HotSpot BandWidth - Witch is Correct?

N7IPY

I have been using a T-Mobile 4G HotSpot to connect from my LapTop to my new 6400.  Now using SmartSDR V2.1.32.  Works well and I am having a great user experience running remote from my work location back to the home QTH.  

As Bandwidth used is of great concern, I monitor it using the HotSpots simple web application.  When I compare what the HotSpot is reporting as Download kb/s versus what the Network Diagnostics pull-down from within SmatSDR reports, the values are very different.

The Hotspot reports an average of 21kb/s while SmartSDR reports 77kb/s, or more than 3 times what the HotSpot shows.  Data is consistent when tested on 2 different notebooks.



Cellular Data compression/encryption/transmission and so on is not my are of engineering expertness and I am wondering if someone can tell me which devices data to trust?  I lean towards the T-Mobile HotSpot as ultimately t-Mobile is who I pay each month for the service.

Thanks, Will - N7IPY

K1SZO

Just a guess, but does the network diagnostics include local traffic?  Not just traffic passing through the gateway.

Jim Gilliam

I always get 77 kbs/sec, also. It stays the same even when I add more slices.

Jim, K6QE

Robert Lonn

Will, I promise not to tell your Boss you are playing with Ham Radio at work as long as you dont tell my boss I am doing the same thing!!!!!! :-) 

paul

The hotspot is including all headers and other background traffic. My bet is that SmartSDR is only reporting the data included in the packet flow. Plus there may be other Flex related traffic that's not included in the SmartSDR value.

This is assuming there's no other devices on the hotspot that might be using bandwidth too - Keep in mind that lots of software uses traffic even when not running. 

N7IPY

Deal!!!

KD3VK Ken

Am I missing something here? These responses seem to explain why the hotspot is reporting the higher data flow, whereas the original post explains that SDR is the one reporting larger of the two measurements. I don’t see any explanation why SDR is reporting the large data flow.

paul

Good point. Looks like a bunch of us can't read

Steve-N5AC

The real situation here is that in SmartSDR (but not Maestro), the bandwidth in use is only for the receive audio and not for the panadapter and waterfall.  The panadapter and waterfall can take an additional 130-2000Mbps per panadapter.  We expect to fix this in the future.

Bob - W7KWS -

You can monitor both the total up-link and down-link speed separately in the Windows Task Manager under the Performance tab.

KC9EI - Dave

Bob - W7KWS -

With the waterfall rate at 60% and the FPS at one, 5 Gigs would last me twenty hours. If you would like to operate a lot like that every month, try the Verizon $65 prepaid unlimited MiFi plan.

I use Visible wireless (visible.com) which is a wholy owned Verizon Subsidiary. For $40 a month, including all taxes and fees, they offer unlimited calling, texting and truly unlimited data capped at 5-Mbits/Sec., subject to network management only during times of cell site congestion. Also included is unlimited HOTSPOT.

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