Bandwidth Vs Throughput

Bandwidth and throughput are fundamental concepts in networking, these are often interchangeable used but do have different meanings

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be transmitted through a network connection.

This is measured in Mbps or Mega bits per seconds. It can be likened to a pipe carrying water. the bigger the diameter of the pipe the more water it can carry

Throughput

Throughput is the actual rate at which data can be sucessfully delivered from one point to another

This reflects the real world performance where factors such as network congestion, latency and packet loss result in maximum performance being less than the full bandwidth

Understanding the interplay between throughput and bandwidth

Bandwidth sets the cieling for the maximum data transfer rates, its the throughput the measures the real performance experienced by the users

Thus if we only increase the bandwidth without any regard to factors such as latency, network congestion and hardware limitations we cannot increase the actual throughput in internet speeds

Techniques for making sure bandwidth capacity meets throughput demands

In order to make throughput and bandwisth in sync we can

• Network Optimization: We can implement quality of service in the router to make sure that we prioritize important traffic and manage bandwidth allocation wisely

• Hardware Upgrades: We can invest in modern routers, that have the capacity to handle the bandwidth that is allocated to us by the service provider. Many times we might have a higher bandwidth plan but due to older hardware we might experience lower throughput

• Protocol optimization: Sometimes changing the core internet protocols can improve the throughput of the internet speeds that we are getting. Protocols such as TCP are resource intensive on devices as well as routers, switching to a protocol that is less resource intensive such as UDP can improve speed and throughput

Immediate steps to improve throughput performance in a given bandwidth

• Monitor Network traffic: Use Network monitoring tools to analyse, where network congestion is happening and fix it

• Update Firmware and software: routers and other hardware gets outdated with time, a quick fix would be to update the firmware and software of these devices so that they work faster

• Optimize Configurations: Another option as devices gets older is to optimize configurations so that they can work faster for certain types of protocol and we can get more life out of them

A Deep Dive into Bandwidth

Technical explanation of Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted through a network connection in a given amount of time

It is measured in Mbps that is Mega bits per second. Bandwidth represents the data carrying capacity of a given network link

Thus higher bandwidth means higher data carrying capacity, which could lead to faster data transfer speeds and multiple or more simultaneous data transfer connections

Factors influencing Bandwidth

Physical limitations: cabling, hardware and infrastructure

• Cabling

  • Copper wire: Traditional data transfer cables, like Cat5 or Cat 6 cables can carry Gbps connections but do have a upper limit on what they can carry
  • Fiber Optic Cables: These use light to carry the data, giving much higher data speeds and throughput without signal detroriation

• Hardware

  • Networking devices: Devices such as routers and switches have a max network capacity. Routers that are rated for 100 Mbps will not work for 1Gbps throughput even if we have a 1 Gbps bandwidth allocated from our service provider
  • Infrastructure design: The number of devices and swithes in a network and the design and configuration of these devices also affects bandwidth and throughput

Service Provider constraints and package selections

• Internet Service Providers: ISPs offer a variety of plans with different bandwidth limits, selecting a plan with less bandwidth will result in less throughput for the applications

  • Bandwidth caps: Some plans on offer have fair usage policy, after a set limit
  • Symmetrical vs asymmetrical speeds: When considering service provider plans it is important to consider Symmetrical vs asymmetrical speed plans. Many IPSs offer asymmetrical speed plans where there is a lot of download speed but limited upload speed. If businesses require upload speeds then you should opt for Symmetrical speed plans

• Shared Bandwidth vs dedicated bandwidth: ISPs offer shared bandwidth plans with 1:8 ratio where 1 line is shared with upto 8 users. dedicated plans costs much more and shared bandwidth plans are cheaper. You should consider your needs and choose accordingly. Dedicated bandwidth is always better than shared bandwidth but will cost more than the shared one

Modern Technologies influencing Bandwidth

The role of Fiber Optics and 5G networks

• Fiber Optics: The fiber optic technology uses light to transmit data from one point to another

  • Higher Bandwidth capacity: Fiber optics technology is the fastest data transfer technology known to man
  • Reduced signal loss: It has very less signal loss as compared to other technologies

• 5G networks

  • Increased data rates: 5G has increased data transfer speeds as compared to older 4 G technologies. 5G networks have Gigabit transfer speeds
  • Support for IoT devices: The 5G has higher capacity for connected devices and as such can work with IoT devices connected to mobile networks

