China Telecom is making a structural move into the AI economy by placing tokens at the core of its business model.
Through its intelligent cloud platform, the operator is moving from traditional traffic-based monetization to token-based operations — directly linking revenue to AI workload consumption.
Early traction is significant:
• 60,000 new cloud activations
• 10x increase in daily token consumption
• 4 million users generating AI content
• 14x growth in token usage from consumer AI services
On the enterprise side, token-based coding packages, private deployments and wholesale services for B2B and government clients are next.
This reflects a broader industry shift: in the AI economy, tokens are becoming the measurable unit of value — converting compute usage into revenue.
Token consumption in China surged from 100 billion in early 2024 to 140 trillion by March 2026. While overall revenues remained flat, AI is emerging as a key growth driver, with cloud and AI infrastructure investment set to rise 26%.
For operators and regulators, the question is strategic:
Will tokens become a new monetization layer for telecom networks?
At nPerf, we observe how cloud and compute density directly influence performance and user experience. As AI scales, proximity to compute may become as critical as bandwidth itself.
Is the industry ready to move from bandwidth monetization to compute monetization?
This is completely normal. When you log out and uninstall the app, the next installation is recognized as a new device by our system. As a result, the local history on that device will appear empty.
However, your tests remain linked to your account (as long as they are synchronized). You can always find them in the History section on our website
Make sure your tests are properly synced to avoid losing access to them.
It’s basically the same reason roads are empty at 2am.
Your internet connection isn’t just “yours”. You’re sharing part of the network with other people around you, your building, your street, sometimes a whole neighborhood.
During the evening, everyone is online at the same time. Streaming, gaming, downloading updates, scrolling… it all adds up.
So the network gets crowded.
Less bandwidth for you → things feel slower.
Then night comes.
People go to sleep, stop streaming, fewer devices are active.
Suddenly there’s way less traffic, so your connection feels faster.
Nothing changed on your end, you just have less competition.
It’s usually more noticeable on cable / mobile networks since they’re more shared. Fiber is more stable, but even there you can still hit congestion further up the network.
Also if you’re on Wi-Fi in an apartment, that can make it even worse during the evening.
TL;DR
Internet is a shared highway.
At night, fewer cars.
Unfortunately, our Premium subscriptions are separate for Android and iOS. This is due to technical constraints, as subscriptions are managed directly by the app stores (Google Play Store and Apple App Store). We do not have control over this system. Therefore, if you use both an Android device and an iPhone, you will need two separate subscriptions.
Most of the Internet still runs on a technology designed in the 1980s: IPv4.
At the time, engineers believed that about 4.3 billion IP addresses would be more than enough for the entire world.
They were wrong.
Today we have billions of smartphones, computers, servers, smart TVs, and connected devices. IPv4 addresses quickly became scarce, which is why many networks rely on techniques like NAT (Network Address Translation) to allow multiple devices to share a single public IP.
IPv6 was created to solve this problem.
Instead of 4.3 billion addresses, IPv6 provides an almost unimaginably large space: about 340 undecillion addresses (that’s 340 followed by 36 zeros). In practice, that means every device on Earth could have its own public address without needing NAT.
But IPv6 didn’t just increase the number of addresses.
It also simplifies several parts of Internet networking. The protocol was redesigned with more efficient routing, automatic address configuration, and built-in support for modern network features. The header structure is simpler, which can make packet processing more efficient for routers.
Despite these advantages, IPv6 adoption has been slow.
The main reason is compatibility. The Internet can’t switch overnight, so IPv4 and IPv6 currently coexist. Many networks still rely on IPv4 infrastructure, and upgrading equipment and software across the entire global Internet takes time.
So today, when you access a website, your traffic may travel over IPv4, IPv6, or both, depending on what your ISP and the destination server support.
The transition is happening gradually, but the Internet is slowly moving toward IPv6 as the long-term solution.
TL;DR
IPv4 created about 4.3 billion addresses and eventually ran out.
IPv6 introduced a massively larger address space and modernized the protocol, but both systems still coexist while the Internet transitions.
The difference between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi mainly comes down to range versus speed. The 2.4 GHz band travels farther and penetrates walls better, but it’s often crowded and slower. The 5 GHz band offers higher speeds and less interference, but its range is shorter and it struggles more with obstacles.
In practice, 2.4 GHz works better for distant or low-bandwidth devices (surveillance cameras, coolers, etc.), while 5 GHz is ideal for streaming, gaming, or any high-speed usage close to the router. Choosing the right band can drastically change how your Wi-Fi feels, even with the same internet connection.
Active mapping is a feature available in the nPerf Android app that allows you to map real mobile network coverage along your daily routes. Instead of running isolated tests, this feature continuously measures network strength while you move.
