Fireprobe

Fireprobe is a speed test which automatically initiates itself before the start button becomes enabled. The speed test shows your IP address and the name of your internet service provider. When you start the test, first the ping will be measured, followed by the download speed and the upload speed.

After the test you get an indication if your internet connection is good enough for things like video streaming, skype calls and online gaming.

The speed test is available in many languages, and has the option to select a specific test server.

Free to use

Fireprobe is free, there are no ads so the speed test earns 1 point.

Easy to use

Fireprobe didn't pass the WCAG 2.0 Level A test.

The speed test starts automatically, a restart requires 1 click. So the Fireprobe earns a point for this.

Accuracy and consistency

Tested with a clean version of Chromium, throtteld at 30Mbps (30720 kbps) the following measurements are done.

Test Server(s): Multi-location

  1. 31.59Mbps (19 seconds)
  2. 31.59Mbps (18 seconds)
  3. 31.45Mbps (17 seconds)
  4. 31.59Mbps (18 seconds)
  5. 31.52Mbps (18 seconds)

Tested with a clean version of Firefox, throtteld at 30Mbps (Wi-Fi) the following measurements are done.

Test Server(s): Multi-location

  1. 31.48Mbps (18 seconds)
  2. 31.55Mbps (17 seconds)
  3. 33.34Mbps (18 seconds)
  4. 33.49Mbps (18 seconds)
  5. 31.61Mbps (17 seconds)

That gives an average of 31.9Mbps and a standard deviation of 0.79Mbps for the downloadspeed. The average and standard deviation for the time required are respectively 18 seconds and 1 second.

Note that based on the Chromium measurements the average download speed is 31.5Mbps with a standard deviation of 0.06Mbps. While the Firefox measurements gives an average download speed of 32.3Mbps with a standard deviation of 1.03Mbps.

Based on the measurements noted above you might conclude that the throttling speed of Firefox compared to the throttling speed of Chromium is not significant different.

With a server manually selected at the other side of the world (Test Server: FIREPROBE.NET Sydney) and testing with Firefox, the results are:

  1. 30.73Mbps (25 seconds)
  2. 32.06Mbps (24 seconds)
  3. 31.15Mbps (25 seconds)
  4. 31.40Mbps (25 seconds)
  5. 30.87Mbps (25 seconds)

That gives an average of 31.2Mbps and a standard deviation of 0.53Mbps for the downloadspeed. That is 2% slower than the previous test.