• Satellite internet

  • Global coverage: Satellite internet ISP provide global coverage, if you need interenet in the remote parts of the world then this could be of benefit to you
  • Higher latency: The Satellites are above the earths atmosphere and ay data that we send first goes to the satellite and then comes back to earth to the intended recipient, for this reason there is increased latency in satellite as compared to fiber optic connections

Edge computing

Edge computing processes data at the edge od the network, close to customer

Deep Dive in throughput

Throughput is the real rate of data transfer that is achieved, like bandwidth it is also measured in Mbps or Megabits per second

Throughput reflecgts the real world performance accoting for factors such as network congestion, latency and protcol overhead

Thus bandwidth is the theoretical max speed that can be achieved and the throughput is the real world speed thus the max throughput wiil always be equal to or less than the bandwidth that is being allocated

Examples of throughput

• File downloads: When you download large files the speed that you get is the throughput. Even if you have a higher bandwidth connection, the speed might be slow because the server has throttled the speed or because of network congestion and other factors such as latency
• Video Streaming: Video streaming is a good use-case for high throughput. the streaming services adjust the quality of video according to the internet throughput speed you have. So even if you have a good quality streaming plan you might get slow speeds because you have slow internet throughput
• Online gaming: High throughput is required for lag free online gaming, low quality of thoughput might get you pixelated display video and lag which is not good for gaming

Factors that influence throughput

Network Congestion

Network congestion happens when the demand for netwrok resources exceed the supply or the available capacity, this leads to slower data transfer speeds for each participant

Network congestion primarly happens due to: High Bandwidth and Bandwidth limitations

Some effects of network congestion include

• Increased Latency: Increased latency leads to delay in data transmission
• Packet Loss: Here data packets are dropped and requires retransmission of the same data
• Reduced throughput: Overall decrease in data transfer rates.

Modern technologies to improve throughput

Advanced routing protocols

• Dynamic routing protocols: Advanced protocols help routers find the best path to reach a destination thus optimizign the throughput by avoiding congestion
• Multipath routing: Allows data to be send through multiple paths in a network, thus balancing the load and improving the throughput
• Software defined wide area networking (SD-WAN): SD-WAn is a virtual WAN which allows the businesses to use multiple ISP and network services such as 5G, fiber optics etc securely connect to apps

Edge computing
Edge computing processes data at the edge od the network, close to customer

Monitoring and Measuring Bandwidth and Throughput

Key metrics and KPIs

Essential Performance indicators to track

• Bandwidth utilization: This measures the percentage of total avaialble bandwidth that is currently being used

• Throughput Rates: The actual data transfer rate or speed at which data is being sent and this is measured in Mbps

• Latency: The time it takes for data to reach from one point to another and this is measured in miliseconds, higher latency results in laggy performance especially important in real time video applications

• Packet Loss: The percentage of data that is lost in transit from source to destination and needs to be sent again. This reduces application performance

• Jitter: Jitter is the variation in data packet arrival times. Sometime the data packet is arriving early and other times it arrives late, this is called as jitter. High jitter can degrade performance of services like video and audio conferencing and other real time applications

• Error Rates: The number of errors in the data that is being transmitted. Here the data needs to be retransmitted and results in reduced throughput

Setting Realistic benchmarks

• Analyzing Baseline Performance: Atart by measuring the current network performance and establish a baseline performance that is acceptable to you

• Understanding Business needs: Align the benchmarks with the current performance requirements for business applications

• Industry standards and consideration: Reference industry benchmarks fro similar networks and set competitive targets

• Future Growth Accounting: Add salabiliy into your benchmarks and targets in order to account for fututre growth and increasind demands

• Review and adjusting to parameters:Monitor the performance and adjust the benchmarks as necessary to reflect the network usage and the current technology

Tools for Network Analysis

Here are some of the tools that can be used for Network Analysis

• Wireshark: Free and open source network analyzer for network troubleshooting . It captures and displays the data packets in real time, allowing for detailed inspection of network traffic

• Netflow Analyzers: These tools collect flow data from routers and switches and provide insights into bandwidth and traffic patterns

• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) tools: SNMP is a suite of tools that are available to monitor network and device status and performance.

• Network Performance Monitors: There are netwrok monitoring tools that monitor the network health including bandwidth and device status, these tools include zabbix and nagios

• Application Performance Monitor (APM): Application performance monitoring include monitoring network and identifying bottlenecks that affect throughput

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