Netgear speedtest (ookla)

[HELLO_wORLD]

Hi,

Netgear routers come with an integrated speedtest. It is meant originally to be used when setting up QoS, but is helpful to test the bandwidth speed of the WAN connection.
It is a custom version of the well known ookla speedtest.
It can be run from router web interface, NG phone or tablet app, or command line (telnet, ssh).
With command line, it is possible to chose the server by fetching http://www.speedtest.net/api/embed/netgear/config from your IP and note the server number you want.

Example to run it with server ID 31993 :

root@HERMES:~$ /bin/ookla -c http://www.speedtest.net/api/embed/netgear/config -t 2 -s 31993
serverid: 31993
isp: K-NET SARL
latency: 7
upload: 954510
download: 741261
root@HERMES:~$

If this test is accurate for up to 100 Mbit/s connexions, I am not sure it is for gigabit connections.
In my case, I am supposed to have a symmetrical 1 Gbit/s connection, and my upload rate is fine, but download is lower than expected (and both CPUs are maxed at 100% while doing the download part of the test while only around 80-90% for CPU 1 and 10% CPU 2 while doing the upload).
I have read on other forums that this internal speed test is not reliable for gigabit speeds because CPU cannot handle it (speed test from router is not HW accelerated).

Does anyone (having gb connection) reach near gigabit download speeds with their router? Would you mind to share the information here (router model, up and down speeds).

The whole idea is to confirm which models are accurate or not for gigabit speed tests.

 

[kamoj]

FYI:
The Kamoj add-on includes speedtest.sh that can be run from router command line.
With it you can also chose cpu core to run the program in, which servers to connect to in recommended order, and how many tests to do.

Hi,

Netgear routers come with an integrated speedtest. It is meant originally to be used when setting up QoS, but is helpful to test the bandwidth speed of the WAN connection.
It is a custom version of the well known ookla speedtest.
It can be run from router web interface, NG phone or tablet app, or command line (telnet, ssh).
With command line, it is possible to chose the server by fetching http://www.speedtest.net/api/embed/netgear/config from your IP and note the server number you want.

Example to run it with server ID 31993 :

root@HERMES:~$ /bin/ookla -c http://www.speedtest.net/api/embed/netgear/config -t 2 -s 31993
serverid: 31993
isp: K-NET SARL
latency: 7
upload: 954510
download: 741261
root@HERMES:~$

If this test is accurate for up to 100 Mbit/s connexions, I am not sure it is for gigabit connections.
In my case, I am supposed to have a symmetrical 1 Gbit/s connection, and my upload rate is fine, but download is lower than expected (and both CPUs are maxed at 100% while doing the download part of the test while only around 80-90% for CPU 1 and 10% CPU 2 while doing the upload).
I have read on other forums that this internal speed test is not reliable for gigabit speeds because CPU cannot handle it (speed test from router is not HW accelerated).

Does anyone (having gb connection) reach near gigabit download speeds with their router? Would you mind to share the information here (router model, up and down speeds).

The whole idea is to confirm which models are accurate or not for gigabit speed tests.

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

Interesting

Is your version not saturating the CPUs for gigabit download speeds?

So anyone reporting speedtest experience here should mention if it is native ookla or @kamoj speedtest.sh

I am not currently using the (great) Add-On, as I am using the router in a minimalistic way; is it possible to get the speedtest.sh separately?

 

[kamoj]

Download the add-on and extract the speedtest.sh!
It's in /usr/bin

root@R7800:~$ speedtest.sh
Nearby servers: 14200 20783 24388 5235 32926 34024 26852 34441 34679 6061
Extern IP: 125.153.116.11
Usage:   speedtest.sh number-of-iterations kernel-cpu-core[auto|same|other|both|0|1|0-1] [all|*|<serverid-1>..<serverid-7> ]
Example: speedtest.sh 1 auto all
Example: speedtest.sh 5 auto 14200 20783 5235

