Ever wonder what type of data speeds you are getting from your carrier on your BlackBerry device? Well, up until now it was never really possible to tell, and there were no fun apps like Speedtest.net for the other devices, but now BlackBerry users are no longer left out of the fun. Fancy Speed Test is a free application that allows users to check their data speeds, by seeing what their ping, download and upload speeds are in a quick and easy fashion. So, if you want to monitor your speeds, and show them off, be sure to grab this free app today!
Reader comments
Check your cellular data speeds on the go with Fancy Speed Test for BlackBerry
How accurate would this potentially be is the better question if everything goes through BIS?
My understanding was that these tests are useless for that reason. Can anyone confirm?
Nice little app, can sure see the difference between using WiFi and carrier.
finally!
Tried it, looks good so far, had 749.8 kbps download and 84.4 kbps upload, not sure how to interpret it, Lol
"...never really possible to tell."? Doesn't fixmo have this option.
I don't think we Blackberry users want to know how slow our phones download.. :-O
Actually the new phones (last year or so) are pretty sweet. Don't dis em just because u have an old phone. I loving my Torch 9800 ... Often makes my friend's iPhone 3 look like shite.
My first test on T-Mobile service with my 9900 was 1.1 mbps Download and 183.8 kbps for upload. Pretty cool app though.
Your 9900 is a lot faster than my 9650 Bold. But ask someone with an Verizon LTE 4G phone.... I think it's around 10 mbps.
ping dw/load upload
wifi/FIOS: 56 ms 6.0mbps 1.1mbps
57ms 10.5mbps 1.1mbps
Sprint: 564ms 347kbps expired
1694ms 273.8kbps 41.8kbps
test size was: 512kb
PS: signal strength here at my office is very low
Yep, cool app, thanks!
Verizon 9930
First test, default settings
Test size: 512kb
Ping: 654ms
Downld: 118.1kbs
Upload: 96.6kbps
Changed the host to one that's 1 mile away from me:
Test size: 512kb
Ping: 627ms
Downld: 103.4kbs
Upload: 91.9kbps
Ran the test one more time through the host that's 1 mile away:
Test size: 512kb
Ping: 540ms
Downld: 105.7kbs
Upload: 85.3kbps
I suspect the first couple posts above are on the right track - just the nature of the BIS service might make this kind of test unreliable.
Yep, my friends Bionic on Verizon is 10Mbps every time. Best I got on my 9810 in 4G AT&T coverage is 1.8Mbps using the cellular option. Have to try WiFi when I get home.
You guys positive this app goes over BIS? Most 3rd party apps will actually use a direct tcp connection. Would be incredibly stupid for this app to go over BIS. Have it as an option on the other hand would be really cool. Youd get to actually see the speed difference.
so it doesn't use internet ? confused - as all internet browsing needs to go through BIS
Time for Kevin to crack out a 101 :)
Not all apps have to go through bis though. They can have a direct tcp connection. This is why when BIS went down recently, most 3rd party apps still worked fine.
Unless Im mistaken and everything still has to route through BIS, which doesn't make sense.
Nope. On the BB, there are various routing options: BIS, MDS (if connected to a BES), DirectTCP, WiFi, WAP2 (if carrier supported), WAP (if carrier supported), and even a Bluetooth/USB link that leverages the BB Desktop & the BES.
I ran it several times, all with a test size of 512. It topped out at Ping 206 ms, download 3.9 mbps and upload 1.4 mbps. That's on my 9700 using WiFi. Using 3G and BIS, I top out at ping 345 ms, download 570.4 kbps and upload 79.0 kbps.
Bold 9930
Carrier: Sprint
Hosted 2.9km away
Test Size: 512kB
Ping: 462ms
Download: 782.5kbps
Upload: 324.2kbps
Been waiting along time for a speed test for my BB, thanks man
is it on BIS? or is it on TCP?
Hi happy crackberry abusers!
This app allows to choose transport (BIS/BES/WiFi/TCP/WAP2).
the BES would be the most meaningless since it does compression automatically in almost all cases. The SpeedTest image thought hard to compress.
Bis should be fine, where TCP/WAP has to be a real carrier connection speed. But what I found so far is:
1. BIS is the closet to real wireless speed. I have same H+ (3G) speeds on 9900/9860 as on atrix 2 on AT&T (this is on 'wap.cingular' APN, not 'phone')
2. TCP/WAP is a way slower than suppose to be. Cannot find a reason so far. Perhaps wap gateway is really slower or BB reserve bandwith to BIS connections as go in parallel so might be quoted by QOS.
3. I do need to switch my blackberry AT&T plan to 4G form 3G because I see 3G speeds on 9900 where suppose to get much more!
PS: I'm going to add result history and publish button shortly since this is the main reason for this app - to compare :)
Keep updated!
Do the location servers not work? If I select BIS it thinks I am near Yellowknife, NWT (sometimes Wichita), but if I select Cellular it thinks I am 0.1 km away from Edmonton, AB (when I'm around 300 km away). I'm a bit concerned why tests on BIS return ~250 kbps (31 kB/s) and on "Cellular" it shows ~2 Mbps (250 kB/s). Maybe a little bit of an explaination on the thought process would help.
Um - I don't get the list of servers. I'm on the east coast. Why does it think I'm 2.9km from Wichita, and there are no servers closer to me than Tennessee? My speeds are awful and maybe that's because it thinks I'm next door to the server but I'm half a continent away?
Can this app be compiled so that it works on OS 4.5. I get error message about "net_rim_m2g" module missing.
The way this software works is it demands a certain packet type from a specific server. The BlackBerry BIS automatically compresses everything that goes through it, so when you request a certain file size it seems much smaller. This software measures the amount of time it takes to download the requested file size and then gives a speed in relation to that amount of time.