Overview
Users will learn how to test throughput using the CLI tool known as iPerf3. The iPerf3 tool generates and sends traffic from a server to a client, or from a client to a server. This is the best option for testing throughput when speedtest websites are showing poor results.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Internet speedtests can fail for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to the following:
- Server location
- Server load
- Server connection speed
- Server networking issues
- Simultaneous tests being run to the same server
This is why it is useful to rule out connection issues that are out of your control by testing from one end of a link to another.
How Does this Test Work?
iPerf3 between two PCs plugged into either side of the link.
- This is the best way to test your throughput. It will rule out any other networking equipment on your network and allow you to test only that wireless link.
- This test will also be able to show any limiting factors on your LAN connections because it will test through the LAN interface on one radio, through the LAN interface of the other radio, without causing too much overhead on the radios themselves.
Steps: How to Perform the Test
1. Visit https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php#windows to download the current version of iPerf3 for your Windows PCs.
2. Once you download the file, you will need to extract it. You may put the extracted contents on C:\.
3. Once you have downloaded iPerf3 and extracted the files to C:\, you can open the command prompt and navigate to the directory that you saved iPerf3 to.
cd C:\
4. Now run iperf3.exe as a server on one PC.
iperf3.exe -s
5. Run iperf3.exe as the client on the other PC.
iperf3.exe -c 203.0.113.26 -t 100 -P 5
iPerf3 server running on the opposite PC. You will need to change the IP address to match that of the PC that you started the server on.This will start an iPerf3 TCP throughput test and run for 100 seconds while showing the results every one second.