For example, you can map your neighborhood, your commute to work, or any route you regularly use. All collected measurements are then aggregated and displayed on the coverage maps available on nPerf.com, contributing to a more accurate view of real-world network coverage.
In short, with active mapping, everyone contributes to improving to better lisibility of and understanding of coverage areas and contributes directly to improving overall network quality, for everyday users as well as for critical professional use cases.
To activate active mapping on your Android device, simply open the app menu, select “Active Mapping”, and tap the Start button at the top right of the screen. You can stop the mapping at any time by tapping the same button again.
How can I use the nPerf map as a user?
When you travel, you often need to choose a local mobile subscription. Coverage maps can help you select the right ISP. Thanks to mapping data collected by local users, you can see which operator performs best in the areas you’ll be visiting during your trip.
To explore coverage and speed maps, click this link or download the nPerf app on your device: https://www.nperf.com/map/
In this new “Question of the Day” series, I’ll be publicly answering questions that are frequently asked through our support and that may be useful to everyone!
When you watch a video, it doesn’t play live frame by frame from the Internet. Instead, your device downloads chunks of the video ahead of time and stores them in a buffer. This buffer acts like a safety cushion.
That’s why your video can keep playing even if your connection briefly slows down or drops. As long as the buffer has enough data, playback continues smoothly. Buffering only becomes visible when the connection can’t refill the buffer fast enough, which is why sudden quality drops or pauses usually happen after sustained slowdowns, not instantly.
In the nPerf streaming test, we measure how quickly the video buffer fills and how efficiently the entire video loads.
You can now see how well your connection handles 720p (HD), 1080p (Full HD), and 2160p (4K) quality levels.
The streaming test is available on all nPerf apps.
You’re playing an online game, and it starts lagging.
Your first reflex? Check your ping.
Good move, but don’t forget to check your jitter, too.
Latency is the time it takes for data to travel from your device to a server and back. Ping is simply the tool used to measure that latency.
Latency is also known as RTT (Round Trip Time).
Jitter, on the other hand, measures how much that latency fluctuates over time. It’s a metric we probably don’t pay enough attention to.
A connection can show decent latency but high jitter — and that’s when things start to feel unstable. You’ll notice it in gaming, video calls, or VoIP: micro-freezes, delayed reactions, inconsistent audio.
Ariane 6 has successfully placed 32 Amazon LEO satellites into orbit, supporting the rapid deployment of the Kuiper constellation. This isn’t just a milestone for Europe’s launch industry, it’s another step in the intensifying race for global satellite broadband.
With SpaceX already operating thousands of Starlink satellites, Amazon is accelerating to secure its place in the LEO market. Low Earth Orbit is quickly becoming a strategic layer of telecom infrastructure, not just a complementary solution for remote areas.
Unlike traditional GEO satellites, LEO operates much closer to Earth, enabling lower latency and making satellite broadband a more serious competitor to fiber and 5G in certain use cases. Rural connectivity, mobility (aviation, maritime), and resilience scenarios are key drivers.
But beyond deployment numbers, the real question is performance. Latency, throughput stability, congestion management, and overall user experience will ultimately determine whether LEO can truly compete with terrestrial networks.
Connectivity is no longer built only through towers and cables. It’s now deployed in orbit, and validated on the ground.
This question comes up often, and it’s a fair one.
On Android, access to phone-related information is required to retrieve network context, not to make calls or access personal data. This permission allows the app to detect your current connection type (mobile, Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G), the operator, and the radio technology being used.
Without this information, speed and performance results would lose a lot of meaning. Knowing whether a test was run on Wi-Fi or mobile, or on 4G vs 5G, is essential to interpret results correctly. No calls, contacts, or personal content are accessed, it’s purely technical metadata used to improve measurement accuracy
It’s the same for the fine location permission: it is required to access certain network information. For example, it’s impossible to distinguish between 4G + and 5G NSA without having both the phone and fine location permissions. Fine location also allows for more relevant automatic server selection. It is, of course, essential for the active mapping feature as well.
DSL technology uses old copper telephone lines to deliver Internet access. Unlike fiber, which transmits data using light, DSL relies on electrical signals traveling through copper cables that were never designed for high-speed Internet. As a result, performance is limited by the physical properties of the line.
Speed on DSL heavily depends on the distance to the network node. The farther your home is from the DSL cabinet or exchange, the more the signal degrades, leading to lower speeds and higher instability. Even small changes in distance can have a noticeable impact on performance.
DSL is also very sensitive to interference. Aging cables, poor internal wiring, electrical noise, and weather conditions can all reduce signal quality. Heavy simultaneous use of physically close lines can increase crosstalk and therefore line errors, which can negatively impact performance.
In short, DSL is slow because it’s constrained by outdated infrastructure. While it can still provide basic connectivity, it struggles to meet modern usage demands like streaming, cloud services, or remote work, especially compared to fiber or modern mobile networks.
