For those on the go or who are just curious about their home networks, speed tests are an invaluable tool for making sure you are getting the data bandwidth you are buying. While there are a few apps already available for Windows Phone users, they now have a new, more robust option with the arrival today of nPerf.
nPerf is one of the most popular bandwidth speed testing sites around (nperf.com), and the company already has apps on iOS and Android with over 500,000 combined downloads. Now, users of Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile can leverage the power of the nPerf system.
What makes nPerf different from the rest? Here is what you get:
- Speed Test + Streaming Test + Browsing Test + coverage map … All in one app!
- Optimized and dedicated servers all over the world. (To see the list click here and click on "Server selection" )
- More than 6 million collected data for the coverage map in the US.
- The speed test is also available on nperf.com, and you can synchronize all your web and app tests with a free account.
- Also used by IT companies : Connected Nation, Teleworld solution, Orange, Bolt …
- Translated into 13 languages
- W10M Compatible with current versions
I've been beta testing the nPerf app for nearly two weeks, and the testing it does is much more involved that other apps. Sure, nPerf does the upload/download/latency thing as you would expect, but it also tests more than that including:
- Browsing test
- Streaming video test
You can complete a full test (speed, browsing and streaming) or do each one on its own depending on you desire. Other options include letting the app choose the test server automatically or overriding it and picking one yourself.
With nPerf, you can create an account that will keep a history of your tests and synchronize between devices for comparisons. The app is free to use, but there is a small banner ad at the bottom of the display. If you would like to remove the ad, you can pay $1.99 per year to get rid of it. Going this premium route also offers other excellent incentives like
- Unlimited history and CSV export feature
- Real-time network info and geolocation
- Help support for the nPerf project and developers
For those in the US, nPerf can also show you coverage maps for the major carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint with breakdowns by 3G, 4G, and 4G+.
Finally, the app also has various settings to please most users like choosing the bitrate unit, setting the default test, choosing background color style and disabling streaming test animations.
Overall, nPerf is a very robust app for diagnosing your network connection speeds and device performance. You can run the test on your PC web browser or your phone now through the app, and if you create an account, all of your data is saved and synced.
As a small bonus nPerf even has a translucent Tile to pin to your Start screen!
Grab the app from the links below and let us know what you think (Note: the app is the same for 8.1 and 10M, but we are providing both the old and new style links for convenience).
