Rider

Rider measures network response time, bandwidth, and voice over IP or video streaming performance between any two computers on your network. It can run a "traceroute" command as well. Using Rider you can find out your network's latency or response time from end to end; see how much bandwidth is available to copy files or carry business data; see if your network is ready for voice over IP (VoIP) by measuring jitter and packet loss or monitor an existing VoIP network; find out if your service provider is delivering on promises of uptime, speed, and bandwidth. Once you understand how well your network really performs you can spot problems, observe trends, and plan for future growth, new applications, and new technologies.

Use Rider to keep an eye on network links between users and servers, between buildings, and between remote locations. Use Rider to diagnose performance problems. If bandwidth and latency are good then you can eliminate the network as the source of a problem.

Rider helps with voice over IP and video streaming deployment. Along with measuring jitter (packet arrival time variation) and latency Rider detects sequential packet drops that contribute more to lost call quality than any other single factor. Follow the online help instructions to compute estimated call quality values including "mean opinion score" (MOS) and R-Value.

What sets Rider apart (aside from Rider's low price) is its web page user interface. To run a test, you enter the URL for one Rider test agent in your browser and view a series of easy-to-understand menus that guide the user through setting up and running a test. Once you have a test you like, you can save your test as a bookmark and run it again and again. You can e-mail the test URL, or even make a test web page in your company's intranet.

Free download from Shareware Connection - Measure network bandwidth, response time and streaming data (voice and video) between any two PCs in your network from your office. Rider's web page user interface even lets you save tests to run again as bookmarks. Easy to use and low cost.