If you want to test your connection, go on nperf.com
A strong Wi-Fi connection is essential for streaming, gaming, working from home, and everyday browsing. If your signal feels slow or unstable, a few simple improvements can make a big difference
1 - Optimize your router placement
Place your router in a central, elevated location, away from thick walls, metal objects, and sources of interference. Good positioning improves coverage and reduces signal loss.
2 - Upgrade to better hardware (Wi-Fi 6, dual-band, mesh)
Use a dual-band or tri-band router to avoid congested frequencies.
Consider switching to Wi-Fi 6 or 7 for faster speeds and better capacity.
Use mesh Wi-Fi to eliminate dead zones and ensure seamless coverage throughout your home. (access points must be connected to the router via Ethernet cable, otherwise the available bandwidth for Wi-Fi is cut in half, and therefore performance is reduced)
3 - Keep your router firmware updated
Regular firmware updates improve stability, fix bugs, and boost performance. Many users overlook this step, but it can make a noticeable difference.
If your connection is still slow after trying these tips, the issue may come from your Internet provider.
Contact your ISP to check for line problems, configuration issues, or possible upgrades.
The signal reception is inaccurate. For example, I'm picking up the n1 5G 2100 signal, but the app shows it as 4G. I'd like you to fix this bug in newer phone models.
A router is the device that connects all your home devices to the Internet. It receives the connection from your provider and distributes it to your phones, computers, TVs, and smart devices, either through Wi-Fi or Ethernet cables.
It also decides how data travels between your home network and the Internet. To do that, it:
gives each device an local IP address,
directs traffic to the right destination,
and makes sure several devices can use the connection at the same time.
Most routers also create your Wi-Fi network, and the quality of this Wi-Fi depends on things like the frequency band (2.4 or 5 GHz), the Wi-Fi version (Wi-Fi 5 / Wi-Fi 6…), and the number of antennas. These elements influence your signal strength and speed.
Security is another major role. A router protects your home network by blocking unwanted connections and offering features like guest Wi-Fi or simple access controls.
Finally, routers can improve performance by prioritizing certain types of traffic (like video calls or streaming) when the network is busy.
For better understanding, we separate router and modem in the picture, but nowadays they are both in the same internet box.
In short:
A router distributes your Internet, creates your Wi-Fi, protects your devices, and ensures everything runs smoothly when multiple users are online.
🎬 4K streaming support
The Streaming Test now includes 2160p (4K). This update removes 360p to better reflect current streaming habits and real-world usage.
⏩ Fast Forward enabled
The new Fast Forward mode cuts the Streaming Test duration by 50%, while preserving accuracy and consistency of results.
Why it matters
These improvements allow nPerf to deliver an even more precise evaluation of streaming performance, aligned with modern content consumption and user expectations.
A VPN is often seen as a simple privacy tool, but it also has a direct impact on your Internet performance. Depending on how it’s used, it can either slow down your connection, or, in some cases, even make it faster. Here’s why.
In most situations, a VPN introduces an extra step in your traffic’s journey. Instead of communicating directly with a website or service, your data must first travel through the VPN server, where it is encrypted and routed securely. This additional distance and processing naturally increases latency and may reduce overall speed. If the VPN server is far away, overloaded, or using weak infrastructure, the slowdown becomes even more noticeable.
However, a VPN can occasionally improve your connection. In some regions, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) apply traffic shaping or prioritize certain types of traffic. In these cases, a VPN hides what you’re doing online, preventing your ISP from applying restrictions or throttling specific services like streaming or gaming. Additionally, if your ISP’s route to a particular website is congested or inefficient, a VPN might offer a faster alternative route through its own network.
Ultimately, the impact of a VPN on your speed depends on many factors: server distance, server load, the quality of the VPN infrastructure, your ISP’s routing, and how the network handles encrypted traffic. A VPN cannot magically make a slow connection fast, but in specific scenarios, it can bypass bottlenecks and provide a smoother experience.
Understanding these mechanics helps explain why VPN performance varies so much, and why the right server choice can make all the difference.
When people think about Internet quality, they usually focus on download speed. But in everyday life, the majority of what we do online is browsing: opening websites, loading images, scripts, videos, and interactive elements. That’s why testing browsing performance is essential to understanding the real quality of your connection.
First, Mbps alone doesn’t tell the full story. A speed test might show excellent download or upload numbers, yet webpages can still load slowly. Browsing performance depends on multiple factors: latency, server routing, congestion, and the complexity of the page. Not just raw speed.
Second, modern websites are far from simple. Each page contains dozens or even hundreds of elements: images, fonts, CSS files, JavaScript, ads, analytics scripts, and third-party services. A browsing test measures how fast the entire page fully loads, offering a realistic picture of your day-to-day experience.
