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FCC targets Internet speed in survey; seeks volunteers – latimes.com
Loading ...Federal regulators want to know just how fast you’re surfing, and they’re looking for 10,000 volunteers to submit to a speed check.
Four out of five high-speed Internet users don’t know how fast their home connections are, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission.
That leaves those consumers unsure whether they’re getting what they’re paying for, and it hinders them in shopping for better service from competing Internet service providers, agency officials said.
“Speed matters,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who has pushed for more consumer information about broadband service as part of a larger effort to expand high-speed Internet access nationwide.
In its National Broadband Plan released in March, the FCC asserted that consumers can easily determine a vehicle’s fuel efficiency or the nutritional content of most foods from labels with standardized information, but they have little information about the speed of their Internet service.
To help resolve that problem, the FCC announced that it is seeking 10,000 volunteers who would allow special hardware in their homes to measure the speed of their broadband Internet service, as part of a scientific study of the performance of major providers.
“In order to really make good consumer choices, people really need to be able to draw a line between the speed they need, the speed that’s advertised and the speed they get,” said Joel Gurin, head of the FCC’s Consumer Task Force. “Right now, it’s very hard for consumers to draw that line.”
Continue Reading at latimes.com.
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