Why Testing Your Network Performance Matters – Especially for SmartLink Users

Mike-VA3MW

When it comes to getting the most out of your FlexRadio, network performance is just as important as RF performance. Many users focus on download speed, but for real-time applications like SmartSDR and remote operation, the quality of your connection matters more than the raw speed. Upload speed from the radio is critical.

One of the biggest culprits of poor remote experience is something called bufferbloat — excessive latency caused by overfilled network buffers. This can lead to audio dropouts, sluggish waterfall updates, and unresponsive controls — even if you have a “fast” internet connection on paper.

The good news? You can easily test your network using the Bufferbloat Test by Waveform:

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https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat

This tool gives you more than just speed — it measures latency, jitter, and how your connection performs under load. Of these, jitter (variation in latency) is often more important than speed for SmartSDR users. High jitter can cause instability in your radio connection, especially when operating remotely or during contests where consistent timing is critical.

Here’s why you should test:

• Identify hidden issues in your home network
• Understand how your internet behaves when it’s busy — not just when it’s idle.
• Optimize your setup for better SmartSDR streaming, less lag, and a more enjoyable FlexRadio experience.

Take five minutes to run the test, and if you see high bufferbloat or jitter values. Run it both on WiFi and Wired. You may see a big difference between the 2.

You also need to run this test on both ends. The radio end and the operator end.

73

Ken Wells

Great information, Mike! The bufferbloat site is great.

The test below is also helpful to determine backet loss and "jitter"

https://packetlosstest.com can help determine if you have high “jitter”

Network Issues are often mis-interpreted as hardware problems when SDR's are involved!