A bunch of years after the launch of the native mobile apps for Android and iOS, Ookla choose to revamp his premium network performance measurement tool known as SpeedTest.net by publishing a lightweight, yet fully functional version on the Chrome Web Store. This means that we can now measure our ping, together with our download and upload average speed granted by our cable or mobile data connection, right from our favourite browser: needless to say, we'll also be able to share our results on Twitter and Facebok with a single click, just like we could already do through the current web app interface.
The extension, freely available since the last few days, still lacks some of the advanced features currently available from the speedtest.net website, such as the historical records of our previous tests: they will most likely be added in the upcoming weeks, together with an improved version of the speedtest.net website (see below for further info).
This is a screenshot of my 4G data connection's results using Vodafone italian network:
Not bad at all!
And here's the catch: it seems like the release of this new extension might be the first step of a complete revamp of the whole speedtest.net web-based service. We can definitely say that by looking ad the website address that we receive if we choose to get a URL to share our result from the extension itself: the address points to a new website, beta.speedtest.net featuring a modern, minimalistic layout:
It's worth noticing that the new site, altough most likely still in its development stage, already allows the users to perform a fully-featured speed test with a brand-new, HTML5-based UI: by seeing this it definitely seems like the old Flash interface will be ditched soon in favor of this new one.
And now, for the sad part... the new web site is already an Ad-feast, even more than the current one! That's fully understandable, though, as much as many other web sites that offer great services free of charge.
About Ookla
Ookla is the global leader in broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic applications. The company's software and methodologies set the broadband industry standards for accuracy, popularity, ease of use and the subsequent development of statistical data. Ookla solutions have been adopted by nearly every Internet Service Provider in the world, and have been translated into over 30 languages for use by thousands of small businesses, federal and state governments, universities and major organizations such as AT&T, BBC, Cisco, Comcast, FCC, Reuters, Time Warner, Verizon, Vodafone and Vonage. Over three million people a day use Ookla software, making the company the dominant leader in broadband connection testing.
Founded by Internet and telecommunications veterans in 2006, Ookla has offices in Seattle, WA.
You can follow the company on Twitter @Ookla.
Speedtest.net Alternatives
If you're looking for an alternative to Speedtest.net you can give a try to Comparitech's new broadband speed test service, which also features an interesting, Charity-oriented fund raising plan: for additional info, read this post.
