FCC Wants You to Track Mobile Network Speed with Free App
Do you suspect the advertised speeds your mobile provider hypes don’t measure up to actual performance? If you have an inquiring mind and really want to know for sure, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a free app for you.
The FCC Speed Test is an open-source, crowdsourcing program that lets subscribers assess mobile broadband and Wi-Fi network performance nationwide, displaying factors such as download and upload speed, latency, and packet loss.
The app runs in the background and according to the FCC, the only data collected is location and time of data collection; handset type and operating system version; and cellular and broadband performance.
Keep in mind that although the app typically uses no more than 100MB per month, data transmitted by the app will be counted as part of your plan’s overall data usage and counts against any usage limits on your service plan. If this is a concern, a tip sheet has some suggestions, including selecting "Mobile Data Cap" in the settings to choose how much data the app can use.
So what about privacy? The FCC promises “privacy is paramount.” No personal or uniquely identifiable information is collected; data collection is fully anonymous. In order to protect consumers, data will be processed and analyzed statistically to ensure its anonymity before release.
The version for Android smartphones is available for download in the Google Play store—with plans to release the iPhone version by late January 2014.
Interactive maps showing mobile broadband network performance around the country based on aggregate data collected by the app should be available on a website that is expected to be launched in 2014. This app is part of the ongoing nationwide performance study of broadband service in the United States—the Measuring Broadband America program.
And, if you’d like to take a peek under the hood, you can check out the code here.
