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FCC Launches 'FCC Speed Test' iPhone App to Measure Mobile Broadband Performance
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Thats the point, they know more than enough about you that anything else like your internet speeds or whatnot pales in comparison and is meaningless (not to mention that this has nothing to do with websites you visit).
No, you don't get the point. It might be meaningless to you but the more details the more information wealthy they get, the more precedent they set and the more they know meaningless things about you THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS in knowing. Or do you not care about privacy anymore? what the heck.
Careful now, you don't want to upset their tin foil helmets.
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They have business knowing, please read about net neutrality or compare our internet speeds to those in other countries. It's only going to get worse if this TWC/Comcast thing goes through unless Google can come in with some fierce competition. Until then, the best we can hope is the FCC. They are protecting us from "the wealthy," if anything.
Hope this well get the money to rural areas.
Get tired of hearing companies that are offering 1 Gigbit internet.
My phone company is even taking about 250 meg- 1gig speeds in most of there supported areas, funny thing they only offer dialup internet for me.
I think they need to provide internet to areas that they haven't developed first.
I'm sure all the companies will take the money and run like they did the last time.
They put internet in small towns but never connected the areas in between.
Get tired of hearing companies that are offering 1 Gigbit internet.
My phone company is even taking about 250 meg- 1gig speeds in most of there supported areas, funny thing they only offer dialup internet for me.
I think they need to provide internet to areas that they haven't developed first.
I'm sure all the companies will take the money and run like they did the last time.
They put internet in small towns but never connected the areas in between.
From the people that brought you Healthcare.gov
Now that Healthcare.gov is operating perfectly and everyone's medical information is 100% secure against all hacker attacks, the programmers didn't have anything else to do so they created this app for us.
Its "free" because the taxpayers have already paid for it.
Now that Healthcare.gov is operating perfectly and everyone's medical information is 100% secure against all hacker attacks, the programmers didn't have anything else to do so they created this app for us.
Its "free" because the taxpayers have already paid for it.
I'm not sure you can say that anymore... 802.11b runs at between 3-6 Mbps in real world environments (11Mbps is only theoretical). Most broadband nowadays is 10Mbps or higher.
The app is decent. It would be better if they would show the speeds while the download/upload test is running.
They do have some business knowing internet speeds as they do or should be regulating some parts of that so that we aren't at the mercy of a few huge companies colluding together and deciding what's good for them at the cost of proper services to us. What's private about internet speeds anyway? It's like monitoring the speeds of traffic on the roads...oh, hey, they already do that and no one's privacy has suffered over it.
The whole slippery slope thing is pretty meaningless when they already have the important data at the end of the slope anyway (the actual meaningful data that affects our lives like SSN information and pretty much everything else important that gives access to).
Since when is the Fed Gov good at anything in business?That is exactly none of this government business. What if Comcrap doesn't care about their speeds compared to the rest of the world?? Are they supposed to bend over because big daddy sitting in Washington thinks the they should provide faster speeds? Why not let businesses decide that for themselves?
Oh for christ's sake!! All of you really think the NSA has time to waste snooping on your internet habits??
Most of you share so much info freely on social networks that no one really needs to snoop to get. It's out there free for all to see.
"...any data that could potentially identify specific smartphones is analyzed and processed to ensure privacy protection."
Why does this sound so concerning?
Why does this sound so concerning?
I don't know where you live but here in the US the traffic speeds are governed by each State and not the Federal Government. Besides, the traffic speeds are controlled for public safety reasons and that's exactly where the government business should end, not In someone's computer in Washington telling the private companies how they should run their business to make money. The privacy lies in GPS location being sent to them. Again, perhaps you don't care that's fine, but I'm not giving them my location for the sake of regulating the internet in more and more ways each time.
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I get your sarcasm...
NSA? Who's talking about the NSA? It's the FCC, another agency paid by your tax dollars. Just like the other couple hundred agencies, they're running their own thing there you know.
I wasn't talking about speed limits but speed as in traffic flow which gets gathered from all kinds of roads to analyze load and capacity and see where improvements might be needed or some other changes or issues might arise. Some of that surely gets back to the federal level on some level as at least various highways go across multiple states, but even if just limited to state governments, is there that much of a difference as far as the privacy concerns or lack of that you bring up? Seems like the difference there would really play a role in that.
As for GPS location, again, seems like that wouldn't be that much differnt that road data I just mentioned. It could be more perhaps, but so can road data too.
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Perhaps when oligopolies are involved. Perhaps even in general. We've seen far too many examples of pure capitalism running wild within regulation with the common folks being the victims, so, no, the market doesn't always take care of itself. It certainly sounds nice, but it's simply not the reality unfortunately.
1) The government knows where you live and work.
2) The government isn't telling businesses how to make money. They are identifying areas of internet disadvantage through which they can provide incentives for companies to expand services in those areas.
3) GPS was created by, and is owned and operated by the US military. They can track you anyway.
That's just the thing. I am not so sure "most" broadband is 10MB or higher.
But point taken, I misstated - I was thinking of G, which is 54Mbps. But I mistakingly stated B, which is in fact 11...
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So no, most ISPs do not struggle to supply speeds faster than what most wifi can support. Maybe 5+ years ago.
You do realize that Comcast & Time Warner don't serve the whole country, right? Also their "minimum" offering also depends on your address.
Meanwhile, 1 or 2 Mbps is still incredibly common.
Anyway, I did mis-speak. I was thinking of G, but said B.
So my mistake. But the point stands that for most people with broadband connections their wifi routers are faster than their broadband.
Wat?
So no, most ISPs do not struggle to supply speeds faster than what most wifi can support. Maybe 5+ years ago.
The fastest internets offered in my area is 5Mbps.
There is satellite, data caps are a joke and the ping times are way to high.
I do use a point to point wireless system. It only provides 1 to 2 meg down but no data caps. Reliability is OK and the price is high. I don't complain because at least the two guys that run the company are providing the service.
I also use a ATT wireless MIFI.
Its a shame that my phone company won't provide service.
I have asked them for the last 20 years, I hope the same program that brought phone service to rural areas will bring high speed internet without low data caps.
ATT wireless is getting close but needs to offer a home plan in my area with better data caps and price.
Between the two plans I pay $200 a month.
The service I get is not even close for what people in town pay $20-$60 a month.
Internet is becoming a public utility. The same is true, and had been for many years, regarding phones,tv, electric, gas, etc. the government puts in place guidelines and laws so that these companies cannot take advantage of you. What is keeping the power company from charging you $15 per kWh? Well, "big daddy", as you so elegantly put it, is doing that. They are simply moving to do this with Internet because it is being accepted as a utility, no longer a luxury.
Not sure why so any people are so upset by this in the this thread. This is all volunteered information. Want to help make sure you get quality service and rates reflecting that service? Use this app when checking speeds. Don't care to do any of the above? That's perfectly fine too.
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You sir, are informed (that's rare here)
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Uh, since when is GPS location NOT personally identifying information?
Mark
I suppose you could make the argument that if you're using this inside your residence, that is personally identifying. Outside of that, the data would be something like dot on a map with some signal and speed information. That can literally be anyone at any time representing that dot.
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In sure you enjoy that your electric bill isn't 15x the price that it xurrentky is simply because it "can be". You also have the right and abikity to shop from another power company and simply pay a delivery fee to whoever is your area provider. You have the Federal Government (the one you imply is no good at business) to thank for that.