[cootsnuck]

What tools exist for people to test the data path of network reliably? In my experience MTR has worked well enough to approximate network routing issues. But it has always felt like a blunt tool given it can't do anything about hops with firewalls.

[jlmcguire]

It's tough. iperf is a reasonable tool. It works by setting up tcp connections and actually transferring data.

I like the work https://fasterdata.es.net/ does. They provide clear guides and set expectations if you want to get more bandwidth out of a connection.