I am posting this here as a means for you to test your network or Internet connection, mainly helping players to support GT and diagnose its various problems. If there is a better place for it, go ahead and move it, but GT is the focus for posting it here.
M-LabNetwork diagnostic toolNetwork Diagnostic Tool (NDT) provides a sophisticated speed and diagnostic test. An NDT test reports more than just the upload and download speeds -- it also attempts to determine what, if any, problems limited these speeds, differentiating between computer configuration and network infrastructure problems. While the diagnostic messages are most useful for expert users, they can also help novice users by allowing them to provide detailed trouble reports to their network administrator.
Glasnost testGlasnost attempts to detect whether your Internet access provider is performing application-specific traffic shaping. Currently, you can test if your ISP is throttling or blocking email, HTTP or SSH transfer, Flash video, and P2P apps including BitTorrent, eMule and Gnutella .
Network path & application diagnosticsNPAD diagnoses some of the common problems effecting the last network mile and end-users' systems. These are the most common causes of all performance problems on wide area network paths.
Bandwidth testPathload2 measures the "available bandwidth" of your Internet connection. The available bandwidth is the maximum bit rate you can send to a network link before it gets congested.
Traffic shaping testShaperProbe detects whether your ISP performs "traffic shaping". Traffic shaping means that your ISP automatically drops your access rate after you have downloaded or uploaded a certain number of bytes. ShaperProbe detects whether traffic shaping is used in either the upload or download directions, and in that case that it is used, ShaperProbe reports the shaping rate and the "maximum burst size" before shaping begins.
Mobile traffic testWindRider attempts to detect whether your mobile broadband provider is performing application or service specific differentiation, i.e. prioritizing or slowing traffic to certain websites, applications, or content.
(Some of these tools may not directly apply to GT and they may make more tools available, in the future.)
This is a suit of professional-grade tools that do some things differently. For example, their bandwidth test doesn't use a protocol that will affect the transmission's true speed. I am testing the Linux version now and this is the kind of result that it gives (skipping all of its gobblygook stuff). I'll check the Windows versions, later. There is a Mac version, too.
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Measurement completed.
***** RESULT *****
Upstream Measurement (towards the Internet)
Available bandwidth is at most 0.71 (Mbps)
Measurement duration : 30.70 sec
Downstream Measurement (from the Internet)
Available bandwidth range : 8.85 - 9.55 (Mbps).
Measurement duration : 21.45 sec.
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Of course, you can still use Internet based testing tools, such as Speedtest.net, since they use TCP transfers (GT uses TCP, too). The M-Lab test ignores TCP problems or affects.
I hope you find these to be useful or enlightening.
