Check WiFi Network Performance with Qcheck to Help Improve Throughput

When you buy network hardware, including a hub/router and network cards, you're told that hardware's rated speedfor example, 100Mbps for an Ethernet network, or 11Mpbs for an 802.11b WiFi network.

But those numbers only tell you how your network might perform in ideal conditions; as the saying goes, "your mileage may vary," and it usually does. WiFi networks are particularly finicky and are especially prone to being affected by interference and other factors. Where you place your wireless access point and PCs and how you position their antennas can make a dramatic difference in the actual speed of your network. So, you'll want to know the true connection speed of your network, WiFi networks in particular, so that you can optimize their performance when you troubleshoot them.

But how can you find out your true network performance? If you have a WiFi card, you can find information about your connection by clicking the small network icon in the Notification Area (also called the system tray). When you do that, the Wireless Network Connection Status screen appears.

There's only one problem with that screen: it's highly inaccurate. True, its little green bars and Signal Strength indication give you a broad picture of the relative strength of your network connection. But the Speed indication isn't an actual measurement as far as I can tell; it appears to tell you only your maximum theoretical connection speed, given the nature of your hardware, and doesn't reflect your true current connection speed. When I use my WiFi network, it always tells me the speed is 11Mbps, even when actual, real-time measurement shows my true throughput is less than half of that.

So, how do you measure the true speed of a network in your real-world conditions? Get the free program Qcheck (http://www.ixiacom.com/products/performance_applications/pa_display.php?skey=pa_q_check). 

 

It performs a series of tests, including throughput and response time, and gives you a good snapshot of your network's real performance. When trying to optimize a WiFi network, run Qcheck on each PC on the network to get baseline performance results for each. Then run the test for each PC after you move the base station and PCs, change the positioning of the antennas, and so forth, as outlined in. That way, you'll be able to fine-tune your network for optimum efficiency.

Once installed on every machine in your network, Qcheck measures the performance of the network between any two of your PCs. Qcheck is made up of two components: the console where you run your tests, and an endpoint, which runs invisibly in the background on each PC on which you've installed Qcheck. While the exact metrics vary from test to test, the program works by sending data from one PC to another on your network. The data is then sent from the receiving PC back to the originating PC, and Qcheck measures the round-trip time, calculates throughput, and displays the results.