4 ms·

Netflix launches its own speed test website, Fast.com

17 points by ck2 10y ago

mofle 10y ago
Command-line tool for Fast.com: https://github.com/sindresorhus/fast-cli https://github.com/sindresorhus/fast-cli
ck2 10y ago
That domain name must have cost them a fortune. I see what they keep to keep it stupid simple for novices on the main page but they really need to add advanced testing for experts if they want to get support of the service.
- petecooper 10y ago
  >That domain name must have cost them a fortune. It may well be of a cost magnitude for it to appear in a future SEC filing. (This is all conjecture - I have no knowledge of the situation, nor is this financial advice, etc)
- mdrzn 10y ago
  Taken from the previous discussion (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775): "This is from Netflix, it downloads Netflix content and reports the speed back. This is important because unlike your average Internet speed test (which ISPs take pains to optimize), there's a very real possibility that your ISP is happy to let your Netflix experience suffer - assuming they don't throttle it outright". It's not for deep network testing, it's just to see if your Netflix is being slowed down or not.
colinbartlett 10y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775
oneeyedpigeon 10y ago
Every video on demand service I've used (Netflix, Amazon, etc.) streams the video. This is all well and good, but it requires an uninterrupted connection for about 2 hours if I'm watching a film. Or it requires the service to buffer for at least as much time as any outage may last - something which appears not to happen. Are there any competitors that can guarantee me a nice, interruption-free experience like a good old dvd provides?
- aylons 10y ago
  Yes, there is, the most famous nowadays being DVD.com, which is the original Netflix: http://dvd.netflix.com/ http://dvd.netflix.com/ There are also several companies who rent DVDs on physical locations. Also, Google Play movies has an offline option, which is not the same experience as DVD, but seems to fit you bill: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2851696?hl=en https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2851696?hl=en
- ryanlol 10y ago
  Pirate. If it makes you feel better, pay and then "pirate". As long as Netflix & co keep giving the frankly ridiculous excuse of preventing piracy as the reason I can't stream 4K content with mpv, I'm going to remain very reluctant to give them my money. (I'd be much less reluctant if their anti piracy efforts actually worked, but they don't and they never will)
  - afarrell 10y ago
    > if it makes you feel better Why do that, when you already give the creators exposure? Surely an lighting technician and a sound engineer can pay for groceries in exposure, right?
    - ryanl0l 10y ago
      Netflix pays fixed licensing fees, giving them money certainly isn't going to do much to help those lighting technicians and sound engineers very much. Perhaps those lighting technicians and sound engineers should just leave the industry that insists upon making it ridiculously difficult to give them money, if I want to get a high quality digital copy of a movie or TV series the only option is logging into BTN or PTP and grabbing a bluray remux. Hell, often these communities have content available at a significantly higher quality than any of the official releases. See DIMENSIONs 20GB mad men episodes for example. I personally just frequent the cinemas, and try to pay for the few TV series that I can, despite it often being impossible here.
bsharitt 10y ago
It seems to be topping out at 100Mbps for me.
- mh- 10y ago
  That doesn't seem to be a cap they put in- http://i.imgur.com/wr4Zb0k.png http://i.imgur.com/wr4Zb0k.png
- zxv 10y ago
  For me, on a 1Gbit/sec link, it tops out at 320Mbit/sec.

17 points by ck2 10y ago

mofle 10y ago

Command-line tool for Fast.com: https://github.com/sindresorhus/fast-cli https://github.com/sindresorhus/fast-cli

ck2 10y ago

That domain name must have cost them a fortune. I see what they keep to keep it stupid simple for novices on the main page but they really need to add advanced testing for experts if they want to get support of the service.

petecooper 10y ago
>That domain name must have cost them a fortune. It may well be of a cost magnitude for it to appear in a future SEC filing. (This is all conjecture - I have no knowledge of the situation, nor is this financial advice, etc)
mdrzn 10y ago
Taken from the previous discussion (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775): "This is from Netflix, it downloads Netflix content and reports the speed back. This is important because unlike your average Internet speed test (which ISPs take pains to optimize), there's a very real possibility that your ISP is happy to let your Netflix experience suffer - assuming they don't throttle it outright". It's not for deep network testing, it's just to see if your Netflix is being slowed down or not.

colinbartlett 10y ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11722775

oneeyedpigeon 10y ago

Every video on demand service I've used (Netflix, Amazon, etc.) streams the video. This is all well and good, but it requires an uninterrupted connection for about 2 hours if I'm watching a film. Or it requires the service to buffer for at least as much time as any outage may last - something which appears not to happen. Are there any competitors that can guarantee me a nice, interruption-free experience like a good old dvd provides?

aylons 10y ago
Yes, there is, the most famous nowadays being DVD.com, which is the original Netflix: http://dvd.netflix.com/ http://dvd.netflix.com/ There are also several companies who rent DVDs on physical locations. Also, Google Play movies has an offline option, which is not the same experience as DVD, but seems to fit you bill: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2851696?hl=en https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2851696?hl=en
ryanlol 10y ago
Pirate. If it makes you feel better, pay and then "pirate". As long as Netflix & co keep giving the frankly ridiculous excuse of preventing piracy as the reason I can't stream 4K content with mpv, I'm going to remain very reluctant to give them my money. (I'd be much less reluctant if their anti piracy efforts actually worked, but they don't and they never will)
- afarrell 10y ago
  > if it makes you feel better Why do that, when you already give the creators exposure? Surely an lighting technician and a sound engineer can pay for groceries in exposure, right?
  - ryanl0l 10y ago
    Netflix pays fixed licensing fees, giving them money certainly isn't going to do much to help those lighting technicians and sound engineers very much. Perhaps those lighting technicians and sound engineers should just leave the industry that insists upon making it ridiculously difficult to give them money, if I want to get a high quality digital copy of a movie or TV series the only option is logging into BTN or PTP and grabbing a bluray remux. Hell, often these communities have content available at a significantly higher quality than any of the official releases. See DIMENSIONs 20GB mad men episodes for example. I personally just frequent the cinemas, and try to pay for the few TV series that I can, despite it often being impossible here.

bsharitt 10y ago

It seems to be topping out at 100Mbps for me.

mh- 10y ago
That doesn't seem to be a cap they put in- http://i.imgur.com/wr4Zb0k.png http://i.imgur.com/wr4Zb0k.png
zxv 10y ago
For me, on a 1Gbit/sec link, it tops out at 320Mbit/sec.