FCC Releases Fifth 'Measuring Broadband America' Report

The Federal Communications Commission released the results of its ongoing nationwide performance study of consumers’ fixed broadband Internet access service in its fifth “Measuring Broadband America” report. The report furthers the FCC’s efforts to provide greater transparency about network performance to help consumers make more informed choices about broadband services. The report shows that broadband speed offerings to the average consumer continue to increase at a rapid pace, and broadband service providers generally are delivering actual speeds that meet or exceed advertised speeds. However, results are not uniform across technologies. The report finds a growing disparity in advertised download speeds between many DSL-based broadband services and most cable- and fiber-based broadband services. This year’s report highlights the following findings:

• Significant growth in advertised broadband speeds available to consumers, though the results are not uniform across technologies.
• Actual speeds experienced by most Internet service providers’ subscribers are close to or exceed advertised speeds.
• Consumers with access to faster services continue to migrate to higher service tiers.
• Latency and packet loss vary by technologies.