Ookla’s Speedtest App Gains New Maps Feature

Speedtest Maps provides a visual look at the level of service providers have at a certain location. That information can come in handy for a number of reasons.

To find the new feature, select the Maps option in the bottom right menu bar on the screen. Slide up to select a wide variety of carriers.

You can also select the best or most available technology in the area.

All of the data is from crowdsourced from users who have chosen to share their location in the app.

Ookla also announced that it is providing a better measure of lantency (or ping) when using the app. If you don’t know,, that measure how fast you get a response after sending a request.

Here’s more from an Ookla blog post about the new measurements:

Our new latency test measures loaded latency, giving a more nuanced picture of responsiveness and what the bottlenecks in your connection really are. The loaded latency test measures ping during three stages, giving you a convenient, easy to use way to better understand your network experience. These three stages are:

Idle Ping. This test at the beginning of your Speedtest measures the response of a request on your network as if it is not in use.

Download Ping. Latency is measured while the download test is in progress to see how it is affected by download activity on your network, like a household member downloading a large game while you’re trying to work.

Upload Ping. Latency is also measured while the upload test is in progress to see how it is affected by upload activity on your network, like someone on your home network uploading a year’s worth of photos.

Speedtest is designed for the iPhone and all iPad models. It’s a free download on the App Store now.