Bandwidth Monitor

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What Does Bandwidth Monitor Mean?

A bandwidth monitor is a tool for measuring the actual available bandwidth on a local system. End users can use bandwidth monitors to get a true picture of what bandwidth may actually be available due to various factors involved in the provision of high-speed Internet.

Techopedia Explains Bandwidth Monitor

In general, bandwidth monitoring is a kind of subcategory of the greater technique of bandwidth management, where some IT handlers may be able to increase available bandwidth using different strategies. However, in many cases, bandwidth monitoring is just a popular way to get a better perspective of the actual capacity for network traffic. Experts point out that many different factors may be involved in what an end user can effectively enjoy from a high-speed Internet connection. This includes the level of traffic on a network and the bandwidth from any given access point that may split or otherwise reduce bandwidth.

End users can download simple bandwidth monitor applications or make their own visual models with available hardware. Visual bandwidth monitor tools can convert available bandwidth measurements into a series of signals in order to show a kind of bar graph or other visual display of bandwidth available in real-time. Merging some moderately complex software and mechanical devices, users can create bandwidth monitor appliances for use in homes, internet cafes, or anywhere else they want to see a real-time visualization of their bandwidth access.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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