I recommend that you use lftp command to test Internet upload and download speed from console. You can run lftp using the ssh client:

[a] wget — Retrieves files from the web (download speed test).

[b] wput — A tiny wget-like ftp-client for uploading files (upload speed test).

[c] axel — Another light download accelerator.

[d] iperf — Perform network throughput tests.

Installation

You can use the following yum command to install lftp and iperf under RHEL / CentOS / Fedora Linux:

# yum install lftp iperf

OR use the following apt-get command under Debian or Ubuntu Linux:

$ sudo apt-get install lftp iperf

Step #1: Find out download url

You need a large size file to test download speed. For example, you can visit the home page of«Argonne National Laboratory Public Software Mirror» to grab Centos Linux ISO file.

Step #2: Use lftp command to test download speed

The syntax is:

lftp -e 'pget http://example.com/file.iso; exit; '
lftp -e 'pget http://speedtest.example.com/500M.bin; exit; '
lftp -e 'pget http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/centos/6.3/isos/x86_64/CentOS-6.3-x86_64-LiveCD.iso; exit; '

Sample outputs:

Fig.01: lftp testing internet speed
You will also get the report as follows:

725617504 bytes transferred in 65 seconds (10.63M/s)

A note about wget command

You can use the wget command as follows for testing download speed:

$ wget -O /dev/null http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/centos/6.3/isos/x86_64/CentOS-6.3-x86_64-LiveCD.iso

Sample outputs:

Fig.02: wget command in action

Step #3: Use lftp command to test upload speed
The sytnax is as follows:

lftp -u userName ftp.example.com -e 'put largecd1.avi; bye'
lftp -u userName,passWord ftp.example.com -e 'put largecd1.avi; bye'
lftp -u userName,passWord ftp.example.com -e 'put /path/to/large.iso; bye'

In this example, I am uploading a file to my private ftp server:

lftp -u admin homeserver -e 'cd video; put /home/vivek/Downloads/debian-testing-amd64-CD-1.iso; bye'

OR

lftp -u admin homeserver.public.ip.here -e 'cd video; put /home/vivek/Downloads/debian-testing-amd64-CD-1.iso; bye'

Sample outputs:

Fig.03: lftp upload speed test in action

How do I test network throughput rate between two Linux or Unix servers?
Consider the following setup:

+------------------+                            +----------------+
| Linux server A    +------- ISP Internet-------+ Linux server B +
+------------------+                            +----------------+
IP:202.54.1.1                                     IP:203.54.1.1
iperf server                                      iperf client

Iperf is a tool to measure maximum TCP bandwidth, allowing the tuning of various parameters and UDP characteristics. Iperf reports bandwidth, delay jitter, datagram loss. On server A start iperf as follows:

# iperf -s -B 202.54.1.1

On server B type the same command as follows:

# iperf -c 202.54.1.1 -d -t 60 -i 10

Sample outputs:

Fig.04: iperf client in action
Where,

1. -s : Run in server mode.
2. -B IP : Bind to IP, an interface or multicast address.
3. -c IP : Run in client mode, connecting to IP.
4. -d : Do a bidirectional test simultaneously.
5. -t 60 : Time in seconds to transmit for (default 10).
6. -i 10 : Pause n seconds between periodic bandwidth reports.

RECOMMENDED READINGS
See the following man pages for information:

man lftp
man wget
man iperf