Measuring broadband shouldn't be this hard

The Government Accountability Office has discovered what pretty much everyone in telecom already knew: Despite the best efforts of bureaucrats and broadband advocates, we don't really have solid data about broadband deployment and speeds that can be used to make national or international comparisons. How hard can it be to determine who can get broadband, and at what speed and price? Apparently, nearly impossible. As the GAO report issued last Friday states, the Federal Communications Commission's efforts are weak, since they don't require service providers to provide information on speeds, price, availability and service reliability. Similarly, the GAO said, the current broadband stimulus effort doesn't require applicants to report broadband speeds in a consistent manner. Can't the telecom industry get its act together on this one issue? Apparently not. In their comments to the GAO, the service providers and their trade organizations said the status quo is just fine, since a competitive market is delivering faster speeds at lower prices.