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FCC Releases Apps To Independently Test The Speed Of Wireless Networks

Looking for real-time data of its own, the FCC (yes, the regulatory body in Washington, D.C.) has released a mobile app for iPhone and Android. Don’t worry, the feds aren’t interested in listening to your phone conversations, rather they say the purpose of the app is to provide “Americans with additional information about heir mobile data connection and to create awareness about the importance of mobile broadband connection quality.”

Essentially, the app clocks how long it takes to download and upload data to the phone. The release of the two apps come just days before the Commission is set to release its new national broadband plan on March 16, which will heavily stress the need for mobile data networks.

The FCC says it may use the data collected from the apps to “analyze coverage and quality on a geographic basis in the U.S.” That means, it may start to have its own information to fact-check the data that carriers give them. While the random tests conducted by random citizens probably can not be considered scientific, it may do just what the Commission intends—make citizens more aware of the speeds they are getting.

When conducting the test on a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Nexus One on T-Mobile’s network in Seattle, results indicated that the 3G network performance was .29 mbps down and .35 mbps up. Tests by an iPhone in Los Angeles and a Verizon Wireless Droid in Seattle blew those results away. The iPhone registered 3G speeds of 1.35 mbps down and .21 mbps up. Verizon’s Droid clocked in at 1.71 mbps down and .82 mbps up.

The tools are also available at Broadband.gov for measuring fixed broadband connections, although to test mine, I just turned WiFi on in my phone. In the future, Digiphile.com reports that the FCC says it will make additional broadband testing apps available for consumer use.

Tricia Duryee

@triciad Mar 11, 2010 7:17 PM ET

Posted In: Legal, Regulatory, FCC, Mobile, Technologies / Formats, 3G, Companies, Apple, iPhone, AT&T, Google, Android, T-Mobile, Verizon

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Kash

I second Hari. Krishna Kumar and others - pls take your agenda to Orkut or somewhere else. Uday Shankar must be super perplexed that you folks dont even understand what he's talking about.

Pls stop hijacking the primary topic - the very interesting evolution of the distribution networks in india and the associated economics!

Krishna Kumar

Thanks deepa. The Hindu readership is mostly devout Hindus. They do not expect The Hindu to support BJP or RSS or to whitewash the violent antics of the anti-social elements of Sangh Parivar. But they expect The Hindu to uphold the rather old-fashioned ethical values of Journalism (like NYT for eg). Unfortunately the current owners are relentlessly pursuing its Muslim-CPM-China centred editorial policy, contemptuously disregarding the opinion of its readers whose families have been loyal readers of the Paper for generations.

deepa

I second Krishna Kumar - the Hindu stand on muslim & even christian issues is not pro-minority, but anti-majority! they are two very different issues! But then again, when the editor N. Ram has married twice - first a christian and then a Muslim woman, the bed room has a great influence on the newsroom. Sorry if this sounds un-pleasant, but it is so true! Ram's wiki claims he is an aethiest - by definition, that means no belief in God. It does not mean - favouring one definition of God over another ( after all, that is what religion is… a narrow definition of God)
I admire Sainath - it would do him well to ensure he takes a holistic view of any situation to protect his own equity!

Hari

I think we have gone off on a tangent. The primary argument is about content distribution costs and allocations of revenues from that.

This is completely separate from the issue of paid/tainted news coverage!

rakesh

this is the exact reason why MediaNet, the BCCL biz for paid content, is actually the most transparent model! they keep paid content out of the main editions, and they account for when content is paid for. regional papers just take black money and pretend it doesn't exist.

Krishna Kumar

Thank you dough. The Hindu's stand on the issue is similar to Vasavadatha's Sermon on Chastity.

dough

I completely agree with Krishna Kumar. Heights of hypocrisy. Tch.

Krishna Kumar

Yes. Marathi news papers have been unethical. But what about The Hindu? Does the one-sided propaganda provided by The Hindu for Muslim Fundamentalists, the CPM and for China is also Paid News?