We have three main test clients: the SamKnows Whitebox, the SamKnows Smartphone App and the SamKnows Web-browser Speed Test.
We most commonly test your internet performance by asking you to install a Whitebox, which has all of our SamKnows measurements tucked away inside. It acts as an Ethernet bridge and reports on a range of key metrics such as download speed, upload speed, latency, and packet loss. This hardware-based approach is what gives our measurements unrivalled accuracy because the Whitebox is unaffected by other factors within the home, like your PC.
The SamKnows internet performance tests run independently of your internet usage. So when you're not using the internet, or are using the internet below a minimum threshold, the Whitebox will zap these scheduled tests to our network of test servers and record how long and what journey your data takes for them to be zapped back.
Our iOS and Android Smartphone Apps measure mobile broadband performance and the measurements have been built to the same specification as those used in the SamKnows Whiteboxes. These tests run in the background when you're not using your phone. You can also check your data in real-time, as well as your historical results, and easily share them via social media and email.
The SamKnows web-based application also includes the same metrics as the SamKnows Whitebox and Smartphone App, but they're designed to run in a web browser on your computer. Unlike other web-based speed tests, our web-based test uses pure HTML5 and therefore does not rely on Java or Flash. This allows it to operate in all modern desktop and mobile browsers, as well as many embedded browsers (e.g. in set-top boxes or TVs).
