Speedtest.net
Encyclopedia
Speedtest.net is a free broadband connection
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....

 analysis website founded by Ookla Net Metrics in 2006. The company is based in Kalispell, Montana
Kalispell, Montana
Kalispell is a city in and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2010 census put Kalispell's population at 19,927 up 5,704 over 2000. At 40.1% this is the largest percentage of growth of any incorporated city in Montana. Kalispell is the largest city and commercial center...

. Users can test their internet speed against hundreds of geographically dispersed servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...

 around the world. At the end of each test, users are presented with their download (the speed of data from the server to your computer) and upload (the speed of sending data from your computer to the server) bandwidth speeds. The tests are performed completely within your web browser over HTTP (just like normal web browsing). Since its inception, over 2.8 billion speed tests have been conducted on Speedtest.net.

The site also offers detailed statistics based on users' test results. This data has been used by numerous publications in the analysis of internet speed around the world.

History

The owner and operator of Speedtest.net, Ookla Net Metrics, was established in 2006 by Mike Apgar (founder and previous CEO of Speakeasy
Speakeasy (ISP)
Speakeasy, Inc. is a broadband internet service provider and Voice over IP carrier based in Seattle, Washington, United States. They are known for their liberal usage policies for home users whereby subscribers are explicitly permitted to run any number of serversand are permitted to resell their...

) and a small team of other Speakeasy employees.

Technology

The technology behind Speedtest.net is identical to that of the Ookla Speed Test which is provided to a wide variety of companies and organizations on a licensed basis. Speedtest.net Mini is a free stripped-down version of the speed test technology used on Speedtest.net that users can run on their own web server. Together, over 20 million speed tests are generated each month using Ookla's software.

Data

Top 5 Countries: Download Speed
Position Country Average
Download Speed
1  Lithuania 32.40 Mbit/s
Data rate units
In telecommunications, bit rate or data transfer rate is the average number of bits, characters, or blocks per unit time passing between equipment in a data transmission system. This is typically measured in multiples of the unit bit per second or byte per second.- Avoiding confusion :To be as...

2  South Korea 29.47 Mbit/s
3  Sweden 24.96 Mbit/s
4  Latvia 24.93 Mbit/s
5  Kingdom of Romania 24.05 Mbit/s


Top 5 Countries: Upload Speed
Position Country Average
Upload Speed
1  South Korea 26.27 Mbit/s
Data rate units
In telecommunications, bit rate or data transfer rate is the average number of bits, characters, or blocks per unit time passing between equipment in a data transmission system. This is typically measured in multiples of the unit bit per second or byte per second.- Avoiding confusion :To be as...

2  Lithuania 22.82 Mbit/s
3  Latvia 15.42 Mbit/s
4  Kingdom of Romania 11.38 Mbit/s
5  Kingdom of Bulgaria 10.84 Mbit/s


Pingtest.net

In 2009, a beta version of pingtest.net was launched. In 2010, the official and final version was released. It allows users to determine the quality of their broadband connection by measuring packet loss
Packet loss
Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data travelling across a computer network fail to reach their destination. Packet loss is distinguished as one of the three main error types encountered in digital communications; the other two being bit error and spurious packets caused due to noise.-...

, ping
Ping
Ping is a computer network administration utility used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol network and to measure the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer...

 and jitter
Jitter
Jitter is the undesired deviation from true periodicity of an assumed periodic signal in electronics and telecommunications, often in relation to a reference clock source. Jitter may be observed in characteristics such as the frequency of successive pulses, the signal amplitude, or phase of...

.

Speed Wave

When speedtest.net was recently re-vamped, a new feature was added. This feature was called Speed Wave. Speed Wave allows users to create an account and begin a 'group' with friends who also have an account. Results can be compared and an average of all results is calculated. Badges are also awarded for achievements such as 'Highest Download Speed' and 'Lowest Latency'. The first Speed Wave in the UK was created by SpatmanNibos, who called it 'The Nibotters Speed Wave'.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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