Some broadband is better than others, like fiber and …. satellite!

The Federal Communications Commission’s third and most recent broadband quality report has determined that some types of broadband are still better than others, with fiber to the home and satellite generally offering more than the promised upload and download speeds at times of peak usage. But of course, that’s not the only stat users might care about, which is why the FCC measures 13 different variables as part of its data collection efforts.

The data comes from Sam Knows and special routers sitting inside roughly 10,000 homes. Those routers report on upload and download speeds, latency and customers’ service tiers to create a nationwide picture of broadband quality. And in general people should be pretty happy. As the chart above shows, people are mostly getting what they pay for, with customers of AT&T most likely to feel short-changed. What’s most surprising about this data is that satellite has moved from being pretty spotty to achieving high throughputs even at peak times, thanks to new satellites launched in the last two years. Sure, the service maxes out at 12 Mbps, but customers are getting those 12 Mbps and then some.