FCC will test U.S. broadband speeds

The U.S. Federal Communication Commission has launched a program to give consumers software tools to test the speeds of their broadband services.

The commission is offering two tools, Ookla and M-Lab (both still in beta) that will test broadband services by transferring a temporary file and measuring performance of providers� services.

The FCC-supplied tools will test:

�Download Speed: The speed at which data is sent from the testing server to your computer.

�Upload Speed: The speed at which data is sent from your computer to the testing server.

�Latency: The time it takes for data to be sent from your computer to the testing server and back (the �round trip time"\�).

�Jitter: The variability in the delay between your computer and the testing server.�

The commission said �This beta version is the FCC�s first attempt at providing Americans with real-time information about their broadband connection quality. The FCC will continue to explore ways to improve user experience and the feature sets of these tests.�

Info here: �About the Consumer Broadband Test (Beta)�

Tom Kelchner