If you have been facing bad video streaming quality with your mobile data, YouTube is going to help improve the situation by launching the Video Checkup tool, it isn’t exactly useful for streaming users, but it does provide a map that shows data of video playback quality around the nation, which will help telcos in identifying the areas that they will need to improve their network. YouTube is currently working with the four major telcos in Malaysia, namely Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile, in gathering such data.
How does it work? YouTube says that the data is collected through the YouTube app from the user’s smartphone or tablet, the tool will then reflect data collected from the last 35 days, the user and telco will be able to understand the how well the network performs in a particular area when streaming HD or SD quality videos.
Malaysia is the first country to ever utilise the Video Checkup tool, and YouTube’s reason for doing that is due to the fact that two thirds of Malaysia’s YouTube watch time comes from smartphones. Additionally, our country is also known to have one of the highest mobile penetration in the region, while the efforts led by local telcos to improve mobile internet infrastructure has also led YouTube to launch the tool first in Malaysia.
The Video Checkup tool is only available in web, which anyone can access by entering youtube.com/videocheckup in their browser and see the following tabs:
COMPARE: A lit of operators in your area and their scores out of 5 star
EXPLORE: A heat map of YouTube’s playback experience on operator networks in your area
LEARN: Explains the star ratings and terminology in more detail
Video Checkup is already available for access, and will be launched in other countries in the near future.
