FCC: Cable Still Delivering Promised Broadband Speeds

Third 'Measuring Broadband America' report finds MSOs deliver 99% of advertised download speeds

By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/15/2013 9:23:00 AM

Large U.S. Internet service providers mostly continue to deliver on their promised broadband speeds -- delivering an average 97% of advertised download speeds during peak periods -- according to the Federal Communication Commission's third "Measuring Broadband America" report, released Friday.

And as before, cable outshined DSL: Cable services on average delivered 99% of advertised download speed during peak periods, the same as on the FCC's July 2012 broadband report, compared with DSL at 85% (up from 84% in the previous report).

The FCC also found that consumers are continuing to migrate to higher-speed tiers, and for the first time the study measured download speeds of 75 Megabits per second. Among the 14 ISPs surveyed, the commission found the average subscribed speed tier is now 15.6 Mbps, representing an average annualized speed increase of about 20%.

The FCC published its first Measuring Broadband America study in August 2011, and released the second in July 2012. The latest report is based on data collected in September 2012, representing a five-month interval from the previous data collection. In the September 2012 testing period, the ISPs' actual deliver of advertised download speeds during peak periods was statistically equivalent to the prior report.

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