[OPLINTECH] OPLIN solves..."My online speed test said our network was slow!"

[Laura Solomon]

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*You know how you get the same questions, over and over again, at your
library? So do we! *
*In an effort to help answer some FAQs, OPLIN will periodically publish
these mini how-to guides.*

"My online speed test said our network was slow!"

If you’re a library network admin, you are probably familiar with
complaints concerning slow download speeds on your local network.  “The
Internet is crawling today!  What’s wrong?”

At OPLIN, this is certainly familiar to us, too.  After all, many times the
libraries’ network administrators end up calling *us *about this kind of
issue.  Some of them have even used an online tool to test the speed of
their network, to have some form of numerical backup when they call us.
Unfortunately, this kind of “data” (yes, the quotes are there for a reason,
we're getting to that) is extremely undependable and even misleading.
Here’s why:

   - The main problem with online speed testers is that there is no test
   control. Yes, these tools are testing *something*, but there are so many
   variables it’s usually impossible to get reliable information returned
   about what exactly is being tested. Karl Jendretzky, OPLIN’s Technology
   Project Manager, explains it this way:  “You’re testing the maximum speed
   that a third-party application tries to measure throughput with, between
   your machine inside your network, and a unknown device on the commodity
   internet with several uncontrollable networks between you and it, with an
   unknown amount of bandwidth available.”  That’s an awful lot of unknowns,
   resulting nearly always in a test that doesn’t have meaningful results.


   - Even if the tests work (which they basically don’t), many people
   misinterpret the results. For example, if a 100Mbps ethernet
   connection is currently at 50% utilization (and if the speed test actually
   works perfectly), it’s going to tell you that you have a 750Kb connection.
   It is not uncommon for people to evaluate this incorrectly.  They might
   call us and say “I’m supposed to have a 1.5MB connection!”  They mistakenly
   believe that the test is telling them they only have that much bandwidth
   total, rather than understanding that it’s telling them how much of their
   connection is available.


   - Testing itself affects the results. Using these tools attempts to
   consume whatever free bandwidth is currently on your WAN connection at the
   time. If you’re low on bandwidth the way it is, running a test makes the
   network appear even worse.


   - Sometimes, the online tools are just *wrong.* In one instance, Karl
   installed a Flash-based testing tool on an OPLIN server.  In tests with one
   library’s network, results varied from 11MB to 75MB.  The problem?  The
   library only had a 50MB total connection to begin with.  It was impossible
   to get to 75MB.  Yikes.

*So, what should you do instead?  Karl recommends these strategies:*

   1. Monitor the edge of your network with a SNMP monitor, or a packet
   sniffer so you’ll know the current utilization.
   2. Use iperf <http://sourceforge.net/projects/iperf/>  (a free tool) on
   the edge of your network to verify your local throughput.  Karl suggests
   starting by installing  iperf on a couple machines, and then to run a test
   between them using just a switch. This will give you a control case, and by
   knowing how much potential the two machines can push, you can now put
   various devices/network segments in the middle, and verify throughput.
   Without first knowing what works, you can’t spot what doesn’t.
   3. Still not sure what's happening? OPLIN provides a (free) network
   testing service:   https://www.oplin.ohio.gov/testing

-- 
*Laura Solomon, MCIW, MLS*
*Library Services Manager,* Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
(614) 752-0792 (voice) | (614) 728-5256 (fax)
laura at oplin.ohio.gov | https://oplin.ohio.gov
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