Laments cable companies who complained about poor data, but wouldn't help...
Last month we noted how executives from a number of large cable companies
recently stopped by the FCC to argue for better speed tests. Why were cable executives so concerned about giving consumers better tools to highlight the limitations of their connections? The executives took issue with a recent FCC report claiming that consumers are getting between 40% and 50% less speed than carriers advertise. The data the FCC used was provided by comScore, and the cable industry isn't alone in thinking that while there's a gap between advertised and delivered speeds, it's nowhere near that large.
Blogging over at the
FCC broadband website, the FCC's Peter Bowen says the cable industry is being a little melodramatic with their complaints, however. According to the FCC, they weren't saying that this gap between advertised and delivered speeds is all the fault of the carriers. They were simply stating that end-user speeds are often much slower than advertised speeds, and that this can be confusing for less technical subscribers. The FCC's recent
broadband plan proposed having carriers advertise
both a connection's top speed, but also the average speed obtained by users.
While the FCC did finally launch their
own speed test recently, the data collected by it is not exactly scientifically sound; the collection tool failing to even to confirm that zip codes match towns or cities. Bowen pretty clearly states the FCC knows they'll need more comprehensive data on user speeds to inform policy decisions. The FCC is working on it, and does aim to emulate UK regulator Ofcom's approach to speed tests:
Besides, the FCC is, in fact, putting in place testing to measure absolute provider speeds -- an important and related issue, but a separate issue. In 2009 the UK regulator published a report noting that actual speeds delivered by ISP’s were roughly 57% of the advertised speeds and even lower at peak times, and we aim to replicate their approach and make our results available to the public this year. So a few weeks ago, we put out bids, which I blogged about on March 15, to hire a firm to independently test these absolute speeds. We look forward to getting that information.
Bowen goes on to note that while the cable industry spent a lot of effort complaining in a recent
filing, they haven't exactly been helpful in terms of providing the FCC with
better data than they've been complaining about:
providers have had a chance to provide us with more data themselves over the last 6 months. Back in September, we asked providers for better data to refine the comScore analysis – new facts and figures, rather than rhetoric and empty attack. NCTA suggests flaws in the advertised speeds of comScore, but ISPs have and could provide data (in aggregate) on the advertised speeds of their consumers to bolster or refine comScore, Form 477 and other data that the commission relies upon. But no provider has stepped forward.
So while cable carriers complained about the FCC's speed data, they weren't exactly going out of their way to help. Of course, providing data to the FCC highlighting speed discrepancies would also highlight deployment and competitive discrepancies most industry executives pretend don't exist. Meanwhile, cable carriers may not be all that glad they've been pushing for a more UK/Ofcom style approach to speed tests, given those tests (in
conjunction with speed testing outfit SamKnows) also highlight a very significant gap between advertised and delivered speeds.
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Huh?
