ISPs forced to advertise average speeds in US

 

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By Hani Megerisi

Posted on 17 Mar 2010 at 18:03

ISPs in the US could be forced to outline their average and top speeds in a ‘performance sticker’.

The changes have been unveiled as part of the US National Broadband Plan, which was submitted to Congress earlier this week.

ISPs will be forced to lay out their average speed, top speed and overall service rating, list the activities which that speed are ideal for (ie. email, video streaming, VoIP) and say whether it can handle multiple users online at once.

The report, by the Federal Communications Commission, said labels should include “simple and clear data that a ‘reasonable consumer’ can understand, while providing more detailed disclosure for more interested parties such as tech-savvy consumers, software developers and entrepreneurs designing products for the network”.

It highlights the need for consumers to understand the speed, price and overall performance of different ISPs, for a “truly competitive marketplace”.

The sticker scheme is part of the same bill that could see, broadband rolled out to the entire US population, of which roughly 100 million people currently don’t have broadband.

The inclusion of average speeds as well as headline numbers marks the US out from UK ISPs, who only advertise top speeds that have regularly been deemed unrealistic and confusing to consumers.