US telecom major, AT&T does not want its users to measure the home-internet speed, and therefore, the company has convinced the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to exclude third-party speed testing services and instead use its own.
“AT&T this year told the commission it will no longer cooperate with the FCC’s SamKnows speed test. Instead, it said it plans to use its own measurement tool, which it believes to be more accurate, to report performance to the government,” The Wall Street Journal recently reported.
The commission had started its initiative, ‘Measuring Broadband America’ in 2011, in which it allowed users to compare the actual speeds customers receive to the advertised speeds customers are promised.
The Commission released annual reports through 2016, but the testing programme has gotten less attention since Ajit Pai became chairman in January 2017, according to Ars Technica.
As per the same Wall Street journal report, all major player had managed to push the FCC “to omit the unflattering data on its DSL internet service report, which assesses whether providers are delivering the speeds they advertise. AT&T also didn’t provide information the FCC needed to validate speeds on those customers.”
The report further talked about how the company has successfully argued to exclude test days when heavy traffic slowed scores, such as during NFL games or when Apple Inc. pushed a new software update. Reasons for the deletions aren’t always included in the FCC reports.
(With input from agencies)