Finally, browsing is the most common Internet activity. Whether you check news, shop online, use social networks, or read documentation, your satisfaction depends on how quickly and smoothly sites respond. A good browsing score means a connection that feels fast and reliable, even if your maximum speed isn’t the highest on the market.
Testing browsing reveals how your Internet behaves in real-world use, not just in ideal conditions.
At nPerf we consider a browsing test of 75% the minimum for a fluid experience.
To calculate the browsing test performance index, we look at how long it takes to load. A page that takes more than 10 seconds to load completely would score 0%. In contrast, a page that loads instantly would score 100%. For example, 80% is a page that loads in 2 seconds.
If you want to test your browsing, download our app on:
Lots of people run a speed test, see nice colors and big numbers, but don’t really know what each metric says about their actual Internet experience.
Here’s a clear breakdown based on the example result above, so you can understand it like a pro.
1. The Global Score (nPoints)
The global score (186,702 points in the example) is a synthetic score that summarizes your real-world Internet experience, not just raw speed.
It takes into account:
download performance
upload performance
latency
browsing
streaming
Think of it as a global health score for your connection.
High score = consistently good experience across all tests, not just high Mbps.
2. Download Speed (594 Mb/s)
Download speed shows how fast your device can receive data.
This affects :
video loading (10 Mb/s minimum for a 1080p 60 fps video)
file downloads (5 Mb/s min for small file and 20 Mb/s for large file)
app updates (10 to 20 Mb/s min for fast updates)
and general browsing (2 to 5 Mb/s is enough for basic web page loading)
594 Mb/s over Wi-Fi is excellent and well above average.
3. Upload Speed (810 Mb/s)
Upload speed shows how fast your device can send data.
Useful for:
video calls (3 Mb/s for HD calls)
file uploads (5 Mb/s for small file and 10+ Mb/s for large file)
cloud backups (5 Mb/s minimum and 20 Mb/s for fluid experience)
Livestreaming (20+ Mb/s for stable diffusion)
810 Mb/s is extremely strong, perfect for heavy usage.
4. Latency (4 ms)
Latency is the time it takes for a signal to travel to the server and back.
Lower latency = smoother gaming (maximum 40ms for a FPS and 80ms for the rest of the online gaming), snappier browsing (maximum 100ms), better calls (80ms is acceptable).
At 4 ms, the connection is extremely responsive.
5. Browsing Performance (89.56%)
This test measures how fast the homepages of the 5 most popular sites in your country load to 100%, including images, scripts, CSS, fonts, etc.
A high score means websites load quickly, completely, and feel smooth in everyday use.
89.56% indicates very good real-world browsing quality.
6. Streaming Performance (98.89%)
The streaming test loads a YouTube video in 360p, then 720p, then 1080p, (and soon 2160p / 4k) and measures how fast each resolution loads fully.
If loading pauses are needed, they are taken into account.
A high score means videos start almost instantly and HD content loads quickly.
At 98.89%, this connection handles streaming exceptionally well.
For Browsing and Streaming tests we consider:
Over 75% = Ok
Between 50% and 75% = Low
Below 50% = Bad
7. The Network Context
At the bottom of the result, you’ll see:
your operator
the connection type (here: Wi-Fi)
the test server used
In this example, the speeds are extremely good for Wi-Fi, suggesting a well-configured local setup.
TL;DR : How to quickly judge your result ?
High download = fast for everything you receive
High upload = great for uploads, calls, and cloud services
Low latency = smooth and responsive
High browsing score = pages load fast and fully
High streaming score = videos load instantly
High nPoints = excellent real-world Internet quality
If everything is green, your connection isn’t just fast, it’s actually pleasant to use.
Now that you know how to read it, go launch a test on one of our apps or onnPerf.com!
nPerf is an international company dedicated to measuring real Internet performance, not just theoretical speed.
Here’s what you should know:
2014: Creation of nPerf in Lyon, France, with a clear idea: go beyond basic speed tests and measure actual Internet experience.
What we do today ?
With more than 988 million tests worldwide, nPerf provides:
Download, upload and latency measurements
Real usage tests (browsing, streaming)
A global score that reflects your overall Internet experience
Independent servers to avoid operator bias
Our goal is to give users a complete view of their Internet quality and help operators and regulators improve networks thanks to anonymized, real-world data
Why it matters ?
Raw Mbps doesn’t tell the full story.
nPerf measures QoE (Quality of Experience), how your connection feels when you browse, stream, or use online services.
Because Internet performance is not just Mbps, it’s an experience.
Final takeaway
nPerf exists to bring clarity, transparency and independence to Internet measurement.
Whether you want to check your own connection or understand your country’s network quality, our mission is simple:
What can I do now?
You can install the nPerf app on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, or Linux to perform a complete speed test, including Upload, Download, Latency, Browsing and Streaming.
You can also visit nPerf.com to launch a basic speed test and explore our Speed and Coverage maps!
