FCC: Test your bandwidth for better ‘net policy

Robert Hallock 12 Mar, 2010 at 3:09pm ET Article published in Tech

The FCC this week has begun asking the general public to submit their broadband speeds to get an accurate picture of the condition of US broadband. The bureau hopes that crowdsourcing the information will circumvent ISP reports that frequently exaggerate real-world speeds and broadband coverage.

The new website established at broadband.gov allows users to test their broadband connection via one of two Java-driven testing tools. The test requires that visitors submit an address, but the FCC says that the data will be used to “analyze broadband quality and availability on a geographic basis,” a critical necessity in achieving the commission’s goals.

The FCC isn’t stopping at terrestrial broadband, either. The bureau has released an application to the Android and iPhone app stores that can also test, record and report the speed and quality of a mobile data connection.

Finally, those who do not live within the reach of broadband can still contribute to the project by filling out an online report, calling the FCC at 1-888-CALL-FCC, faxing the email or by sending a SASE via the US Postal Service.

The testing initiative comes just days in advance of the bureau’s official unveiling of the National Broadband Plan, a landmark initiative that intends to bring 100Mbps connectivity to 100 million Americans in 2010, deliver broadband to underserved rural areas and to sell broadband holdouts on the merits of a high-speed connection.

Comments

12 Mar 2010 ~ 3:37pm Snarkasm FCC: Test your bandwidth <s>for better 'net policy</s> FOR GREAT JUSTICE
12 Mar 2010 ~ 7:17pm Leonardo I'm wondering if the results the government will pull in will be skewed. This has the potential to be very good, unbiased research material, but I'm afraid the government won't get a broad enough sampling of users.

Who is most likely to participate in this test? Wouldn't it be people like us, tech-aware persons who take an interest in these matters? I would imagine that most of us (here at Icrontic and our counterparts everywhere) already have the fastest broadband available that we can afford. People like my parents, who have the slowest broadband they can find (recently upgraded from dial-up), are not the type of people would participate in this study.

There are millions of people like my parents, who are quite content with slow connections. These are people who don't know any better or who don't spend much time on the Internet. There's all the demographic that's mainly passive, watching lots of TV. It's my belief that these groups of people are one of the reasons for relatively slow Internet connections in the US. The demand for better broadband is not as high as it could be.
12 Mar 2010 ~ 7:27pm Thrax Even if it's a biased sampling, the results will still get us faster Internet, because the FCC will be able to see that our real-world speeds are not jiving with what ISPs claim to deliver.
13 Mar 2010 ~ 10:02am mirage In addition, many people will also take the test through their weak wireless connections to the router.
13 Mar 2010 ~ 4:40pm PetersDad There are two different tests which are performed which appear to use different algorithms to determine a value for upload, download, latency, and jitter. I would recommend that if one wants to engage in this test, it would be appropriate to run both algorithms at multiple times of the day and on multiple days of the week. Otherwise, you do not get an accurate representation of how much the network load fluctuates from moment to moment.
13 Mar 2010 ~ 6:25pm rayray Sweet. Confirmation that I'm not getting the speeds advertised.
15 Mar 2010 ~ 8:13pm jpparker88 I think it's a catch 22. Sure our speeds will be faster, which is great. But if the government get their fingers in the internet pot, it's only a matter of time before they start trying to control what gets posted or what content people access.
15 Mar 2010 ~ 9:40pm ardichoke You give the federal government in this country far too much credit. They would never be able to competently filter the Internet. If they even tried to there would be way too much of an outcry in this country. I mean, we can't even get decent health insurance reforms without people threatening to revolt, imagine the reaction actual censorship would garner!