FCC Urges Americans To Run Internet Speed App To Counter Broadband Data Fudging

The FCC is encouraging netizens to use its internet speed mobile app in an effort to finally get accurate broadband data across the United States. The Register reports: In an announcement on Monday, the telecoms regulator noted that 'the app provides a way for consumers to test the performance of their mobile and in-home broadband networks' and 'provides the test results to the FCC.' It stops far short of saying that the data will be used to make policy decisions, however, saying only that the figures gathered 'will help to inform the FCC's efforts to collect more accurate and granular broadband deployment data.'

The public push doesn't mean that things are going to get better soon. Big Cable has aggressively -- and successfully -- argued in the past that data provided by users over an app is not sufficiently robust to form the basis of governmental decisions. And so the FCC will have to use the results as a way to push for change rather than use the data to make direct decisions. Everybody, including numerous states, cities, congressfolk and the GAO, know that the official FCC data provided by ISPs is not worth the paper it's written on. But broader usage of the app should expose just how inaccurate official figures are, which should in turn provide enough impetus for change. The bigger question is whether enough progress is made in the next four years to make any difference.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.