Netflix Launches A Simple Speed Test

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Netflix announced today that it has launched Fast.com, a website that automatically runs a speed test when you load the page. My results seem pretty accurate when compared to SpeedTest and other sites.

Today we are launching fast.com, a simple-to-use website to help you see how fast your Internet connection is, whether on mobile or broadband, anywhere in the world. And like the Netflix service, it’s ad free with a streamlined design that is quick and easy to understand.
 
Looks pretty nifty
 

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I think speedtest.net just died.. It has way too much advertising on it.
 
Fast = 86

Speedtest = 113

A lot of variables can cause a difference like that. Still, that's a big difference.
 
Same speed results for me (give or take) on both, although the lack of an upload measurement is a bit disappointing. It might not affect Netflix (hence why they don't have it), but it does affect many other things.
 
Not very accurate for me, fast.com gives me 89 Mbps and speed test.net gives me 169Mbps. Steam and origin both download at a constant steady 20MBps which is 160Mbps so I'm not going to trust fast.com results
 
Speedtest.net does have a beta pure HTML5 version meaning no Flash BS required now as well at SpeedTest.net beta HTML5 site but it still gets some ads (which of course affects the results to some minor degrees). SpeedOf.me is useful as well but also with ads (and it's also HTML5 based, so no Flash required).

And obviously location matters, doing a speed test from a server closer to your location should result in the most accurate speed results and I'm not sure the Netflix one is properly adjusting as required. Take for example the fact that I'm in Las Vegas but it consistently misses the fact that T-Mobiile (my cell carrier) has their own speed test server here now (based in Las Vegas) but instead I get routed to Los Angeles or San Jose as "my location" which is of course completely wrong.

It's a quick simple speed test, it's rarely going to be that accurate but it's useful to some degrees I suppose. As noted, there are other sites that can do pretty much the same thing.
 
Ragenrok said:
Not very accurate for me, fast.com gives me 89 Mbps and speed test.net gives me 169Mbps. Steam and origin both download at a constant steady 20MBps which is 160Mbps so I'm not going to trust fast.com results
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Well since it is put up by netflix, I suspect the numbers might be relevant to you watching netflix. Your ISP may be doing something to throttle your netflix traffic.
 
It's neat, and it seems to be accurate, but I need to see uplink as well. I'm usually troubleshooting VPN or Outlook connections and uplink is as important as downlink in those cases.

Outlook is a chatty little baastad.
 
raz-0 said:
Well since it is put up by netflix, I suspect the numbers might be relevant to you watching netflix. Your ISP may be doing something to throttle your netflix traffic.
Click to expand...
If they do it doesn't affect anything as I have two tv's playing Netflix in HD and never an issue displaying HD (1 sec load and no buffer or quality drop). Also a quick Google search I can't find any proof Telus is throttleing Netflix but a few people stating they don't lol.

It may have more to do with there server locations, speed test and steam both have servers very close to me in Canada but Netflix might be based far away from me.
 
Trick is not to allow speedtest.net to pick a location for you.

Speedtest's automatically selected node: 126 down / 12 up / 1 ms ping (as if i ever see those numbers in real life!)

I play FFXIV so I used a node in canada (Niverville): 25 down / 5 up / 65 ms ping (hate Level3 so much, waste 40-50 ms there and probably most of the slowdown too at their locations)

fast.com says 120 down. Who knows where/who the signals are going to/through.
 
Fast.com only gave me around 150-160Mbps, whereas Speedtest.net (and downloads from Steam, etc) give in the 300-700 range depending on time of day.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
2.3mbps down on LTE.. however I am inside a giant faraday cage.... lol
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If you were in an actual faraday cage, you wouldn't get a signal at all.


And for the users with much faster speed test results, try a different speed test server. ISPs have been known to cache that shit to make your connection appear faster than it actually is.
 
Biznatch said:
If you were in an actual faraday cage, you wouldn't get a signal at all.


And for the users with much faster speed test results, try a different speed test server. ISPs have been known to cache that shit to make your connection appear faster than it actually is.
Click to expand...

well no kidding.... it is an expression we use here at work because. outside of the room my colleagues and I work in. you have full bars and when you go in you get one or two bars...
 
fast 26 Mbps
Speedtest 92.73 Mbps

but in the past I also had crappy speedtest results, internet has been strange since I moved, think it's a crappy modem the technician installed, wireless is complete shit.
 
