What Is “Speedtest Certified”? Ookla’s New Standard for Network Excellence

Key Takeaways

• Speedtest Certified is Ookla’s third-party verification program for property networks, launched in September 2025 to replace self-reported connectivity claims with an independently tested score.
• A Speedtest Certified Score above 70 out of 100 earns a property the Speedtest Certified Wi-Fi designation, backed by an on-site assessment rather than a vendor’s own marketing claims.
• The scoring model weighs three categories: core performance, network configuration and optimization, plus infrastructure readiness and resilience.
• Hotels, stadiums, airports, offices and multifamily properties stand to benefit most, since connectivity now shapes guest and tenant satisfaction as directly as any physical amenity.
• Third-party validation carries more weight with stakeholders than internal reporting, because it removes the conflict of interest baked into a vendor grading its own work.

A hotel guest tries to join a video call from their room, and the connection stutters through the first ten minutes. By checkout, that property has lost more than a Wi-Fi complaint. It has lost a review, a rebooking and a bit of trust that no amount of marketing copy about “high-speed internet throughout” can win back.

That gap between what a property claims about its network and what a guest or tenant experiences firsthand has existed for years without a real fix. Speedtest Certified is Ookla’s attempt to close it with an independent, data-driven verification program rather than another logo a property can print on its own.

In this article, we’ll explain what Speedtest Certified is and how the certification process and scoring work. It also makes the case for why third-party validation carries more weight than self-reported network claims. It closes with a look at which industries stand to benefit most, since connectivity has become as much a competitive differentiator as it is an operational requirement.

What Is Speedtest Certified?

Speedtest Certified is a network verification program that Ookla, the company behind the widely used Speedtest tool, launched in September 2025. The program gives property owners an independent, third-party way to prove their network performs as promised, rather than relying on internal claims or a one-time speed test result.

Ookla built the program around the same testing methodology that has made Speedtest a trusted name in connectivity measurement for over a decade, then extended it with on-site assessments powered by Ekahau, the Wi-Fi survey and design company Ookla acquired in 2019. Stephen Bye, President and CEO of Ookla, framed the launch around a common frustration: arriving at a hotel, conference venue or airport only to find the internet painfully slow despite assurances otherwise.

Properties that complete the assessment and meet the certification threshold earn the right to display the Speedtest Certified mark, both on-site and in digital marketing. Ookla positions the badge as a signal that carries the same recognition as the Speedtest brand itself, which gives it weight with guests and tenants who already trust the name from their own personal connectivity testing.

How Does the Speedtest Certified Process Work?

Certification starts well before an assessor ever visits the property. The customer provides key details in advance, including the venue’s full address, total floor area, number of floors and business type, along with up-to-date digital floor plans in a supported format.

The customer also defines the intended wireless coverage areas, including any outdoor zones, and shares usage estimates such as expected user density and peak activity periods. Practical logistics matter here too, since security escort needs, personal protective equipment requirements and network access details all need to reach the assessor before the site visit.

Only Speedtest Certified accredited professionals can conduct the assessment itself. That assessor reviews the provided materials and uploads and scales the floor plans using Ekahau tools, then predefines the relevant coverage and usage zones before ever setting foot on-site.

The on-site survey itself combines a passive Wi-Fi scan with real-world Speedtest and Consumer Quality of Experience measurements. Using the Ekahau Survey app with integrated Speedtest and Consumer Quality of Experience software development kits, the assessor walks every predefined coverage area in continuous survey mode, including stairwells, elevators and outdoor areas where applicable. For a venue to qualify for certification, this survey must verify a minimum of 70% of the area accessible to end customers.

Red River Tip: Treat the pre-survey documentation stage as seriously as the on-site visit itself. Incomplete floor plans or vague coverage zone definitions are the most common reason an assessment takes longer than expected or produces results that do not reflect how the space really gets used.

What Is the Speedtest Certified Score?

The Speedtest Certified Score is a weighted, 100-point score calculated from a structured matrix that measures Wi-Fi deployment quality, internet service provider performance, quality of service and quality of experience. Ookla defines the weighting and thresholds for each metric through real-world testing rather than an arbitrary point system.

A property needs a score of 70 out of 100 to earn certification. Properties that fall short do not simply fail and walk away. Ookla has described a grace period during which a property can address the gaps the assessment identified and request a retest before certification is finalized.

That threshold matters because it turns a vague sense of “our Wi-Fi is fine” into a specific, defensible number. A property with a 92 can make a very different claim to prospective tenants or guests than a property that barely cleared 70, even though both hold the same certification.

What Does the Speedtest Certified Wi-Fi Designation Cover?

The score breaks down into three weighted categories, each measuring a different layer of what makes a network work well for the people using it.

Core Performance Metrics carry the heaviest weight because they map most directly to user experience. Signal strength and quality, download and upload speeds, latency and jitter all fall under this category, alongside quality of experience testing across specific activities such as short-form video, web browsing, cloud applications, gaming and video conferencing.

Network Configuration and Optimization Metrics matter for a different reason. A property can have strong raw speeds and still deliver a poor experience if too many broadcast networks compete for the same channels or if roaming between access points is not configured well, so this category captures the technical root causes behind performance problems.

Infrastructure Readiness and Resilience rounds out the score by looking at whether a network can hold up over time. That means checking backhaul connection type, whether the property has redundant and diverse internet connections, how old the wireless hardware is and whether advanced security measures like management frame protection are in place.

Why Does Third-Party Validation Matter More Than Self-Reported Claims?

