What is Bandwidth Usage and How Can It Be Measured, Monitored, and Checked?

What is Bandwidth Usage and How Can It Be Measured, Monitored, and Checked?

Every company requires high-speed internet, but getting high-speed internet isn't as straightforward as purchasing the latest fibre optic lines. High-speed internet tools can assist keep data moving, but the bandwidth of your network is controlled by a variety of factors. Your network infrastructure has many of opportunities for poor internet speeds, from network configuration to the type of data you're transporting.

Although "bandwidth" is frequently used interchangeably with "internet speed," there are three fundamental distinctions that make bandwidth the most effective metric to quantify network service. Bandwidth refers to your network's ability to send data at a specific rate. IT administrators can utilise services to inspect, measure, and monitor your network's bandwidth to optimise bandwidth.

Because inadequate bandwidth is often the cause of poor internet connections, bandwidth monitoring is the first step in improving network performance. I recommend using tools like the SolarWinds® NetFlow Traffic Analyzer or the SolarWinds bandwidth analyzer kit to get started quickly with effective monitoring at a level that suits your needs.

What Is Bandwidth Usage and How Does It Affect You?

Before we get into how to manage bandwidth, it's vital to first understand why it's so crucial. Because bandwidth is a measurement of how quickly data is transported over the internet on your network, it is expressed in data units per second—typically megabits per second, or Mbps.


Because the bandwidth potential indicated by your internet provider is a product of your network devices and design, a functioning network will most likely not be able to attain it. Because your network's bandwidth demands are unique, there is no standard measure of "excellent" or "poor" bandwidth. A user on a smaller network, for example, may need more bandwidth to stream video conversations than a person on a huge network connected by fibre optic cables.

Low bandwidth might cause a slew of problems for your company. The most obvious impact is downtime—slow internet access can cause client-facing applications to be delayed, slowing down your business operations and limiting customer assistance. Clients are irritated, and server-end processes are inefficient as a result of downtime. Downtime's long-term implications can be considerably more detrimental. You risk losing brand quality by earning a reputation as a frustrating, unreliable firm if your response times are routinely delayed.

Low bandwidth has other consequences besides slow response times. Web-based apps may stall if there is a severe bandwidth bottleneck. Interrupted service might put your entire interaction to a standstill, resulting in the loss of critical data if you don't take the proper steps to diagnose the source of your bandwidth issues.

Low bandwidth eventually leads to a loss of significant income for your company. Network performance difficulties might cause you to lose productivity or money in the short term, whether your applications slow down or completely freeze. As a result, resolving poor bandwidth is an investment in your company's future. In the long term, bandwidth monitoring can save you time and money by rapidly recognising low bandwidth.

What Factors Influence Bandwidth Consumption?

Understanding where low bandwidth originates is the first step in bandwidth monitoring. Certain devices and web apps are more prone to waste bandwidth and cause network performance problems for your company than others. High-bandwidth services necessitate the processing of huge amounts of data fast, especially when they operate from many interfaces.

Streaming video services like Zoom and other video conferencing platforms are notorious for consuming a lot of bandwidth. Some high-bandwidth file-sharing applications (such as Dropbox) can reduce bandwidth usage by slowing down to account for limited network connectivity. Streaming video, on the other hand, cannot be slowed down—the goal of streaming is to send data as quickly as possible, with no freezes or lags. Your other network devices may suffer as a result of streaming, which necessitates a continual and immediate stream of traffic.

Streaming isn't the only reason of low bandwidth; if bandwidth monitoring were as simple as managing streaming services, no need for comprehensive bandwidth monitoring software would exist. Other, less visible tasks can use up your bandwidth. These are some of them:

Malware 

compromised data is the most well-known risk connected with a malware attack, malware may also be a significant bandwidth hog. Many malware applications consume a lot of bandwidth with the sole intention of slowing down your network and inflicting financial harm to your company. Malware accomplishes this by repeatedly running a huge number of ineffective processes.

Websites that consume a lot of bandwidth

Streaming videos, downloading files, and running operations that require a lot of internet traffic take up a lot of bandwidth on some websites. It's not always easy to figure out which websites are bandwidth hogs, but enterprises must do it before they disrupt network operation.

Calls Made Over the Internet

Audio streaming, like video streaming, consumes a significant amount of bandwidth. Slow internet speeds are frequently caused by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and other phone services.

Problems with Network Configuration

Your internet service may appear to be fast on the surface, but an inefficient network architecture can result in slow service speeds and limited bandwidth. It's critical to build your network infrastructure in a way that maximises bandwidth as your company grows.

These are just a few examples of low bandwidth sources that might impede network traffic and reduce profit margins. Because bandwidth difficulties can come from a variety of places, IT administrators should utilise a bandwidth monitoring tool that can not only detect low bandwidth but also diagnose the source of delayed internet traffic.

How to Monitor and Check Bandwidth Usage

You must first learn how to check bandwidth utilisation before you can monitor bandwidth usage. You can identify bandwidth difficulties by checking bandwidth consumption on a regular basis and examining every potential source of bandwidth utilisation.

The first step in checking bandwidth use is to figure out how much bandwidth you have. IT administrators can use an automated bandwidth analyzer to identify each device's bandwidth utilisation (typically measured in Bps). Your internet service provider can estimate device bandwidth usage, but a bandwidth monitoring service is significantly more likely to provide an accurate picture of how much bandwidth devices are using in your day-to-day operations.

You're off to a great start in bandwidth monitoring if you have a tool to check the bandwidth utilisation of the devices on your network. Managing your bandwidth necessitates a regular evaluation of device performance. Checking bandwidth, on the other hand, is not the same as monitoring bandwidth—during the monitoring phase, you'll need to immediately identify sluggish internet speeds and then discover the bottleneck.

The WAN (wide area network), which connects your LANs (local area networks) to one other and to the internet, is generally used for bandwidth monitoring. Finding the source of low bandwidth necessitates a multi-pronged approach to network monitoring that allows you to determine which devices are creating issues as soon as they appear.

An automated bandwidth monitoring solution is your best bet because bandwidth monitoring is a time-sensitive operation. Real-time statistics and historical reports on bandwidth usage can be obtained using bandwidth monitoring software. A sophisticated bandwidth monitoring programme can identify bandwidth limitations and create alarm thresholds for when your bandwidth is running low. Your monitoring tool can also let you track how much traffic specific devices use on a LAN. Device traffic monitoring enables IT administrators to detect which devices or applications are putting a burden on network bandwidth, allowing them to pinpoint the source of bandwidth overuse.

Bandwidth Monitoring Solutions that are Automated 

The SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA), which is part of the SolarWinds bandwidth analyzer pack (BAP), is a wonderful example of an easy-to-use, automated solution for IT managers wanting to monitor and manage network bandwidth.


You may monitor SNMP traffic in real time with NTA's full monitoring features. Data about network traffic flow might come from a variety of places (including J-Flow, sFlow, NetFlow, and others), and NTA can keep track of all of these and more for complete network coverage.

SolarWinds BAP, an automated bandwidth monitoring solution, can also assist you in troubleshooting bandwidth difficulties. BAP enables you to prioritise vital applications while also allowing you to evaluate your bandwidth policy over time. You may also use straightforward charts and visuals to view your monitoring data and analyse bandwidth use trends.

Low bandwidth is a challenge that every organisation faces, but competent IT management systems can spot the issue as soon as it emerges and implement swift solutions for higher internet connections. To reduce downtime, an intelligent bandwidth monitoring system can detect high bandwidth use in real time and pinpoint the source of low bandwidth. Free trials are available for both SolarWinds NTA and BAP.