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Network bandwidth calculators: What will be my WAN's link speed?

I want to establish a WAN of 10 locations with a central server at a distance of 1,000 miles away from each location. How do I calculate the bandwidth of one link, if 1,000 people from that location are accessing the server at once sending data of 1,000 characters?

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By using the NetQoS network latency calculator you should be able to find a better way to approximate what link speeds you want based on the service levels you want to provide to your users.

To simulate 1,000 users, I would recommend changing the Request Size to something greater than 10,000. Then select the various link speeds to review the overall latency provided by the users. With the information provided, it is hard to actually provide an accurate heuristic/formula for helping you. But this should provide you the basics of what you need. It's by far my favorite latency calculator. You'll also notice at the top of the window, several other resources and utilities that will help you with approximating link speed.

This was first published in January 2009

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