As part of the FCC’s move towards broadband access for the entire country, they have provided a free tool that will allow you to get data on your current internet speeds. Tools like this are nothing new to the internet as a whole, but this is the first time a government entity has gone out of its way to spread the news that you are paying for something you are not receiving.
My current ISP is selling me a package of 5mbps download speeds for a nice sum of only $17 per month. It is only $17 per month for the first year, and once that year is up the cost will triple to approximately $55. With the dramatic increase in price from year one to year two, I will not see any improvement in my service. This is due to the current design model of broadband service in general, as the more customers in your area, the slower your connections speeds will be. There is a wealth of information regarding the design principles of this, but a great summary can be found at
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cable-modem10.htm
Pros and Cons to Cable Modems
If you are one of the first users to connect to the Internet through a particular cable channel, then you may have nearly the entire bandwidth of the channel available for your use. As new users, especially heavy-access users, are connected to the channel, you will have to share that bandwidth, and may see your performance degrade as a result. It is possible that, in times of heavy usage with many connected users, performance will be far below the theoretical maximums. The good news is that this particular performance issue can be resolved by the cable company adding a new channel and splitting the base of users.
Now that only directly applies to cable modems, but every broadband technology has its drawbacks. If the FCC has its way, in 10 years that will be a thing of the past. The FCC will be promoting its plan of getting 100mbps internet connections to every American within the next decade. Although this is great news, it doesn’t help anyone that is currently overpaying for slow broadband connections. Waiting for the FCC to fix this isn’t a timely solution, so the first step in addressing your slow connections is to talk to your ISP. It is likely they will remind you that your 5mbps plan is a theoretical maximum, and it is expected you will never see those speeds. Be prepared for disappointment or at least an hour of your time spent on the phone or online chat with an ISP rep. By providing this single bandwidth test, the FCC has created a speed test that will be considered the standard benchmark for consumers that want to complain about their speed. As I mentioned there are many free test available online, but as word spread, the FCC’s speed test will absolutely catch on as the de-facto standard. What interest does the government have in providing inaccurate results? It could be argued that the FCC’s results will only help to promote its own agenda. What the FCC is trying to do is in the best interest of the American people, by pushing the ISP’s and to deliver on its service and not hide behind ‘theoretical maximums’. I would suggest that you run the FCC speed test from every new location you happen to be at. Spread the word about it to all your friends and colleagues. Help promote the test as the standard by which consumers can demand the service we are actually paying for.
Try it out here :
http://www.broadband.gov/