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The UDP Upstream Rate and UDP Downstream Rate visualizations show
UDP throughput rates measured in Mbps (megabits per second.)
Throughput (also often referred to as “goodput”) is the amount of
application-layer data delivered from the client to the server
(upstream) or from the server to the client (downstream) per
second. The protocol overhead is not included, so when we talk, for
example, about the UDP throughput rate of 1 Mbps, we mean that 125
Kbytes of actual data payload were sent between two network nodes
during one second, not including UDP, IP, and Ethernet or 802.11
headers.
Just like TCP throughput rates, UDP throughput rates are one of the
most important real-world metrics of a WLAN, because they determine
the end user experience and network-related application
performance. Unlike TCP, UDP is typically used in audio and video
streaming applications, such as VoIP, so UDP throughput metrics
might give you an insight into expected VoIP quality.
Double-clicking on the UDP Upstream and Downstream Rate legend on
the status bar allows you to configure the color scheme and change
its value range.
Suggested Solutions
When low throughput areas are discovered, the following solutions
are suggested:
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Verify that the actual PHY rate is sufficient. Throughput rates
cannot exceed PHY rates; in practice, they are about 50% lower than
PHY rates. For example, if the PHY rate in the given area is only 2
Mbps, you should not expect the throughput rate to exceed 1 Mbps.
In practice, it might be as low as 0.1 or 0.2 Mbps, depending on
other conditions.
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Other common reasons for low throughput rates are interference and
excessive network traffic. The Signal-to-Interference Ratio visualization
available for passive surveys might provide insight into
interference issues. Excessive network traffic might be caused
either by oversubscription (too many clients per AP) or by
excessive network load by some clients. The former can be addressed
by increasing the number of APs, while the latter should be
verified and handled by network traffic monitoring software.
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The client-AP part of the link might not be the bottleneck. Even if
the wireless link quality is excellent and provides high throughput
rates, the wired side of the network might be the problem. For
example, if the throughput test server utility is running on a
computer equipped with a 100 Mbps adapter, your throughput rates in
this test will never exceed 80 or 90 Mbps, despite the fact that
the wireless side of the link might provide 150 or 200 Mbps
throughput. Make sure that the bandwidth of the wired side exceeds
the bandwidth of the wireless side; check Ethernet adapter speeds,
switch port speeds, cabling, etc. All the hardware between the
client and server should support the speed of at least 1 Gbps.
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