The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
TELECOM
FCC
The FCC released the FCC Speed Test app for Android smartphones. The free app will provide consumers with information on their own mobile broadband speeds. It is available in the Google Play store. The FCC said that its Speed Test app will accurately measure mobile broadband (cellular) and Wi-Fi network performance and provide consumers with “an in-depth, real-time view of key metrics related to their mobile broadband experience.” The app will run periodically in the background and automatically perform tests when users aren’t using their smartphones. A manual option is available for on-demand mobile broadband testing. The app will also allow consumers to view graphs of past performance tests on key parameters (e.g. upload and download speed, latency, and packet loss) on their smartphones. To ensure consumer privacy, no personal or uniquely identifiable information is collected and data will be processed and analyzed statistically to ensure its anonymity before release.
The app was developed in cooperation with broadband experts, major wireless service providers and other stakeholders. Starting in 2014, the FCC plans to provide a series of visualizations and maps on its website that will allow consumers to compare mobile broadband network speeds and technologies.
The FCC said that an iPhone app is under development and would be submitted by late January 2014. Get more information here
