Hello.

I am using Ubuntu Dapper with the pon/poff connection scripts (from pppconfig) to connect to the internet with my integrated Conexant modem (using Linuxant drivers). It seems to connect at a decent speed most of the time (I'm using the full license), but I would like to see exactly how fast the modem connection is each time I connect.

I tried using the gnome modem applet, but it had a couple of annoying bugs that I didn't feel like dealing with (and I couldn't get it to display connection speed anyway).

Is there a command or GUI tool that I can use to see how fast (or slow) I'm connected to the Internet?

Thanks!

--Dane

How about a speed test?

http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Take a look at gkrellm It's an excellent overall system monitor, and includes a network monitor feature

Do you need a plugin for that? I am using gkrellm here, but I cannot see any connection speed stats, just data transfer stats...

To tell the truth, I am having difficulty seeing how any local app can figure out the connection speed without actually down/uploading some data, hence why I linked to the speed test websites.

I seem to recall I my dial-up days that I had to grep for "CONNECT" in the syslog to find my connection speed. I know that's not very polished, but it should get you the number.

You are correct, and what I should have said was that uf you're using gkrellm and start a download of a reasonably large file, you can keep an eye on your connection speed while the file downloads. Functionally it's no different than a speed test (which also measures things by timing how long it takes to move a certain amount of data) but the reason I recommend gkrellm is because it also has a great deal of other useful features, plus once it's installed it'll always be available. Sorry about my previous incomplete response

Sorry for the late reply; I haven't used this computer for a few days.

I found a way to see the connection speed! Here's what I did:

1) I went on Linuxant's web site and read the FAQ where it said what to put in the modem's init string (in pppconfig, or in /etc/chatscripts/<myispname>), and edited my init string accordingly.

2) I edited /etc/chatscripts/<myispname> to change this line:

...to this:

Note that "REPORT CONNECT" must be inserted at the BEGINNING of the string.

3) Look in /var/log/ppp-connect-errors (using the "cat" or "less" command) for the very last line that looks something like this:

VOILA! :-D

The only problem I had was figuring out how to put the connect speed in its own file. I tried putting the "-r /var/log/ppp-speed" option in the chat command in /etc/ppp/peers/<myispname> , but that only made it add this to /var/log/ppp-connect-errors :

...not very helpful :-p

Thanks for the pointers that eventually led to the solution! Any ideas on how to put this message in its own file?

Thanks!

--Dane