FCC comes through with a Consumer Broadband Test app for iPhone, Android and the home
By Vlad Savov 
posted March 12th 2010 1:43PM
posted March 12th 2010 1:43PM
posted March 12th 2010 1:43PM
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Nice to see homeslice layin' down the law
Government tracking device! tin foil, tin foil!
Who gets/keeps the data gathered?
@snowbeam
The FCC, so they can yell at all the carriers for falsely advertised speeds.
We need this for COMCAST!
Wow Sprint, only 1Mbps down? FUUUUUCC.....
They lie.
I called my ISP about speeds, "mike" in India said my contract said "up to xxxx speed", meaning not more than.
My iPhone 3gs got a measly 0.30 down and 0.21 up from my office in Orange County, CA. Bleh.
@sidepocket It's because there are sooooo many people there
@CaptainPlanet Thanks Captain Planet! You're our hero. Gonna take pollution down to zero!
@CaptainPlanet South America got screwed. WTF is "heart"?
@sidepocket The are on Wifi, notice the logo at the top? I did however get 1.49Mbps down, .12Mbps up, and a wonder 8934ms latency.
@sidepocket
Here in Madison Wisconsin I get at least 2.0 download and .2 upload during peak usage times. During non-peak its 2.7 and .275. Either ATT is doing something right here or the large number of cows on ATT can't use their phones without thumbs.
@sidepocket
I got .85 down/.14 up/179 latency here in Chicago on my Samsung Moment (sprint), so don't feel too bad.
@sidepocket The bits get distracted by all the pretty girls here.
@sidepocket
On my iPhone, using 3G:
I'm getting a consistent 800+ kbps down speed, occasionally over 1200. Up speed is very consistent between 250 and 275. Not bad at all for 3G... Latency is pretty high, bouncing between 400 and 1200ms.
A a coworkers Droid, Verizon is pegging quite a bit lower across the board. Max download was 800, average closer to 550. Max upload was 210, average closer to 180. Latency was the same, 500-1200.
I ran about 30 tests, across 5 different servers. Distance from server seemed to have no effect. Moving from my desk where I have 5 bars to the cafeteria where I only get 3 seemed to make no difference in average speed. Moving to where I has 1 bar gave wild latency numbers, and down speed dropped to about 400.
There's no wifi at all in our building, so I'll have to check AT&T's DSL speeds later at home. I theoretically have 8db/512 up at home, but never see much more than half that in other tests. I formerly had TWC at home, but their rates for 7dn/384up were higher than AT&T for DSL, and the DSL seems to actually not only spec faster, but test faster, likely since fewer people share the same pipe.
I tried a test from here at the office on the gov's site, but it must be getting HAMMERED. Took forever to load. iPhone tests seem to use an alternate service. I hit Speedtest.net, and rang up 64.42MB/sec down and 27.21up (OK, we cheat, we have a few OC12s...)
@sidepocket
I'm tried it in my Cousin's house in Newport. (wifi) and got .79 down and .21 Up
At my house in Irvine (wich sux cause its a bubble) i got .46 Down and .29 up ON WIFI wtf!
Note to all: the app is pretty dumb or just slow. It was pumping GPS on my phone but still used Seattle as the default server (I live a half an hour from NYC). Actually, Seattle was the third furthest one on the list. Be sure to check the settings.
@Annoying Poster You could just go download it yourself lazy ass!
Yeah, don't try the Java based on the site from an iPhone, it freaks out and shrinks the form when you select a State. Then you can't see the rest of the buttons.
Search for "FCC" on the Android market, and it's the only app that comes up.
@duwke Thanks! I was wondering where the app was!
Why do I get the feeling that Apple will find a way to reject this app...
@coolblue830
that would probably not be in their best interest...
oh, and they, uh, didn't.
I was honestly about to download this until the tin foil hat in me kicked in...
@horizontaleight I had the exact same feeling. I went to the App Store, searched for it, then it hit me. An app from the government does NOT belong on my phone.
@ThePimento Yes. Because it would be soooo hard for them to gather your info using other means. Sorry to break it to you, but if "They" wanted to collect info on you they have numerous and easier ways rather than hoping that you have this app on your phone.
@horizontaleight
Yeah. I went to the website on my PC to test my speed and they want loads of information that I don't feel inclined to give. Sure, they can get it easily enough, but I don't feel the need to make it easier for them. Do they really need the type of location, exact address, town, state, and zip code to test my internet speed? I'll stick to speakeasy.net speedtest.
@Abe Or you could just enter bogus information and it works just as well.
.82 down, .03 up, in midtown manhattan. is there usually THAT big of a discrepancy for down/up?
@Smkmn13
That's pretty low. I typically get about 1.2 down and .30 up on my 3G connection. This is with AT&T.
@ebgolfin
did it again -- 1.2 down, .04 up... AT&T, iPhone 3G...weird...
0.36 / 0.10 iphone 3G Downtown Dallas. F'in fail.
@profeteer
According to the test apps, I have 0.54 download, and 0.40 upload on T-Mobile network near Dallas. Hmm, wonder if any of this is accurate.
@cdf74dc9
I've had many issues with Ookla's speed test being inaccurate (They have another app on the market). Rarely have these speeds been indicative of the sustained speed. T-mo (at least here in Seattle) seems to nearly double or even triple download speeds RIGHT after this particular speed test finishes
You'll even occasionally see the speed skyrocket towards the end if you run it enough.
For example I get around .3 to .5 Mb/s if I run this test, although my sustained speed ends up closer to 1.2 to 2.0 Mb/s depending on the time of day.
Disclaimer: Anecdotes are not scientific studies.
Oh goodness, now ISP's will take the IP address of this website and put it at their highest priority transfers, while other things get throttled. All under the name of Quality of Service (QoS).
Install an FCC app on my iphone? Uhmmm...no thanks.
Anything with the name "federal" in it has me feeling like my privacy is getting bent over.
@Rpie74
lol I rather think apple is trying to take down the world no the government lol
@Rpie74 I heard that wrapping your phone in aluminum foil prevents the government from spying on you.
@Rpie74 If it makes you feel better you can download the speedtest.net app, it looks 90% the same except for the FCC one says test on the first button while the Speedtest.net one says Speed Test and the graphics are different on the test page.
@kabloink
Shiny side in or out ? lol awesome
@kabloink So your saying my pop tarts are safe from goverment spying? If so I'm totally going to open up the package carefully and slip my phone in there....after eating the pop tarts of course.
@KAL326 Just be careful with the pop tarts. Once removed from their package, the RFID chip hidden in the pop tarts may become active.
@Rpie74
If you use Google you might as well download this app. They collect all your data and sell it for profit and giveaway what they can't sell.
1.86/.83 over 3G with my GS
It's a trap.
@jfherring
AT&T: "Our 3G network can't repel data usage of that magnitude!"
so wait, the FCC made an android app before engadget? ;)
@nelagster ^^^