Bandwidth Stress Testing

Skype, Sirius radio and streaming audio/video?? Well, I ponder such things and wanted to get a feel for it for myself.

More results, after the jump…

Test Conditions
All applications on both computers were unloaded, except for one browser window for the testing and the application being tested.? All tests performed during a Saturday morning on a nice, sunny day.? Probably not “peak” conditions.

Location: Indianapolis, IN? 46220
Connection: Comcast Cable Modem - Claimed 6MB (~700KB/sec) down and 384 kbps (~44KB/sec) up.

Bandwidth tested from one location using the http://www.dslreports.com/ speed rating tool, utilizing the same bandwidth test server for each test.

Test #0: NO applications running:
* Download Speed: 3398 kbps or 424.8 KB/sec
* Upload Speed: 252 kbps or 31.5 KB/sec

Test #1: Cisco 7940 VOIP phone connected to Asterisk server, transmitting full duplex techno music:
* Download Speed: 3409 kbps or 426.1 KB/sec
* Upload Speed: 208 kbps or 26 KB/sec

Test #2: Skype dial-out phone call to my cellular phone, broadcasting full duplex techno music:
* Download Speed: 3398 kbps or 424.8 KB/sec
* Upload Speed: 231 kbps or 28.9 KB/sec

Test #3: Sirius Radio stream, music
* Download Speed: 3409 kbps or 426.2 KB/sec
* Upload Speed: 253 kbps or 31.6 KB/sec

Test #4: Test #3 (Sirius radio) & #2 (Skype call) combined
* Download Speed: 3393 kbps or 424.1 KB/sec
* Upload Speed: 234 kbps or 29.2 KB/sec

Test #5: Test #1 (VOIP Call), #2 (Skype) and #3 (Sirius radio) combined
* Download Speed: 3291 kbps or 411.3 KB/sec
* Upload Speed: 184 kbps or 23 KB/sec

Conclusion
Again, these are HIGHLY unscientific results and should be taken with a considerable grain of salt.? With that said, it appears that using my Cisco 7940 series phone with an Asterisk for a VOIP call is the most expensive in terms of bandwidth usage, consuming almost 1/2 of my theoretical total uplink speed.? Sirius Radio doesn't require much overhead and Skype did a fair job, also.? As for Test #5, it was nearly impossible for me to discern what the quality of all of the connections were, except for the Sirius Radio..which remained buffered and didn't have a single artifact.

Finally, I never came close to the claimed speed for either up or down streams.? Next time, I will use a different bandwidth testing server to normalize. ?

Next set of tests will include iChat A/V full duplex video conferencing.

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