How to test internet connection quality over time?

Question

I started noticing some lag while watching YouTube and Twitch and after running ping in background identified that there was some connection drops or slowdowns.

I called my ISP and they are sending a technician to check it out. I would like to show him some fluctuation in my connection reliability and massive drops in speed over like 24 hours or so.

ping google.com -t

Is actually almost enough. I was just thinking maybe there is a bit better tool than thousands of lines of logs? Something that puts them in chart?

I also have a server at work that has pretty stable 1Gbs connection. Is there tools that can help test specific two nodes then both of them are controlled?

Solution 1

I find pathping to be a very useful utility in these cases, at least if you're on windows. I'm currently on linux, so I unfortunately do not have the ability to verify the syntax, but if my memory serves me right, it's either similar or identical to that of ping.

Basically, it works like ping, but instead of pinging just your target, it also pings every hop of the way. It does this by first doing a traceroute to figure out each hop, and then it'll start pinging each of those, and keep doing so for 10 minutes to gather statistics. This way it'll be able to see if there's an obvious problem somewhere. Source: An ISP once asked for info from pathping when troubleshooting my SDSL once upon a time.

It is worth noticing that ICMP-ping is very limited, so it won't put any stress on the bandwidth, and in most cases, problems like these only show up when there's a significant traffic. Try shoving a lot of date to or from an FTP server or something similar, if possible, one that you can also pathping.

As for utilizing your server, this could possibly be the FTP mentioned above (it doesn't have to be FTP... any protocol will do, really). Additionally, using nc if you're on a unix-oriented system is also a good way of finding additional information for bandwidth behavior.

Solution 2

You could use smokeping: http://oss.oetiker.ch/smokeping/
It will draw graphs, were any fluctuation and drops in your connectivity will be visible.

Solution 3

Another one for Windows is Ping Tracer. It saves logs and has a graph that can be exported. It can ping each hop on the route.

Comments

[MaQleod]

don't ping google, your ISP won't care as that covers network segments they don't control. It is best to target their primary DNS server when testing latency. They cover the "first mile" only, which is typically the first hop from the router/modem.

[PovilasSid]

You are right but I want to show that of the bandwidth and 24/7 connection I am getting ~80% connection time and ~20% of bandwidth speed that was listed in the contract. The problems are just too big. Also I am paying to browse internet not up to their modem. If they are not capable of service should not have sold it. I may not mentioned it but machine experiencing is connected directly in to the ISPs cable. I just want to give them a chance to fix their problems with some extra information. If Nothing changes I just switch ISPs.

[MaQleod]

If you read the contract, it will likely say "up to XX speed" to legally cover them for not providing the exact speed. I did support for an ISP for a while, they never guarantee the specified bandwidth. ~20% is really low though, usually they will work to get you to at least ~75% of the bandwidth. Also, make sure you are not just connected to their cable, but to the NID itself, you need to bypass your IW (inside wiring) completely for any of your tests to be considered valid.

[PovilasSid]

I was surprised to but they do have named. With "to the beast of our ability in context of current traffic" which basically voids the thin. They wired a cable to my apartment. For testing I just pulled out of router I was using to test if that thing got busted but discovered direct connection is fluctuating.

[PovilasSid]

Sadly I am using windows not an option...

[PovilasSid]

I searched a round for a bit and found pingplotter.com Its perfect for whats needed and employs pathping :)

[buzz boy]

Actually you can install on windows, I've did it some time ago, take a look at this: dev.pulsed.net/wp/?p=3

[PovilasSid]

Oh thanks! If I will run in this type of problem will give it go :)

[Jarmund]

@PovilasSid I once made a tool for use at work. The gist of it was pretty much pathping and various other tools which was then plotted into a nice graph. The name was pingplotter. It was a nice perl hack that saw a lot of use inside the company, and probably made it outside as well. I highly doubt it's the same software though, I just thought I'd mention it as an amusing coincidence :)