Every property with a network claims it offers fast, reliable Wi-Fi. That claim means little on its own, since the entity making it has every incentive to describe its own network favorably and no independent party checking the math.

Third-party validation entirely removes that conflict of interest. When Ookla certifies a property, the score comes from a standardized methodology applied consistently across every venue, not from a property manager’s internal survey or a single speed test run from the front desk on a good day.

This distinction matters even more for organizations that make purchasing or leasing decisions based partly on connectivity. A commercial real estate developer marketing office space, a hospital system evaluating a new facility or a conference venue competing for corporate bookings all benefit from a number that a third party stands behind rather than a claim that only the property itself can vouch for.

Hamdy Farid, SVP of Product at Ookla, described the program as removing guesswork for both sides of that relationship. Network owners get objective metrics to validate their investment, and the people relying on that network get a mark of distinction backed by an established name in connectivity measurement rather than a property’s own assurances.

Which Industries Benefit Most from Being Speedtest Certified?

Ookla built the program around properties where connectivity failures carry real business consequences, not just user annoyance. A few sectors stand out as the clearest early beneficiaries:

• Hospitality: Hotels and resorts compete directly on guest experience, and Wi-Fi complaints translate quickly into public reviews that shape future bookings.
• Event venues and stadiums: Large crowds concentrated in one place put extreme pressure on wireless capacity, making verified performance a meaningful differentiator for venues courting corporate events.
• Airports: Travelers increasingly judge an entire terminal experience by whether they can get online, and airports operate at a scale where self-reported claims carry little credibility.
• Commercial real estate and enterprise offices: Landlords and building owners can use certification to justify premium rents and win tenants who treat connectivity as a baseline requirement rather than a bonus.
• Multifamily residential: Property managers face similar pressure from residents who expect apartment-grade connectivity to match what they get at home.
• Healthcare facilities and universities: Both sectors run dense, mission-critical wireless environments where a verified baseline supports everything from patient monitoring to campus-wide learning tools.

Hospitality in particular sits at an interesting intersection of guest experience and hard business metrics, since a certified network can support everything from room rate justification to how a property positions itself against competitors. That connection between certification and business outcomes deserves its own closer look, particularly for hotel and resort operators weighing whether the investment pays off.

The stakes look different across these industries, but the underlying logic stays the same everywhere. A verified network score gives decision makers something concrete to point to, whether that decision maker is a corporate travel manager choosing a hotel partner or a tenant evaluating office space, and the same logic extends just as easily to a patient family judging a hospital’s readiness to support connected care.

How Does Being Speedtest Certified Fit Into a Broader Network Strategy?

A certification program measures a network at a point in time, but the underlying infrastructure still needs the same ongoing design, monitoring and support it always has. Certification works best as a milestone within a broader network strategy rather than a one-time badge pursued in isolation.

Red River’s enterprise networking practice focuses on this foundation, helping organizations design and maintain the wired and wireless infrastructure that a certification assessment ultimately measures. A property with outdated access points or an under-provisioned backhaul connection is unlikely to score well no matter when the assessment happens.

Ongoing monitoring matters just as much after certification as before it. Red River’s guidance on what a network operations center does covers how continuous, proactive monitoring catches the kind of degradation that could pull a certified network back below the threshold long before a renewal assessment would catch it.

Red River Tip: Treat certification as a checkpoint, not a finish line. A network that scores well today can drift below that standard within a year if nobody is actively monitoring for interference, hardware aging or capacity growth in guest and tenant demand.

What Should Organizations Do Before Pursuing Certification?

A few steps before requesting an assessment can shorten the process and improve the odds of certifying on the first attempt.

1. Gather accurate, up-to-date floor plans in a supported digital format, clearly scaled or containing reference measurements.
2. Document intended wireless coverage areas, including outdoor zones, along with expected user density and peak activity periods.
3. Confirm hardware age and firmware status across access points, since outdated equipment is a common source of lost points in the infrastructure category.
4. Review internet service provider backhaul capacity and redundancy, particularly for properties that have not reassessed their connection setup in several years.
5. Address obvious network configuration issues, such as excessive broadcast networks or inconsistent authentication protocols, before the assessor arrives.

What Sets a Speedtest Certified Network Apart?

A Speedtest Certified network stands apart because the claim behind it comes from an independent assessment rather than the property’s own marketing language. The score, the weighted categories and the pass threshold all exist specifically so that a number means the same thing at every certified property, not just at the one making the claim.

That consistency turns network performance from an assumption into a verifiable asset. A validated score gives network owners a defensible answer when stakeholders ask whether an infrastructure investment paid off, and it gives guests, tenants and partners a reason to trust a badge instead of a slogan.

Ready to Strengthen the Network Behind Your Certification?

Red River does more than help organizations prepare for a Speedtest Certified assessment. As Ookla’s first North American Platinum Partner in the Speedtest Certified Authorized Partner program, Red River’s accredited assessors can conduct the on-site evaluation directly, using the same Ekahau tools and Speedtest methodology described throughout this article.

That Platinum status closes a gap that used to slow this process down. Organizations no longer need to coordinate between a network integrator and a separate certification body, since Red River can guide a property from an initial readiness review through the final certified score under one relationship.

Ed Levens, Red River’s Chief Marketing Officer, put it plainly when the partnership was announced: “Every organization is being measured by the quality of its connected experience.” Bill Lawler, Ookla’s Senior Vice President of Sales for the Americas, said Red River’s Platinum status reflects the expertise needed to bring that same standard to customers across North America.

Contact Red River to talk through your current network and what it would take to pursue certification with confidence in the outcome, backed by a partner authorized to deliver the designation.

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