CalSPEED wireline speed test now in beta

Below are some screen shots from the CalSPEED for wireline speed test. We hope to have a test version available for the public to try out by mid-September.

Test is running:

Test results displayed below:

Should Net Neutrality Apply to Mobile Broadband?

While the FCC is trying to defend its net neutrality rules to preserve an open internet, mobile broadband has been left alone. There are no current net neutrality rules for cellular providers and none are proposed for the future. Comcast, the cable internet provider, has been protesting that fact. In their submission to the FCC regarding net neutrality, Comcast had this to say about mobile broadband and net neutrality,

'“Unlike the broad no-blocking and nondiscrimination rules applicable to fixed services, the [2010] no-blocking rule for mobile services applied only to websites and to applications that ‘compete with the provider’s voice or video telephony services,’ and there was no non-discrimination rule at all for mobile services,” Comcast wrote. “While such regulatory distinctions might have been defensible in 2010, the NPRM’s [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking's] recognition of the ‘significant changes since 2010 in the mobile marketplace’—including ‘how mobile providers manage their networks, the increased use of Wi-Fi, and the increased use of mobile devices and applications‘—supports at least a refreshed examination of that approach. There is no question that wireless is increasingly becoming a closer substitute for wireline broadband for many uses and for many Americans.”

In addition, the lobbying arm of major Internet companies like Google and Facebook, the Internet Association, is making the same argument as Comcast the regarding regulation of cellular networks. They also argue more and more people are accessing the Internet via their mobile phones.

Is wireless becoming a substitute for wireline and if so, why is wireless exempt from net neutrality rules?

It is not all Good News for T-Mobile in the Fifth Round

Latency in milliseconds by Provider and Census Area

Here are the T-Mobile phone's average Latency numbers for the Fifth Round of Testing. Latency is measured in milliseconds and it measures delay. 200 milliseconds is considered the acceptable threshold for conversation and internet connectivity. As we see in the chart, T-Mobile has a real problem with their latency in rural areas and the locations included in this chart are in their coverage area.

T-Mobile Muscles Out AT&T for Downstream Speed

The analysis of our Fifth Round  of Testing has begun. Because of T-Mobile's smaller coverage footprint and improved Netbook performance, they were able to nose AT&T out of second place in terms of average downstream speed in Mbps. This chart tracks mean downstream performance by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon over Five Rounds.