Actual Vs. Advertised Broadband Speed: FCC Praises Fiber and Cable, Finds DSL Lacking

In the latest actual vs. advertised broadband speed debate, most broadband providers are delivering the speeds they advertise, according to the Federal Communications Commission’s latest “Measuring Broadband America” report, released December 30.

The main exceptions are DSL-based broadband providers, said the FCC, which bases its findings on the experiences of volunteer panelists whose performance data is collected by the FCC using Internet-based tools. This year’s report was based on data collected during the year ending September 2014. The best performing providers, measured by the percentage of advertised speeds delivered, are Cablevision, Comcast and Hughes, the FCC said. The report notes that fewer than 10% of customers of each of those companies were unable to attain an average download speed of at least 95% of the advertised broadband speed. In contrast, less than half of DSL customers of four providers – AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and Windstream — attained average download speeds that were at least 95% of the advertised rate.