NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] *New* FCC RFQ re Collection of Broadband Performance Data
*New* FCC RFQ re Collection of Broadband Performance Data Greetings. Well, look what just showed up -- a new FCC Request for Quotations re Broadband Performance Data. Interesting timing. Obviously, this is much more along the lines of serious measurement. The comparison between this and the java measurement modality that I criticized in http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000688.html is quite stark. I would however add that I don't view this area as something that can be reasonably managed moving forward without ongoing large-scale data collection and analysis, and I would still hope to see a measurement regime become (on a voluntary opt-in basis of course) an essentially routine part of broadband operations for most users on a mass basis (whether or not along the lines of the project I outlined is less important than that there be ongoing measurement data of good quality) -- e.g.: http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000303.html and http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000299.html --Lauren-- - - - - https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=cb712eb3ef384ebe25bfbf6b0a5dfa16 . Background and Request for Quotation Accurate and clear information is crucial to a well-functioning market. Today, broadband consumers in the United States (US) have little information about the actual speed and performance of the broadband services available to them. Consumers lack clarity on: • The actual speed and performance of the services they are receiving • The gap between actual and advertised speeds and the implications of that difference • The speeds and performance of alternative providers in their areas The FCC seeks to contract with a third party measurement company to measure the speeds and performance of a representative, cost-effective, statistically relevant sample of US fixed broadband households across geographies, technologies and providers. This measurement will occur on an opt-in, voluntary basis and could be similar to the approach taken by OfCom in their partnership with a third-party provider of network measurement services.1 This representative sample will be used to create a baseline level of performance and measurements for the FCC. The third party measurement contractor will deploy testing devices to begin measurement, and these results will then be used to inform measurement standards for performance of broadband services, in support of the FCC-led National Broadband Plan. The key characteristics to be measured include: • Actual speeds and performance over the broadband service provider's network (points 2-5 in Figure 0001) and across the end-to-end consumer's experience (points 1-6) to various endpoints; • Actual speeds and performance at peak use hours; • Actual speeds and performance over a set time period (e.g. a 1-hour period) that is > generally achieved (e.g., 95% of the time); and • Actual speeds and performance tested against a given set of standard applications and protocols. [Figure 0001 inserted here; see RFQ link to view] DEFINITIONS (to go with figure) 1-Public internet content: public internet content that is hosted by multiple service providers, content providers and other entities in a geographically diverse (worldwide) manner 2-Internet gateway: closest peering point between broadband provider and public internet for a given consumer connection 3-Link between 2° Mile and Middle mile: broadband provider managed interconnection between middle and last mile 4-Aggregation node: First aggregation point for broadband provider (e.g. DSLAM, cable node, satellite, etc.) 5-Modem: CPE (customer premise equipment) typically managed by a broadband provider as the last connection point to the managed network (e.g. DSL modem, cable modem, satellite modem, ONT, etc.) 6-Consumer device: consumer device connected to modem through internal wire or Wifi (home networking), including hardware and software used to access the internet and process content (customer managed) The FCC will use the data collected in this survey to inform the general public of US Broadband Performance. FCC will have the right to make public all results. 1 For more on this, please access the Digital Britain at: http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digitalbritain-finalreport-junog.pclf ----- End forwarded message ----- --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein