[Bloat] We built a new bufferbloat test and keen for feedback

[Dave Collier-Brown]

Tried it, and I really like the header and use of candle-charts!

I got this:

[cid:part1.81AC21AC.758FE66F at indexexchange.com]

I'd like to be able to explain it to non-techie folks (my grandma, and also my IT team at work (;-)), so I wonder on their behalf...

  *   Why is unloaded a large number, and loaded a small one?
     *   milliseconds sound like delay, so 111.7 ms sounds slower than 0.0 ms
  *   Is bloat and latency something bad? The zeroes are in green, does that mean they're good?
  *   Is max "bad"? In that case I'd call it "worst" and min "best"
  *   Is median the middle or the average? (no kidding, I've been asked that! I'd call it average)
  *   Is 25% twenty-five percent of the packets? (I suspect it's a percentile)
  *   What does this mean in terms of how many Skype calls I can have happening at my house? I have two kids, a wife and a grandmother, all of whom Skype a lot.

Looking at the cool stuff in the banner, it looks like I can browse, do audio calls, video calls (just one, or many?) but not streaming (any or just 4k?) or gaming.  Emphasizing that would be instantly understandable by grandma and the kids.

--dave


On 2020-11-04 4:30 p.m., Sam Westwood wrote:
Hi everyone,

My name is Sam and I'm the co-founder and COO of Waveform.com. At Waveform we provide equipment to help improve cell phone service, and being in the industry we've always been interested in all aspects of network connectivity. Bufferbloat for us has always been interesting, and while there are a few tests out there we never found one that was fantastic. So we thought we'd try and build one!

My colleague Arshan has built the test, which we based upon the Cloudflare Speedtest template that was discussed earlier in the summer in a previous thread.

We measure bufferbloat under two conditions: when downlink is saturated and when uplink is saturated. The test involves three stages: Unloaded, Downlink Saturated, and Uplink Saturated. In the first stage we simply measure latency to a file hosted on a CDN. This is usually around 5ms and could vary a bit based on the user's location. We use the webTiming API to find the time-to-first-byte, and consider that as the latency. In the second stage we run a download, while simultaneously measuring latency. In the third stage we do the same but for upload. Both download and upload usually take around 5 seconds. We show the median, first quartile and the third quartile on distribution charts corresponding to each stage to provide a visual representation of the latency variations. For download and upload we have used Cloudflare's speedtest backend.

You can find the test here: https://www.waveform.com/apps/dev-arshan

We built testing it on Chrome, but it works on Firefox and mobile too. On mobile results may be a little different, as the APIs aren't available and so instead we implemented a more manual method, which can be a little noisier.

This is a really early alpha, and so we are keen to get any and all feedback you have :-). Things that we would particularly like feedback on:

  *   How does the bufferbloat measure compare to other tests you may have run on the same connection (e.g. dslreports, fast.com<http://fast.com>)
  *   How the throughput results (download/upload/latency) look compared to other tools
  *   Any feedback on the user interface of the test itself? We know that before releasing more widely we will put more effort into explaining bufferbloat than we have so far.
  *   Anything else you would like to give feedback on?

We have added a feature to share results via a URL, so please feel free to share these if you have specific feedback.

Thanks!
Sam and Arshan

*************************
Sam Westwood
Co-Founder & COO | RSRF & Waveform
E   sam at waveform.com<mailto:sam at waveform.com>
D   (949) 207-3175
T   1-800-761-3041 Ext. 100
W   www.rsrf.com<http://www.rsrf.com> & www.waveform.com<http://www.waveform.com>



_______________________________________________
Bloat mailing list
Bloat at lists.bufferbloat.net<mailto:Bloat at lists.bufferbloat.net>
https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/bloat


--
David Collier-Brown,         | Always do right. This will gratify
System Programmer and Author | some people and astonish the rest
dave.collier-brown at indexexchange.com<mailto:dave.collier-brown at indexexchange.com> |              -- Mark Twain



CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER : This telecommunication, including any and all attachments, contains confidential information intended only for the person(s) to whom it is addressed. Any dissemination, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited and is not a waiver of confidentiality. If you have received this telecommunication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return electronic mail and delete the message from your inbox and deleted items folders. This telecommunication does not constitute an express or implied agreement to conduct transactions by electronic means, nor does it constitute a contract offer, a contract amendment or an acceptance of a contract offer. Contract terms contained in this telecommunication are subject to legal review and the completion of formal documentation and are not binding until same is confirmed in writing and has been signed by an authorized signatory.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.bufferbloat.net/pipermail/bloat/attachments/20201104/ad0c2f3d/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: mbbhaappkdeojcia.png
Type: image/png
Size: 121135 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.bufferbloat.net/pipermail/bloat/attachments/20201104/ad0c2f3d/attachment-0001.png>