Has it ever happened to you that when you try to watch a video on any of the video streaming sites like Youtube or Netflix, the video just won’t load or it will load very slowly even though you have paid for that super fast internet package? This could mean several things – your internet connection has problems, your ISP is throttling your download speeds, your cables are faulty, your router is not configured properly, or other devices on the network could be consuming a lot of your internet bandwidth. If for any of these reasons, you are not getting enough bandwidth for Netflix then it won’t play the videos smoothly.
Netflix has created a new online service fast.com that helps you quickly find how much of your internet bandwidth is being made available to the Netflix. Using this new service is as easy as opening a web site. Just visit the fast.com website and it will automatically start to find out your download speed (as seen by the Netflix servers).
In only a matter of seconds, it displays the download speed in Mbps (megabits per second). You should know that this download speed is as seen by the Netflix servers so it could be lower than the total internet bandwidth available through your ISP (internet service provider).
If you are seeing a considerably lower download speed compared to the total internet download speed you usually get from your ISP, then Netflix videos might not play smoothly. In this case, instead of complaining to the Netflix technicians, you should check other devices eating up the bandwidth or complain to your ISP.
Netflix has designed this new fast.com service in such a way that it is very convenient to use for everyone on all the devices. It works well on your PC, smartphones and even on smart TVs. Moreover, you do not have to do anything (like clicking on buttons etc.) to start the speed test – it starts automatically as soon as you visit the website.