FCC study offers dramatic results
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just released their first ever study of internet service providers’ actual download speeds versus what they advertise. Results were mostly favorable with Cablevision standing out as the under-performer.
Acceptable or not?
Advocacy group Free Press told ArsTechnica.com today, “No matter how industry tries to put a positive spin on these results, the report shows conclusively that many Americans are simply not getting what they pay for,” said research director S. Derek Turner in a statement. “This study indicates Comcast, Cox, and Verizon FiOS largely perform well, but other companies like Cablevision, AT&T, MediaCom, and Frontier all fail to deliver their customers the quality of service promised.
“In every other industry, giving your customers less than what they paid for is a very serious offense. ISPs should be held to the same standard, no matter how much they try to spin their way out of it.”
Nick Feamster, a Georgia Tech professor who worked with the FCC on proper metrics, had a different take. “We found that the performance of US ISPs more consistently matches their advertised promises than the ISPs in other countries—they do a pretty good job.”
Not getting what you pay for
The bottom line is that many Americans are not getting what they pay for, be it at the office or in their home, and the FCC’s first study proves the problem is not that users need to “reset their router” which is a common response given by ISPs. How is your internet speed?
