Hi, Patrick.

This is actually a sizable area of value for PingPlotter. We have a number of service providers that use PingPlotter in this capacity - with the additional upside that very often some guidance can be given to the customer that is having problem. If there's a bandwidth constraint, PingPlotter is pretty effective at showing that and once you've got it pinpointed, the customer can take action there (and ideally that action will be directed someplace productive and not at you).

I suspect that it's your experience that the problem is usually where the on-site network is connected through a bandwidth constrained point (or a bandwidth saturated one, at least), or where there's onsite trouble of some kind (less-than-stellar wireless, sometimes, or possibly improperly configured local hardware).

This is a perfect place to use PingPlotter - you can run it from the origin point (on a device very close to your video streaming source hardware), and then collect latency / packet loss data between you and the CDN. If you encounter problems, you're collecting PingPlotter data and you can show where the latency and/or packet loss problems originate. In some cases, you may even be able to see problems before the event starts and can have early warning of problems.

We have a sizable number of VoIP VARs as customers. While the CYA role is certainly useful to them, some of them use PingPlotter for early site survey work. PingPlotter Standard can be easily installed at a candidate site (future event site, in your case), and data can be collected ahead of time during a time of day that you want to know about. Congestion / Saturation problems can be ferreted out ahead of time - and sometimes mitigated (with some warning, in the case of VoIP installers). In your case, you might just get an idea of the network stability and typical congestion before you arrive. Sometimes, this gives you a heads-up that the network is unlikely to deliver the kind of performance you'll need (with a bit of experience comparing the results you find with the success of the streaming event).

In summary, in *many* cases, it's a great CYA tool - and it can also be a great way to even make the conversation more proactive than reactive.

Thanks for the question - this is an area where PingPlotter is great, but we're keenly interested in adding even more value (helping service providers that are victims of their customer's inadequate networks).

Best wishes,
Pete