Question

How is it possible to check a users upload and download speed in MB/s ?

Answer 1

To time a download you could do something like this in your action:

def download
  start_time = Time.now
  file_size = File.size('never_gonna_give_you_up.mp3') / 1024.0 / 1024.0
  send_file("never_gonna_give_you_up.mp3")
  logger.info("Download took #{Time.now - start_time}s at #{file_size / (Time.now - start_time)} MB/s")
 end

For timing a user upload you wouldn’t be able to check how long it took the user to upload something strictly in Ruby or Rails since the request is not processed until the user is finished uploading. What you could do is have javascript populate a field (e.g. upload_start_time) when the form is submitted and then subtract the time at the beginning of the action like this:

def upload
  upload_time = Time.parse(params[:upload_start_time]) - Time.now
  file_size = params[:file].size / 1024.0 / 1024.0 # assuming 'file' is the name of the field
  logger.info("Upload took #{upload_time} at #{file_size / upload_time} MB/s")
end

This won’t be precise but it should give you a good approximation.