Internet Speed Monitor - part 1 - specifications

Recently my connection with the provider for internet, has some problems.
Running some speed tests from different computers shows really erratic results.

I should have something about 12 Mbit/s downstream and 2 Mbit/s upstream, some tests shows up to 15 Mbit/s-1.5 Mbit/s, others down to 1 Mbit/s-0.25Mbit/s

Not easy to pin point the nature of the problem.

At this point is needed a strategy to deal with the problem and data to be able to diagnose it.

One main tool for this is a speed monitor, capable of :

• be autonomous from other machines in the local network
• capable to be connected to the wired part of the LAN as well as the WiFi part
• run regularly and collect the result
• be able to store the results somewhere for further analysys
• be able to show the  current status of the network
• be able to show the day/week/month status of the network (i.e. the history of tests)
• be "cool" :) 

The Problem

Network throughput is not an easy thing to monitor.

There are many different possible source of problems, local and remote, wrong settings, interference, etc.

The provider, the physical line, the modem/router, other routers, switches, WiFi, etc.

The Network

The first thing is to be aware of the structure of the network, in order to identify possible weak points and where to place the monitor.

My network is not really "domestic standard" because I use it also for work and it has to support different services the typical domestic user don't even know existing.

Because of that the setting of the main gateway and the Mesh router are quite tricky, plus some nuances of the provider (currently AT&T) complicate things.

For obvious reasons I'm omitting details, but the schematics shows already some possible areas to monitor.

Basic Requirements

The speed monitor need to be able to be connected via wire, to one of the three main switch, plus need to be able to connect via WiFi.
It need to be able to store data locally and send them to a server, local or on the cloud.

It need to be able to show locally the status of the connection.

A Raspberry Pi seems a logic start for this.
Already is easy to find projects for the Speed monitor with the Raspberry, secondly is easily expandable and it can be connected to different ways to show results.

Visualization

One of the requirement is to show "real time" the status of the network, in order to know if the speed is low, medium, high.

One easy way to do so is using RGB LED.
Changing color and patterns  is possible to indicate if the network is operating within the parameters or if is slow.

On the other hand, is useful also to see the history of the measurements.
In that case a display allows to report back more information.
Probably an ePaper display can be used.

Because based on a Raspberry of course will be possible to access the data using a browser and see some sort of graphic.

The next articles will cover more details.