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Y-Fi will show you how long it takes to load websites in different countries

Internet speeds around the world are incredibly different. In South Korea the average speed in 2016 was 26.3Mbps while here in South Africa we have average speeds of 6.6Mbps.

As drastic as that is, South Africa’s speeds are in actual fact rather decent when compared to other parts of the world. You don’t have to take my word for it – you can see for yourself.

Nigerian born software engineer at LinkedIn Omayeli Arenyeka has created Y-Fi –  a tool that allows you to experience loading animations and WiFi speeds from around the world.

“When I went back home [to Nigeria] and was dealing with the internet speeds there I got really frustrated really quickly. It felt like I had just discovered loading animations for the first time,” Arenyeka tells us.

“The project started out as kind of a research project for myself. I was curious about WiFi speeds in other countries and wanted to show myself how good (or bad) I had it living in Nigeria and the US.”

Using Akamai’s State of the Internet Report as well as the Connectivity Report Arenyeka created YFi to give folks a clearer picture of what internet speeds are like around the world because now you can see loading animations rather than a seemingly unending table with thousands of numbers.

Then with a bit of clever JavaScript and calculations Arenyeka was able to simulate the time it would take for a site such as Netflix to load a movie. She has also made all the code available on Github.

The software engineer tells us that she will continue to update YFi as new information surfaces. “I want the project to be accurate more than anything,” she says.

And we have to say, this is a great little tool, we’re not afraid to admit that we’ve spent many hours comparing our loading times to other parts of the world.

In that time we’ve realised something very important and perhaps a bit sad as well which we couldn’t formulate into words until Arenyeka mentioned it to us. “I think a lot of us see fast internet as a right but it’s really not. It’s a privilege,” she said.

It’s very easy to get hung up on 4K streaming on Netflix and the politics of YouTube but we often forget that some folks are struggling just to connect to Twitter and make their voices heard.

The internet is powerful tool that can help expose corrupt governments and human injustice and perhaps Y-Fi will help us all realise that maybe being able to connect everybody is of more significance than Game of Thrones being low resolution for a few scenes.

You can follow Omayeli Arenyeka on Twitter @YellZHeard and you can find the code for Y-Fi over on Github.

 

 

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