Whether its at a hotel, a coffee shop, or even a friend’s house, one thing we tend to do at a new place is check the internet speeds, especially if they seem slow. It’s always nice to know what you’re dealing with when trying to get stuff done and the most reliable place to do so has always been Ookla’s speedtest.net. That site has always been a go to spot for a quick and accurate speed test, but now Ookla has released a Chrome extension to make things even easier.
This new Chrome extension works on Windows, OS X (MacOS), and of course Chrome OS and of course is completely free from the Chrome Web Store. To use the extension simply tap the icon and hit go. From there the extension will get to work testing out your speeds and give you the results right after. The UI is nice and it makes things quick and easy.
One thing I did notice is that it doesn’t seem as accurate as the normal site. Both speedtest.net and fast.com reported 312mbps on my home network while the extension reported just under 90mbps. I’m unsure why this was the case, but it could be an isolated issue with my network (report your findings in the comments).
So the question begs to be answered, why use this over the standard website? There are two reasons. First of all, the extension allows you to perform the test without leaving the tab you’re on. The second would be ads. While the standard website hosts 5 ads on the page, the extension has none which leads to faster access to your speed test.
If you’re interested, head over to the Chrome Web Store and download the extension for yourself!
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