Netflix Launches Fast.com To Cut To The Chase About Your Bandwidth

One of the biggest reasons most households want a good Internet connection is so that streaming services, like Netflix, will work without issue. In the past, I’ve had to deal with Internet connections that would barely allow a single person to watch Netflix in HD, but today, there are regularly multiple people in a household that will want to stream at the exact same time. On some Internet connections, that’s downright impossible.

Well, Netflix wants you to have faster Internet just as much as you do (well, maybe), so it’s launched a new website, Fast.com, which quickly and easily tests your Internet speed. Oddly, the tool itself doesn’t tell you if your bandwidth is good or not, so you can cross-compare to the company’s recommended bandwidth page. For each HD connection, you’ll want at least 5Mbps available; for 4K, that jumps to 25Mbps per connection.

Netflix isn’t being that verbose about how Fast.com works, but its FAQ does note that it uses “globally distributed” servers, so if you’re living in a very populated part of the world that has a good Internet infrastructure, you should be able to get a reliable result.

It should be noted that this service, unlike Speedtest.net, doesn’t take into account upload speed, which is kind of unfortunate. While streaming is going to be largely download-only (upload would be for sending requests), it would have been nice to see how the download is affected by the upload. Those on DSL connections would understand this pain well; upload a little, and the entire connection becomes crippled.

Nonetheless, if you do want upload information, Netflix recommends double-checking speeds at Speedtest.net. What I personally like about Fast.com though is that it’s as minimal as it gets, so getting a test result is easier than any other service I’ve used – especially Speedtest.net, which loads its website up with other elements that need to be loaded before the actual test. Fast.com is a winner as far as simple bandwidth tests go.