How fast is your Internet? We’re helping launch a new open source Internet Performance Test

By collaborating with our community, volunteers, and different partners around the world, we get to do a lot of cool things here at OpenMedia. But today's launch is one of our most exciting yet. We’re collaborating with experts at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) to launch a new open source Internet Performance Test that will help us better understand Canada’s Internet.

You can use the tool here, and read some great coverage it’s received on CBC’s Spark program.

By using CIRA’s Internet Performance Test, you’ll be able to do a few cool things. First, you can compare the speed your ISP says they’re selling you against the actual speed they’re delivering. My provider says I should be experiencing 30 Mbps download speed, but the Internet Performance Test tells me I’m only getting 1.0 Mbps – meanwhile someone in my neighbourhood is getting 8.9 Mbps. I know, right?

Second, by using the tool, you’re also crowdsourcing–something we love here at OpenMedia. In effect, you’re helping to build an open-source database that will become a crucial resource for researchers, policy-makers, and groups like ours, to ensure key government officials know we need faster, more affordable services. But, for the results to be reliable and representative across the country, we need a critical mass to put this tool to use.

And third, CIRA is just getting started. They eventually plan to integrate all sorts of interesting features into their database, including social media sharing (so you can brag on Facebook to your friends), mobile compatibility, and repeated testing to determine the quality of your connection across different times of day and usage scenarios. You can read all about it in CIRA’s Feature Roadmap here.

The Internet Performance Test is a text-book example of crowdsourcing – something we love at OpenMedia. By working together with Canadians from coast to coast we can assess the services available to us in regions right across the country – and then use that data to understand new opportunities for a range of affordable choices. And the best part? It’s driven by you – everyday Internet users.

By working together, we’re taking the pulse of Canada’s Internet. And by using CIRA’s awesome tool, you’re empowering policy-makers, researchers, and everyday Canadians to improve the health of our networks. On our end, OpenMedia will be sure to leverage what you help create, by ensuring your voices make it into a key government hearing that will determine whether Canadians get access to the next-generation Internet services they deserve.

But, before we do that, we need you to take the first step in a new chapter of digital policy today.