FCC Test My ISP Study
I have been participating in the SamKnows / Test My ISP program that the FCC has undertaken in an effort to better understand what internet providers are offering, and what consumers are ultimately getting.
The first report has been released and it sure doesn’t look good for DSL technology! If you have DSL based internet (AT&T U-Verse included), then you may want to consider cable because you are very likely NOT getting what you are paying for.
The report can be found here http://www.fcc.gov/measuring-broadband-america
The cable providers did well, in many cases providing better service than you are paying for, and Charter Cable held its own. Verizon fiber was the clear winner, give MORE than 100%!
Again, DSL fell flat in throughput, both up and down and latency was so high that it would make using VoIP (Voice over IP), and other packet intensive two-way communication means almost unusable.
If you would like to participate in this study, you can sign up at http://www.SamKnows.com.
How does it work? You will be sent a “whitebox”, which is a little router you replace your current router with, and it does tests throughout the day, measuring upload and download speed, latency, etc. You won’t even know it is there. For the paranoid types, yes, it COULD be sending some of your private data out to some centralized monitoring facility, but, that is highly unlikely. I did some packet captures on mine and didn’t see much data being sent at all.
If you are in the Greenville or Upstate SC area and would like to discuss how your business or even your home can use Charter home or Charter Business to save money and get faster internet speeds, phone and cable TV, then please email us at info@homelandsecureit.com or call 864.990.4748