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We do not know about you, but every time we reach a new place, one of the first things we do is check the internet speed. If you do these tests just to understand if you are able to watch Netflix and YouTube in the highest quality, the world’s most popular internet speed testing app has been updated with a new and quite successful test, even if it is not necessarily for you.
Who is to blame for poor quality?
You’ve probably already installed Ookla’s SpeedTest app on your smartphone, and in recent days Android users have received a particularly interesting update that adds the Video Testing feature (which has been available to iOS users since last February).
Instead of showing you your internet speed in Mbps, the new feature examines and presents you with a very simple statistic: at what maximum resolution you can watch videos on your device and network.
The new test is waiting for you in the tab at the bottom of the app under the name “Video”. It starts with the screening of a short video (and quite mesmerizing if you ask us) that uses a dynamic bitrate, similar to the way streaming apps work. Then, he starts trying and streaming this video in a shorter version and with higher resolutions. Now two scenarios can happen: either the internet speed will be enough to get to the coveted 4K version and the test will be successful, or one of the videos will fail to load in a reasonable amount of time, and the test will actually interrupt.
At the end of the test you will be able to see what is the maximum resolution that the wireless (or cellular) network you are currently connected to can stream. The results window also shows you the loading time in milliseconds and also buffering data, if any during the test.
For example, on my home network that is connected to Unlimited, I received in about 10 seconds the happy and expected message that I can watch videos with a resolution of 2160p (which is actually 4K). On the other hand, on Hot Mobile’s cellular network, I received very disappointing results that told me that I could stream videos of up to 480p. pleasure.
It’s true that you could have guessed if your network was able to stream video in 4K even according to the speed data of the SpeedTest overall test, but this test is a bit clearer and tailored to a slightly less technological audience, which is always a welcome thing that can save you unnecessary phone calls from parents.