph over time showing exactly what you're looking for. |
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*taskmanager is found in a few ways, either by right-clicking on the task bar, or hitting ctrl-alt-del and selecting it. |
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This method is better than on-line speed tests, because the speed test could be running AT THE SAME TIME as other network loads (background spyware, your videos, etc), and thus wouldn't give an accurate total reading. |
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For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. |
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