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Broadband May Someday Come With a Type of Nutrition Label

According to a new report by the General Accounting Office (pdf), US broadband providers and regulators have work to do in helping consumers better understand the speed and quality of the broadband connections they pay for. According to the report, the lack of a standardized format to disclose connection quality data across ISP websites makes it difficult for consumers to compare between broadband ISPs.

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In other words, when customers pay for 25 Mbps but run into trouble streaming video or downloading files during peak hours, they may not always understand why. A speed test may not be enough to determine whether the cause is congestion, latency, packet loss, interconnection or a myriad of other issues.

If those problems are thanks to network investment shortcomings (looking at you, Windstream) or interconnection pattycake (looking at you, Verizon and AT&T), ISPs may not be eager to share additional information with consumers.

"Studies we reviewed and stakeholders we spoke with noted that speed tests can be affected by a variety of factors, which makes it difficult for consumers to identify what specific problem is affecting their broadband performance," stated the GAO.

The GAO report concluded that the FCC needs to collect more third-party data on broadband performance, do a better job sharing that data with consumers, and rely less on potentially inaccurate connection data provided by ISPs. ISPs have resisted any requests for sharing more connection quality data.

The FCC has done a better job of this in recent years, using custom-firmware-embedded routers stationed among the homes of volunteers to provide a better look at real-world data via its Measuring Broadband America reports. This data has occasionally been used to name and shame ISPs that aren't delivering promised speeds during peak hours.

For example a 2011 study using this data found that Cablevision failed to offer advertised speeds at peak usage hours around 50% of the time. By 2013, Cablevision had improved in the rankings by offering slightly more speed than the company advertised, a tactic other ISPs have since adopted.

According to the study, the FCC informed the GAO that they're looking at a variety of improvements to these reports, and may even begin to include issuing periodic reports on streaming video service quality across various ISPs. Since our broadband plan was enacted in 2010 there has been talk of including a sort of nutrition label for broadband (where latency, jitter and other metrics are included), but that push never seems to get very far.

Until then, consumers would certainly benefit from reports that showcase not only the fastest speeds, but the most consistent and highest quality connections available. Someday the FCC may even be willing to compare broadband ISPs by price, something the agency has historically avoided like the plague.

Most recommended from 17 comments


mlcarson
join:2001-09-20
Santa Maria, CA

2 recommendations

mlcarson

Member

Choice?

I love how they make it sound like consumers have so many choices in broadband. Most of the country has a choice of cable or maybe DSL and that's it; you're lucky if you can get both.