Netflix has added measurements of upload speed and latency to Fast.com, its internet speed measurement service, after users said they wanted more detailed information on their connections.
Fast.com was launched two years ago with a simple, straightforward interface which involves no tapping or clicking — the speed measurement begins as soon as the visitor arrives on site. Usage has doubled over the past seven months, and the site has generated more than half a billion speed tests globally.
Senior software engineer Sergey Fedorov said: “We’ve heard from some users that they crave more information about their internet connection. That’s why we’re adding the ability to measure connection latency and upload speed.
“Unloaded latency measures the round-trip time of a request when there is no other traffic present on a user’s network, while loaded latency measures the round-trip time when data-heavy applications are being used on the network.
“For example, let's say you’re playing a game online on your computer. If you’re the only user on the network, then the time between your gaming action (like moving a mouse or clicking it) and the response from the gaming server will approximately match the unloaded latency measurement.
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“However, if someone else is streaming a movie, backing up photos or performing other data-intensive tasks on the same network at the same time, your gaming response time would correspond to the loaded latency measurement.
“Ideally, those two values for unloaded and loaded latency should be close to each other. If not, that might explain your poor experience with latency sensitive applications (like gaming, video calls or web surfing) under heavy network usage, and you may want to check your home network setup (bufferbloat.net has useful recommendations) or consult with your ISP.
“As Fast.com grows, we’ll continue to listen to feedback from our users to ensure that the tool is useful and valuable. And no matter what, we’ll always keep the design of FAST.com clean and ad-free.”
