How fast the internet feels comes down to two things: distance and congestion. The farther your data travels, and the busier the roads it takes, the slower everything gets. Here’s how SpiritFox keeps that trip as short as it can be.
We’ve put the topics people ask about most at the top. Tap any one to jump straight to it.
Our standard: 1080p video in the evening, without buffering
Speed test apps can produce impressive numbers, but what you actually care about is simple: when you open a video at 9 p.m., does it buffer? So that’s the bar we set: from 8 to 11 p.m. Beijing time, 1080p video plays continuously without stalling. Speed test numbers are only a reference. Any host that can’t meet this bar at peak time is improved or replaced.
Evening peak testing on China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile is still under way. When results are in, we’ll post them here with the test date, the carrier and the outcome. If a carrier has no data yet, we’ll say “no data yet” plainly.
Finding the fastest host automatically
The app on your device tests how quickly each host responds from your own network, and connects you to the one with the lowest latency.
- Test. Your app opens a tiny test page through each host and times the whole round.
- Pick automatically. It connects to the host with the shortest time, which is usually the fastest one for you right now. It retests regularly, and to avoid flipping back and forth, it only switches when a new host is clearly faster.
- Choose yourself. If you need a host in a particular location, or your network is struggling, you can pick a different host and connection type in the app. It will then stay on that host. To go back, switch to automatic selection again.
IPv6 first
Our routes run on IPv6 by default, with IPv4 kept as a backup. If IPv6 isn’t turned on in your home router, you’ll be moved to the backup routes.
Why IPv6 first: Lately, IPv4 addresses of servers abroad get blocked from China far more often than IPv6 ones. Blocks usually hit one address at a time, and with plenty of IPv6 addresses that are easy to swap, we can get a route back much faster.
Our advice: Turn on IPv6 in your router (and your fiber modem, if it handles the connection). Just turn IPv6 on. Don’t turn IPv4 off.
Hosts in several regions
We run hosts in several regions and will keep adding more as we grow. Specific host details are only shown in your dashboard after you sign in.
NextAlways connected. →