The fast dynamic measurement of connection bandwidth utilizes a single
pair of packets to calculate bandwidth between two entities on a network
(such as the Internet). This calculation is based upon the packet-pair
technique. This bandwidth measurement is extremely quick. On its journey
across a network, communication equipment and modems may compress a
packet. This compression shrinks the size of the packet; thus, it can
distort the bandwidth calculation using such a shrunken packet. To avoid
this distortion, the fast dynamic measurement of connection bandwidth
employs non-compressible packets. More specifically, it employs highly
entropic packets. Therefore, a packet cannot be compressed during its
journey. In addition, on its journey across a network, packets may be
rerouted, delayed, misrouted, and the like. These momentary delays may
result in a momentary bad bandwidth calculation. This problem is
ameliorated by using a history list at the client that keeps track of
recent measurements. The client returns the median of that list to the
server. That median is the specified bandwidth.