Build an Internet Speedmeter in Python

In this article, we are going to build an internet speedmeter utility using Python. Not to be confused with the speed test, which tests your internet connection. Speedmeter tracks the current bandwidth.

The approach is simple. Every os keeps track of its bandwidth usage.

Linux

-> cat /proc/net/dev

Output

Inter-|   Receive                                                |  Transmit
 face |bytes    packets errs drop fifo frame compressed multicast|bytes    packets errs drop fifo 
colls carrier compressed
dummy0:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0        0       0    0    0    0     0       0         0
 bond0:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0        0       0    0    0    0     0       0         0
  sit0:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0        0       0    0    0    0     0       0         0
    lo:       0       0    0    0    0     0          0         0        0       0    0    0    0     0       0         0
  eth0:  626546     477    0    0    0     0          0        12    23521     290    0    0    0     0       0         0

Windows

Get-NetAdapterStatistics

Name                             ReceivedBytes ReceivedUnicastPackets       SentBytes SentUnicastPackets
----                             ------------- ----------------------       --------- ------------------
Wi-Fi                               1161133642                 838629        39381324             267615
Ethernet                                     0                      0               0                  0
vEthernet (WSL)                       56507952                  84617       464558916             315009

For parsing these data, we can use the psutil package.

Function to get the current bytes count

from psutil import net_io_counters

def get_data():
    network = net_io_counters()
    return network.bytes_recv, network.bytes_sent

Steps to perform

Get old bytes count
Get the new bytes count
Find the difference with old ones
print(difference/1024)
Update the old bytes count with new ones
wait 1 sec

import time

recvInit, sendInit = get_data()

try:
    while True:
        recvNew, sendNew = get_data()
        print(
            f"\rDownload: {(recvNew - recvInit)/1024:.2f} KBps, Upload: {(sendNew-sendInit)/1024:.2f} KBps",
            flush=True,
            end=" ",
        )
        recvInit, sendInit = recvNew, sendNew
        time.sleep(1)
except KeyboardInterrupt as e:
    print("\nQuitting...")