Updated 10/31/13: Added link to Knowing how fast your network can move data is a question for more than just tweakers and speed demons. It's a key skill to have when testing out wireless, powerline, MoCA and other 'alternative' (to Ethernet) networking technologies.

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to see how fast the bits fly and it even the pay-for options are easy on anyone's wallet. For all the methods, there are a few things to keep in mind. • Start by making a benchmark measurement on your Ethernet LAN. That way, if you're testing something other than Ethernet, you have a standard for comparison. While you might get 90+ Mbps from an 100 Mbps Ethernet connection, you might only measure ~600 Mbps on a Gigabit Ethernet LAN. • Don't use an Internet-based test unless you are trying to test your Internet connection speed. There are just too many variables involved for this to be an accurate measurement of your LAN's performance.

LAN Speed Test is the quickest and easiest way to test network speed. The only thing it needs besides a Windows machine to run on is a target network share. LST runs from memory on the computer it's running on, so won't be limited by hard (or solid state) drive speed. And it clears cache between writes and reads to ensure that the file actually gets read. Figure 1: Totusoft LAN Speed Test Here's what it does (from the LST Help file). Create a 1 MB random test packet file in memory 2.

Start the Write Timer 3. Write the file to the network folder you chose 4. Stop the Write Timer 5.

Clear the Windows File Cache 6. Start the Read Timer 7.

Read the file from the network folder 8. Stop the Read Timer 9. Delete the file from the network folder 10.

Repeat this process the number of times you entered in 'Test Packets' I like it for quick 'am-I-in-the-ballpark' measurements without the hassle of setting up client and server machines as other methods require. All you need to do is browse to a network share, select the test file size, select the output units (Kbps, Mbps, KBps, MBps) and start the test.

Unfortunately, LAN Speed Test isn't as accurate as other methods, as you can see when you compare its 441 Mbps (Figure 1) to the 736 Mbps that measured (Figure 3) for the same Gigabit connection. It did better with a 100 Mbps connection between the two test machines, coming up with 81 Mbps vs. IxChariot's 93 Mbps. Even with this inaccuracy, it beats the manual method of copy, measure and calculate and it's fine for relative measurements. Although there is a free V1. Ilife 09 Trial Version Download. 1 version, spring for the $5 that V2.0 costs and help support a useful program. NetStress Nuts About Nets produces a whole line of commercial Wi-Fi diagnostic tools. But they have two free tools:, which is like and.

NetStress beats hands down for getting a throughput vs. Time look at what your connection is doing. It's a client / server based tool, so you need to install it on the two machines that will be at each end of the LAN connection you're testing. Figure 2: Nuts About Nets NetStress Gigabit connection test I loaded it on Windows XP SP3 and Win 7 Home Premium (64 bit) systems and it ran fine on both.

Test your Internet connection bandwidth to locations around the world with this interactive broadband speed test from Ookla. Portable Local Area Network (LAN) Speed Test for Windows, Apple Mac OS X, Linux.

If you have a Mac, there is no need to download new software to test your LAN speed. Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion computers include a built-in Network Utility that will test your network speed for you. This little-known utility is buried in the Application's Utilities folder. Measuring your network speed is a lot easier than it used to be. Unfortunately, LAN Speed Test isn't as accurate as other methods.

When you launch the program, it prompts to select a network interface if your system has more than one. You then get a nag to choose a remote adapter via a system notification and a flashing Remote Server IP menu bar item.

Clicking on the Remote Server IP shows you available partners running Net Stress and you just click to select. You can run up to eight each of TCP and UDP streams and set the segment size for TCP and UDP separately. You also set data direction, display units and MTU. While you can run TCP and UDP streams concurrently, you can test in only one direction at a time.