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This smart new internet speed test blows Ookla out of the water
These days, our tech experiences are all about speed—and our expectations for instant action are actually kinda insane. Think about it: Not so long ago, phones, computers, and especially the internet were all painfully slow (at least, by today’s sonic-speed standards). Things have come a long way in a short time. And for most of us now, if something doesn’t load within a fraction of second, we grow impatient and maybe give up entirely—like when a webpage has the audacity to take a handful of seconds to show up and we click away in an indignant huff. Hey, we’ve all been there. What’s especially wild, though, is that while the standards for speed have skyrocketed forward, the way we measure this stuff has remained mostly the same. At least, until now. This week, I’ve got an incredibly cool and tantalizingly new tool to share with ya. It’s an overdue update to the way we think about speed and assessing the allegedly lightning-fast connections we all pay for. Get ready for a whole new way to think about the tech in front of you. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! The internet speed test—reinvented Traditionally, when we talk about tools for testing your tech connection speed, we think about things like Ookla’s Speedtest, the native Google speed testing system, or the newer Cloudflare Internet Speed Test service. We’ve covered those types of tools before. They’re all useful, in different ways—but they’re also all variations on the same tried-and-true type of speed assessment that’s been around for ages now. Today’s tool is different. But it comes from a familiar source—someone who knows this area inside and out. It’s the brand-new brainchild of the guy who created Ookla’s Speedtest, arguably the first internet speed test that became broadly known and embraced by the masses. ➜ It’s called Orb. And it’s decidedly different from your typical tech speed tester.
These days, our tech experiences are all about speed—and our expectations for instant action are actually kinda insane.
Think about it: Not so long ago, phones, computers, and especially the internet were all painfully slow (at least, by today’s sonic-speed standards). Things have come a long way in a short time. And for most of us now, if something doesn’t load within a fraction of second, we grow impatient and maybe give up entirely—like when a webpage has the audacity to take a handful of seconds to show up and we click away in an indignant huff.
Hey, we’ve all been there. What’s especially wild, though, is that while the standards for speed have skyrocketed forward, the way we measure this stuff has remained mostly the same.
At least, until now.
This week, I’ve got an incredibly cool and tantalizingly new tool to share with ya. It’s an overdue update to the way we think about speed and assessing the allegedly lightning-fast connections we all pay for.
Get ready for a whole new way to think about the tech in front of you.
Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures!
The internet speed test—reinvented
Traditionally, when we talk about tools for testing your tech connection speed, we think about things like Ookla’s Speedtest, the native Google speed testing system, or the newer Cloudflare Internet Speed Test service.
We’ve covered those types of tools before. They’re all useful, in different ways—but they’re also all variations on the same tried-and-true type of speed assessment that’s been around for ages now.
Today’s tool is different. But it comes from a familiar source—someone who knows this area inside and out.
It’s the brand-new brainchild of the guy who created Ookla’s Speedtest, arguably the first internet speed test that became broadly known and embraced by the masses.
➜ It’s called Orb. And it’s decidedly different from your typical tech speed tester.
