Introducing Orb: A Comprehensive Tool for Assessing Internet Connection Stability
For nearly two decades, Speedtest.net has been a go-to tool for measuring internet speeds. However, Doug Suttles, the founder of Ookla (the company behind Speedtest), believed that speed alone wasn’t sufficient to provide users with a complete understanding of their internet connections.
That’s why Suttles, along with Ookla exec Jamie Steven, launched Orb in 2023. Unlike Speedtest, Orb goes beyond speed measurement and assesses latency, packet loss, jitter, and speed to offer users a holistic view of their internet connection stability.
Suttles explained, “Speed tests are like the dipstick in your car, which will tell you that you ran out of oil once your car breaks down. We wanted to build a dashboard to tell you that you are low on oil, so you can fix that problem.”
Understanding Orb’s Metrics
Orb evaluates network connections based on three key variables: responsiveness, reliability, and speed. Responsiveness combines lag, jitter, latency, and packet loss, while reliability measures responsiveness and packet loss over time. Speed represents typical download and upload speeds. Users can track these metrics over various time intervals, ranging from one minute to 24 hours.
By integrating these variables, Orb generates a score indicating the stability of your network connection. Scores above 80 indicate a good connection, 70-80 signify an okay connection, and anything below 70 suggests potential issues.
If your score falls below 80, Orb provides actionable steps to enhance network performance. The tool utilizes LLMs to offer detailed descriptions of issues and relevant solutions.
Orb’s Availability and Future Features
Orb is accessible across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. The company also offers installation guides for Raspberry Pi, Onewrt, Docker, and other platforms to enable frequent connection monitoring.
Additionally, Orb is developing a feature that allows users to share network monitoring capabilities with others. Both parties receive notifications if connection quality fluctuates.
Orb’s Business Model and Funding
Currently, Orb is free to use, with plans to maintain this approach. Suttles envisions licensing the technology to enterprises and ISPs for advanced network issue detection and analytics.
So far, the startup has secured $3.8 million in funding from Sidekick Ventures and individual investors like Edward Bender, Jana Iyengar, Tom Daly, Lee Chen, Jason Kay, Jason Rubin, and Will Cooper.
Steven, who previously contributed to Down Detector, mentioned that Orb aims to develop service-specific recipes for platforms like Zoom, Netflix, and Google Drive to assess service availability.
Orb represents a significant evolution in internet connection assessment, offering users a comprehensive view of network stability beyond traditional speed tests.