They should integrate this into the Amazon application on TVs and stuff. That would help identify issues in shitty WiFi or bad network cards in TVs. I don't much care what Amazon's speed to my PC is.
 
Biznatch said:
If you were in an actual faraday cage, you wouldn't get a signal at all.


And for the users with much faster speed test results, try a different speed test server. ISPs have been known to cache that shit to make your connection appear faster than it actually is.
Click to expand...

it's not just the isp's it's also the browsers. a couple years ago firefox was notorious for it running speed test after 2 runs the 3rd run from the same server would give you 500Mbps down but the upload would be the same.


as far my results it wasn't bad was only off by 10mbps which match the test server near my location but isn't the correct one since i live in a comcast testing area we're tied directly into seattle.. my guess is that it's using the same servers available to speedtest.net but it's just picking a random one near you instead.


Tiberian said:
And obviously location matters, doing a speed test from a server closer to your location should result in the most accurate speed results and I'm not sure the Netflix one is properly adjusting as required. Take for example the fact that I'm in Las Vegas but it consistently misses the fact that T-Mobiile (my cell carrier) has their own speed test server here now (based in Las Vegas) but instead I get routed to Los Angeles or San Jose as "my location" which is of course completely wrong.

It's a quick simple speed test, it's rarely going to be that accurate but it's useful to some degrees I suppose. As noted, there are other sites that can do pretty much the same thing.
Click to expand...


actually thats not uncommon. most of the IP's you get on mobile are random and have a random location ID. for example a lot of my IP's through verizon say i'm in Georgia even though i'm on the other side of the country, another common one for me is Minnesota. so because of that it'll always try to pick a server location in those two area's. in your case the IP's you're getting are probably registered in SJ, or LA.
 
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Fast gave me 140 Mbps
Speedtest 40 Mbps

I pay for 40 (CenturyLink Fiber), so that's an odd one for sure.
 
arnemetis said:
Speed test - how fast is your internet? | DSLReports, ISP Information is another option I've used recently, that also tests the quality of your connection, and the rarely tested bufferbloat. In my case, it identified that over 100mbps on the upload my router pushes too much data, I need to get around to installing openWRT on my router to fix it.
Click to expand...

saw the bufferbloat stay at 500ms during the test, my end result is

Grading:
BufferBloat
F
Quality
B
Speed
A+

TWC recently "upgraded" everyone in my location, from 50/5 (or 100/5) to 300/20.
 
So i retract my previous statement about fast.com not working, turns out it was chrome screwing up the test. Ran it again in IE and it got 170Mbps 3 times in a row.

Comparing 3 different sites back to back:
speedtest.net: 168Mbps/33.46Mbps
fast.com: 170Mbps
dsl reports speedtest: 165.8Mbps/33.6Mbps

ISP is telus 150/30Mbps package

so it seems to be pretty even with other sites when using IE, soon as I use chrome it gives me shitty results.



DF-1 said:
saw the bufferbloat stay at 500ms during the test, my end result is

Grading:
BufferBloat
F
Quality
B
Speed
A+

TWC recently "upgraded" everyone in my location, from 50/5 (or 100/5) to 300/20.
Click to expand...
Just did this got:
Grading:
BufferBloat
A
Quality
A+
Speed
A+
 
I have one of those cable systems (Cox) that gives you a 70mbps burst speed at the start and then drops down into the 50s after 5 or 10 seconds. So I don't think the Fast.com test is really long enough to give an accurate reading. I use the Lanlights app to monitor my connection so I can evaluate long term real world performance.
 
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Ragenrok said:
So i retract my previous statement about fast.com not working, turns out it was chrome screwing up the test. Ran it again in IE and it got 170Mbps 3 times in a row.


ISP is telus 150/30Mbps package
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How much is that and what is the data cap?
 
How do you stop them tracking you? A VPN? VPNs usually have data caps too.

I have Telus also and am paying $63.00 per month for their shitty 25Mbps w/ 250MB cap. How you get such a good deal? Or is that the price for just the first six months?
 
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