Doug Suttles, the founder and former CEO of Ookla, has introduced a new application called Orb. This is the app that empowers users with a clear, comprehensive view of their internet experience. This unique tool allows users to measure critical metrics such as latency, packet loss, jitter, and speed. It offers a detailed analysis of network readiness. With Orb, users can get an honest picture of their internet performance. Armed with this knowledge, they are able to identify problems before they become a crisis.
Orb evaluates three primary variables: responsiveness, reliability, and speed. Responsiveness includes all of lag, jitter, latency, and packet loss. Reliability measures how often the connection can be counted on to work without packet loss and how often packet loss occurs. At the same time, speed is about the real-world download and upload speeds that any given user can expect to receive.
To make scoring easier and speed up the assessment process, Orb calculates a score that serves as a measure of how stable a user’s network connection is. A score higher than 80 indicates that you’re doing pretty well in terms of your engagement. Scores from 70 to 80 denote good quality of service. A score of under 70 indicates that most users will be impacted by significant issues with their internet service.
The app provides measurement over a period of one minute, five minutes, one hour and 24 hours. This flexibility allows users to track the quality of their connectivity and identify problems that can vary throughout the day and week.
And perhaps most importantly, Suttles pushed the idea that proactive monitoring needs to be a part of any internet connectivity. He stated, “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.”
Founded in 2023 by Doug Suttles and Jamie Steven, Orb has already garnered significant interest, raising $3.8 million in funding from Sidekick Ventures and other individual investors. The innovative company is on a mission to fill the market gap. They look to provide tools that let users get continuous measurements rather than one-time speed tests.
Orb offers quick-start installation guides tailored for multiple platforms. It’s easy to get up and running on Raspberry Pi, Onewrt, Docker, Steam Deck, Prox Max, WLAN Pi, your grandma’s old smartphone, and beyond. This extensive compatibility allows for users to set up the tool seamlessly on devices that work best for them.
We hope to continue contributing to policies that promote affordable, equitable Internet connectivity for everyone. Tools like Orb are an increasingly necessary resource for users looking to understand and improve their online experience. With nuanced, real-world analysis, Orb sheds light on how networks truly perform. This enables users to intervene before small concerns develop into major annoyances.
