Orb, a new app by Ookla’s Ex-CEO, offers wider photos of your internet connection

Since its launch almost 20 years ago, SpeedTest.net has been one of the most popular tools used to measure internet speed. However, Doug Suttles, founder and former CEO of Ookla, the network testing company behind SpeedTest, felt that measuring speed wasn’t enough to tell you everything you want to know about your internet connection.

So Suttles is currently launching a new tool. Orb This measures latency, packet loss, jitter, and speed, and allows you to measure how stable your internet connection is.

Suttles, who started Orb with Ookla executive Jamie Steven in 2023, said Speedtest.net was the right tool at the time, but as internet speeds have become less problematic around the world, people feel that newer, more holistic ways to assess internet connectivity.

“Speed ​​tests are like dipsticks on your car. This will tell you that the oil has been exhausted after your car breaks down. We wanted to build a dashboard to tell you that there is less oil, so you can fix that issue, so you can fix that issue,” Suttles told TechCrunch over the phone.

The ORB checks the network connections of three important variables: This is measured by a combination of delay, jitter, latency, and packet loss. Responsiveness over time and reliability to measure packet loss over time. Speed ​​is normal download and upload speed. All these variables can be measured at 1 minute, 5 minutes, 1 hour, 24 hours, and at different time intervals.

Combining all three variables, this tool provides a score and shows how stable your network connection is. An ORB score above 80 indicates a good connection. 70-80 means you have an OK connection and if you get anything below that, you may have a noticeable problem.

If your score is below 80, the app suggests steps you can take to improve network performance. According to the startup, it uses LLMS to view explanations of important issues and suggestions related to solving them.

ORB has apps for a variety of platforms, including iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, Linux, and more. The company also provides a guide to installing the tool on Raspberry Pi, OneWrt, Docker, Steam Deck, Prox Max, WLAN PI, older smartphones, and other platforms for those who want to monitor their connections more frequently.

The startup is also working on the ability for users to set up orbs and share them with someone else to monitor connections. Both users will receive notifications if connection quality is shaking.

ORB is now free to use and the company wants to keep it that way. Suttles said they want to license the technology to businesses and ISPs so that advanced alerts and analytics can monitor and identify network issues.

So far, the startup has raised $3.8 million in funding from Sidekick Ventures and individual investors, including senior director Edward Bender. Netflix engineer Jana Iyengar; Big Network CEO Tom Daly. Former head of Fastly’s streaming Lee Chen. Head of strategy and operations at Oculus Studios Jason Kay. Former president of THQ and founder of Naughty Dog Jason Rubin. And Cooper will be heading Vetro’s strategic initiative.

Steven, who also worked on creating Down Detector, said Orb also aims to create recipes for a variety of services that will help you detect whether you have access to certain sites such as Zoom, Netflix, X, Google Drive, and help you see if the service is working.