root@R7800:~$ speedtest.sh 2 auto 14200 20783 5235
Nearby servers: 14200 20783 24388 5235 32926 34024 26852 34441 34679 6061
Extern IP: 125.153.116.12
Testing servers: 14200 20783 5235
Kernel: 0, Server: 14200
--- Test:1 Core:0 serverid=14200 ---
serverid: 14200
isp: Obenetwork AB
latency: 9
download: 109535
upload: 13764
--- Test:2 Core:0 serverid=14200 ---
serverid: 14200
isp: Obenetwork AB
latency: 11
download: 114706
upload: 11742
2020-08-06 06:45:05 #2: 45.15.16.34 ISP:Obenetwork AB, Server:14200,Sweden. Core 0. Ping=9/10/11 ms, DL=109535/112120/114706, UL=11742/12753/13764 (Kbps)
Kernel: 0, Server: 20783
--- Test:1 Core:0 serverid=20783 ---
serverid: 20783
isp: Obenetwork AB
latency: 9
download: 111402
upload: 15447
--- Test:2 Core:0 serverid=20783 ---
serverid: 20783
isp: Obenetwork AB
latency: 8
download: 111307
upload: 11803
2020-08-06 06:46:16 #2: 45.15.16.34 ISP:Obenetwork AB, Server:20783,Sweden. Core 0. Ping=8/8/9 ms, DL=111307/111354/111402, UL=11803/13625/15447 (Kbps)
Kernel: 0, Server: 5235
--- Test:1 Core:0 serverid=5235 ---
serverid: 5235
isp: Obenetwork AB
latency: 9
download: 111651
upload: 13772
--- Test:2 Core:0 serverid=5235 ---
serverid: 5235
isp: Obenetwork AB
latency: 10
download: 100505
upload: 11585
2020-08-06 06:47:24 #2: 45.15.16.34 ISP:Obenetwork AB, Server:5235,Sweden. Core 0. Ping=9/9/10 ms, DL=100505/106078/111651, UL=11585/12678/13772 (Kbps)

Interesting

Is your version not saturating the CPUs for gigabit download speeds?

So anyone reporting speedtest experience here should mention if it is native ookla or @kamoj speedtest.sh

I am not currently using the (great) Add-On, as I am using the router in a minimalistic way; is it possible to get the speedtest.sh separately?

 

[mith_y2k]

I have a gigabit connection over fiber and have a Speedtest both on the modem and on Orbi. The speedtest on the modem is always a little better than Orbi. The last test I did gave me 846Mbit down and 881 up. I have seen the upload occasionally going around 900, but it seems more of an exception. Download seems consistently a little slower.

I have read that the Orbi will give you better performance when configured as AP. Mine is used as a router and the marginal improvement isn’t worth the effort to me.

 

[Bockrocker]

R9000 here using Voxel's latest.

I pay for 1000/50 and using the Netgear app I get 912/54. The firmware built in test seems to vary much more widely, it currently seems to top out for me at about 850/50 but with some previous firmwares I struggled to get above 600 using it.

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

Hi all,

I finally figured out how to extract .ipk after having problems downloading.
speedtest.sh is installed. Results are a bit lower that using ookla directly. Closest is using both cores, but download is slightly less.

Anyway, behind the speedtest.sh, it is the ookla binary that is being used, and it saturates both cores when testing download speed for R7800. Therefore the integrated Netgear speedtest (ookla binary) is not able to mesure correctly for gigabit speeds, particularly for download. Once again, it is because the R7800 CPU is not able to handle gigabit downloads for this test (this is not going through accelerated NSS like normal routing procedures that the R7800 is able to sustain because of HW acceleration).
Unless there is a way to overlock a little by changing the CPU scaling in Voxel FW (like it is possible under dd-wrt) or to compile a more efficient version of speedtest, this cannot be solved.
I precise that did-wrt is great but not using accelerated HW like Voxel’s does, so it is pointless to use it for gigabit speeds.
@Voxel approach is the only valid one to use the router to its maximum capacity. No if overclocking would be possible, it would be perfect.

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

Test with official speedtest command line C++ from Odroid C2 placed on LAN:

root@hestia:~# nice -n -20 speedtest -s 31993

   Speedtest by Ookla

     Server: SFR - Trappes (id = 31993)
        ISP: K-NET SARL
    Latency:     8.13 ms   (0.08 ms jitter)
   Download:   940.33 Mbps (data used: 786.1 MB)                             
     Upload:   938.19 Mbps (data used: 805.8 MB)                             
Packet Loss: Not available.
Result URL: [url]https://www.speedtest.net/result/c/dc69aa90-b993-41d5-856a-2ecd3a8f58a5[/url]
root@hestia:~#

And htop on the router while doing the test shows 10% for core 1 and 3% for core 2.
At my optimal speed here. Clearly R7800 routing using NSS optimization.
Speedtest from router does not and both cores at 100%.


Conclusion:

1) I can confirm that internal ookla speedtest from the router (cli, web or app) is not accurate for gigabit internet. To test internet gigabit connection through the router, use a device on LAN. R9000 might be able to perform as it is more powerful. Maybe overclocked R7800 would work too if that was possible.

2) I can also confirm that R7800 fine tuned ( I almost went through each nvram item one by one) and with @Voxel firmware rocks with gigabit internet as long as it is going through NSS acceleration, and that is why @Voxel is better than any dd-wrt [THANK YOU AGAIN @Voxel for your time and invaluable firmwares]

PS: My test was with aegis ON

PSS: even if I don’t use personally for now, I want to thank @kamoj for his fantastic addon, and the hard work he has put in it. I strongly recommend to install it, particularly if you are not a power user and/or want to use some features like VPN, WG, customization, etc. and want access to full capacity of your router.