Work out network utilisation instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
Link utilisation must be judged on peaks, not averages, because queueing and loss are driven by instantaneous rate. Common practice triggers an upgrade when sustained peak utilisation exceeds 70 percent, which leaves room for growth, for bursts hidden by polling intervals, and for the traffic shift that follows a redundant-path failure.
Utilisation
utilisation = throughput / link speed; headroom = link speed - peak throughput
Because five-minute SNMP averages hide sub-second bursts that already cause loss, and because failover of a parallel link can double the load instantly.
No. Wi-Fi and other shared media degrade well before nominal capacity because of contention, so useful throughput caps far below 100 percent utilisation.