Assessing Stream Performance with Bandwidth Testing

Haivision uses the largest CDN infrastructure in the world to deliver your content. Several factors can impact the quality of your outbound stream:

• The ability of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to push a quality stream to the CDN for distribution is a key factor.
• The greater the upload bandwidth you have contracted for and the type of connection to the Internet you are using (fiber vs. T1 copper, etc.) can also impact your ability to deliver a high-quality outbound stream to the CDN.

We recommend running a bandwidth speed test program, such as Ookla Speedtest, to determine your upload bandwidth connection speed. There are typically three data metrics of interest: 

• Route latency or ping.
• Downlink (or download speed) – pertinent to playback workflows.
• Uplink (or upload speed) – pertinent to encoded stream ingress. 

To assess the stream performance:

1. Open your browser to the Ookla Speedtest website at www.speedtest.net. This is a free site.

2. Click Begin Test for a preliminary assessment of your bandwidth allocation.
   

   

   
   This preliminary test runs a local loop test to the ISP's Central Office, which will illustrate your "Best Case" Bandwidth (BW) provisioning in a metered sample. As a best practice, we recommend using no more than 50% of the measured bandwidth for the uplink. The saturation index of 50% is a conservative assessment that allows for the natural variation that is expected on most ISP media. 
   

   Note

   In the case of an ISP media being fiber optic, allow up to 65% saturation for a commercial provisioning of fiber connectivity.

3. Optional. To approximate your routing workflow, perform another test, but drag the location selector to designate the infrastructure point relevant to your CDN workflows. Most large cities and metro areas are represented, many with multiple Data Centers for test selection. Select the infrastructure point closest to your CDN entry-point or DVR Cloud server to derive a result more specific to your product workflow. 

4. Click the Share This Results button.
   

   

5. Click the Web tab, and click the Copy button.
   

   

6. Compose an email to your service representative and paste the link in the email.