NETWORK CHARACTERIZATION

From WiFi radio
to real video player.

Layered measurement — WiFi radio, IP, transport, applications, CDN, real video player. Each layer cross-checks the others.

1
Start
You hit go
2
Measure
WiFi Monitor does the work
3
Results & Analysis
You review & share

Link characterization — and what it means for video

Probes run continuously in the background. YouTube and Netflix tests run on demand and inside scheduled rounds, so you see both the wire and the app.

🎬

YouTube Playback

A real headless Chromium player loads YouTube and measures cold startup time, the resolution it actually selected, stalls, and ABR switches. Plus a no-browser fallback that estimates streamable resolution (4K / 1080p / 720p / SD) from segment download speed.

🎥

Netflix Max Bitrate

Discovers Netflix Open Connect endpoints via fast.com and measures throughput from the same servers that serve Netflix video. Reports 4K / 1080p / 720p / SD based on measured Mbps — surfaces per-CDN throttling invisible to generic speed tests.

🚀

Adaptive Throughput

Round-based scheduler runs 3 rounds in 5 min, 5 rounds in 10 min, 8 rounds in 30 min, then cycles. Calibrated multi-stream transfers (4s default, 15s on GEO) with on-demand “test now” trigger. Cloudflare → Akamai fallback handles rate-limit blocks.

🏓

Latency & Loss

ICMP ping at 5/sec to gateway and internet — 36,000 samples/hour vs ~720 from a typical SLA probe. Loaded-latency (bufferbloat) split as gateway vs internet, and PEP/ICMP-proxy detection for satellite links.

🌐

Multi-Protocol

UDP, TCP, HTTP, and QUIC probes run concurrently. QUIC reveals TCP proxy presence on satellite links — something single-protocol testing can’t show.

📶

WiFi Signal & Path

RSSI, noise floor, channel, MCS, spatial streams sampled continuously. Traceroute every 30s catches routing changes and beam handovers, not just a single snapshot.

Built for these links

Tested and tuned for the full range of connectivity environments

🛰

GEO Satellite

~750 ms RTT
🛸

LEO Satellite

~50 ms RTT
✈️

In-Flight WiFi

Variable
🏨

Hotel / Public

~80 ms RTT
🏢

Campus / Office

~35 ms RTT

Coverage by layer

What each layer is actually measuring — not just how many probes

One-shot speed test

  • WiFi radio
  • IP / path
  • TransportTCP only
  • App / DNS
  • CDN1 source
  • Real video player

Standard SLA test

  • WiFi radio
  • IP / pathICMP
  • TransportTCP only
  • App / DNS
  • CDN1 source
  • Real video player

WiFi Monitor

  • WiFi radioRSSI, MCS, NSS, PHY
  • IP / pathICMP + traceroute
  • TransportTCP + UDP + QUIC
  • App / DNSHTTP + DNS + canaries
  • CDN4 sources
  • Real video playerYouTube ABR + Netflix

Ready to capture?

Available for macOS, Windows, iOS, and as a Python CLI.

Get the App How it works