Browsing the internet is always fun if only your connection speed is at its best. This is one reason I always prefer to subscribe my internet data with an ISP that has a better connection regardless of their data prices.
Where I live, there's a particular ISP that offers its users cheap data, but with a slow internet connection. The users of this ISP usually end up complaining about their browsing speed. I am not saying my ISP is the best in my country, but at least, my internet speed is amazing. Whenever I experience downtime in my connection, I usually don't panic because I know it will be resolved within after some hours. During this time, I always love to know what my connection speed reads but I end up not knowing how to check it. My belief was that the only people who have access to read the speed of uploads and downloads of a particular network connection are internet service providers. I was wrong with my thought. So, I hereby welcome you to the new era where anyone with an internet connection can read their internet speed.
How I came about this project
I wouldn't have known about this development if my internet connection didn't experience a downtime some days ago. On that very day, my ISP restored the connection after several hours. But less than an hour later, I notice that my connection was not as strong as it used to be. This was the reason why I ended up looking for a project that can run on my Android device to display my connection speed. After several minutes of searching, I ended up a web app known as SpeedTest
Speedtest is a project by Adolfintel; An awesome developer who is based in Italy. His project is an open-source project and the source code can be found here.
Adolfintel defined speedtest as;
Self-hosted HTML5 Speedtest. Easy setup, examples, configurable, mobile-friendly. Supports PHP, Node, Multiple servers, and more.
As I have said, Speedtest is a web app which means you don't need to download any application to use it. All that is expected from anyone willing to test their network speed is to access the official website of the project.
Accessing the website is one of the easiest things I've done of recent. Unlike mobile applications where I have to download, install, and launch the application, Speedtest does not need all of that. All that is needed from you is to click on this link, then, its main and only interface will be opened. After I did, I noticed how the website opened within seconds. This was how I proved the fact stated by the developer on the project's repository, and I quote;
HTML5 Speedtest
No Flash, No Java, No Websocket, No Bullshit. This is a very lightweight Speedtest implemented in Javascript, using XMLHttpRequest and Web Workers.
The fact stated above is an interpretation of a mobile application that doesn't request or require permission from its users. I appreciate the developer for making this possible in SpeedTest.
Landing Page
If you've been following my reviews, you'd have noticed that I usually refer to the first interface of a mobile app as its homescreen, while the first interface of a web app as its landing page. Also, I stated that SpeedTest has a single interface which means all of its features functions are performed on a single page. It's a different case with a similar web tool by Google. I will talk more on that later. But for now, I have provided screenshots displaying how the landing pages of both web tools look.
Speedtest by Adolfintel
Speedtest by Google
From the screenshots above, both projects are nicely developed. Simply because their interfaces are clean and simple. If you look closely at Adolfintel's project, you will notice that it has different network parameters displayed on its landing page. And they are;
- Download
- Upload
- Ping
- Jitter
This is a different case with its competitor's project. Google's Speedtest is able to only test for Download and Upload rates. One of the common things between the two projects is a button which is used to start/stop the speed tester.
The Result Page
This is where the results of the test are displayed. On Speedtest by Adolfintel, the results are displayed on a single page as shown from the first screenshot below. The second screenshot is a result interface from its competitor's project.
Speedtest by Adolfintel
Speedtest by Google
To learn more about the meaning of those parameters, I will recommend you to read "How to understand the Internet speed test results"; a blog post by Rfbenchmark.eu.
The Unique Feature In Speedtest By Adolfintel
After this project tested my network speed and displayed the results, it created a share result subheading automatically. All of these was displayed on its single interface. The new subheading includes the followings;
- Text ID
- A screenshot to the test results
- A link to the test results
The link below is a URL to the test results, while the screenshot is an interface of the share results displaying the result's text ID, and the parameters rates.
http://speedtest.fdossena.com/results/?id=1sl25ti
This is an awesome feature that is not available on the Speedtest by Google.
Project Update
From the paragraph above, I mentioned about the result's test ID. Yes, the test ID is the last feature the project owner added to the project. Below is the line of code that made the future possible.
<tr><th>Test ID</th></ td></tr>
Conclusion
This project can be used to know the current speed rate of your network. It's mostly useful when you need to confirm if your ISP is actually delivering what they promised. I recommend it to you because of its unique features as I've explained. Thank you.