Your wifi’s fine — the hidden lookup is what’s lagging you. Every site you open, your device first asks a “phonebook” (DNS) to turn baidu.com into a number it can dial. Slow phonebook = slow net, even on fast wifi.
net-benchmark is a free tool that races every phonebook so you grab the fastest = snappier internet, $0, no new hardware. Bonus: tests the private kind that hides which sites you visit.
Install — one line (needs Python)
pip install net-benchmark
pip = Python’s app-store-in-a-command. No pip? Grab Python from python.org first, it’s bundled.
Who’s this for + the numbers it spits out
Anyone whose net “feels slow” and wants proof of where the lag hides
Home-network / Pi-hole / router folks picking the best DNS
Privacy people who want encrypted-but-fast lookups
Devs troubleshooting connections
It doesn’t hand you the lucky-fast average — it gives P95/P99 (the speed you get almost always) and jitter (steady vs bouncy). Real-world, not marketing.
Simple-pimple: pip install net-benchmark → race the phonebooks → pick the fastest → set it on your router → free speed. Credit: author frankovo on GitHub.
