The Wall Street Journal (may be behind pay wall) reported on Friday that “Companies wield tremendous influence over the study and often employ tactics to boost their scores, according to interviews with more than two dozen industry executives, engineers and government officials. As a result, the FCC’s report likely gives consumers an unreliable measure of internet providers’ performances by overstating speed.”
CNET added to the story, pointing out that “there have long been complaints that the information collected to show where fixed and mobile broadband service is located is flawed. ” As CNET explains, “There are several ways in which you can try to measure broadband speeds. But none of them is perfect, since there are so many factors that determine network performance, such as time of day to account for network congestion as well as equipment used to access the internet.”
One of the reasons that none of these tests is perfect is because of all the factors that go into a connection between your device and the site or service you’re accessing. While the end-point may be under the control of your provider, the points in between and the server itself are not likely part of your provider’s network.
Having said that, here are tools (via Google search) you can use to measure your own broadband performance.