sign up for FCC broadband test - they send you a free netgear wifi router to test your broadband speed at home http://www.testmyisp.com/index.php
"Once your new router is up and running, you will be able to view all of your performance data via a secure online reporting system. Participation in the testing is expected to add approximately 20-60 GB to your overall monthly bandwidth usage."
"Once your new router is up and running, you (and the FCC) will be able to view all of your performance data via a secure online reporting system. Participation in the testing is expected to add approximately 20-60 GB to your overall monthly bandwidth usage."
there are no free lunches
-> The FCC will be able to view and monitor all of your "performance" data while congesting your bandwidth usage 20GB to 60GB a month.
they (SamKnows) only need followings answered to register
* First name What's your first name? * Last Name What's your last name? * Email Address Please provide a valid email address This email address has already been registered * Zipcode What's your zipcode? * Your ISP What's your ISP provider? * Other ISP Provider Please select your ISP Your Service Tier What's your service tier? * Advertised Connection Speed Up To: Please select your connection speed. * Other ISP Connection Speed: Please select your Connection Speed * Verification (capcha)
Signed up and got following confirmation. There is no mentioning on Netgear free router.
Test My ISP Signup Submission successful! Thank you for your interest in our performance network. Your information has been submitted and we'll get in touch regarding your application shortly. FCC & SamKnows
muoot said: "Once your new router is up and running, you (and the FCC) will be able to view all of your performance data via a secure online reporting system. Participation in the testing is expected to add approximately 20-60 GB to your overall monthly bandwidth usage."
there are no free lunches
yep! Gmail technique of collecting data. Why spy/steal when people can hand it to you on platter!
muoot said: "Once your new router is up and running, you (and the FCC) will be able to view all of your performance data via a secure online reporting system. Participation in the testing is expected to add approximately 20-60 GB to your overall monthly bandwidth usage."
there are no free lunches
20-60GB of performance data??? That's WAY to high!!!
What effect will this have on my monthly download cap?
Our units involved in the FCC project transfer a large amount of data, which varies according to the speed of your connection. The usage on a 10Mbps connection will be around 20GB/month, and will likely be around 60GB on a 50Mbps connection. The amount that's downloaded is speed dependant (so a slower connection will use less traffic than a faster connection).
If you're on a product with a low cap then we'd advise against signing up, or at least informing us beforehand so that we can apply a different testing profile (we can run smaller speed tests on a per-device if necessary).
rraicu said: What effect will this have on my monthly download cap?
Our units involved in the FCC project transfer a large amount of data, which varies according to the speed of your connection. The usage on a 10Mbps connection will be around 20GB/month, and will likely be around 60GB on a 50Mbps connection. The amount that's downloaded is speed dependant (so a slower connection will use less traffic than a faster connection).
If you're on a product with a low cap then we'd advise against signing up, or at least informing us beforehand so that we can apply a different testing profile (we can run smaller speed tests on a per-device if necessary).
20GB to 60GB?? Sheesh, are they making a copy or a record of everything you download/upload?
The unit operates as a normal router and exposes absolutely no services to the Internet. It's similar to installing a print server or a NAS on to your home network - it's a cut down device that serves a very specific purpose. We should point out that assuming the unit is installed as per the instructions, all network traffic will be flowing through it. However, the unit simply acts as a standard switch or standard router and does not look at any of the packets flowing across your network. It only monitors traffic volumes for the purposes of deciding when to run (or not to run!) the tests and to measure consumption. Testing information uploaded from the unit to our servers contains no information about you whatsoever. Furthermore, all such communications are encrypted, ensuring that results cannot be tampered with en-route. Your individual unit's test results will be available to you alone. Your unit's results will also be aggregated with others from the same ISP to form a larger average set of results that can be viewed publicly. We have absolutely no intention of doing anything that may adversely affect your privacy or security. If you have any concerns please feel free to contact us to discuss them. SamKnows, on behalf of the FCC, is collecting and storing broadband performance information, including various personally identifiable information (PII) such as the street addresses, email addresses, online usage patterns, and broadband performance information from those individuals who are participating voluntarily in this test. PII not necessary to conduct this program will not be collected. Certain information provided by or collected from you will be confirmed with a third party to ensure a representative study and otherwise shared with third parties as necessary to conduct the program. SamKnows will not release, disclose to the public, or share any PII with any outside entities, including the FCC, except as is consistent with this policy statement, the SamKnows privacy policy, any agreement you have with SamKnows, and the Privacy Act of 1974, Public Law 93579 (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(5)). For more information, see the SamKnows privacy policy. The broadband performance information that is made available to the public, including the FCC, will be in an aggregated form and with all PII removed, in compliance with subsection (b)(5) of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), and the SamKnows privacy policy. The FCC is soliciting and collecting this information authorized by OMB Control No. 3060-1139 in accordance with the requirements and authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act Pub. L. No. 96-511, 94 Stat. 2812 (Dec. 11, 1980); the Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-385, Stat 4096 § 103(c)(1); American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA), Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat 115 (2009); and Section 154(i) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
sswithjs said: it's Netgear WNR3500L wireless routerThat router supports DD-WRT. Couldn't we just get this router and install DD-WRT on it? Or at least do their test and then install DD-WRT on it?
I have been using their free router for a while and it works great. They sent me a Netgear N300. Also helps out the FCC monitor cable companies to make sure they are delivering the speed you are paying for.
Test My ISP Signup Submission successful! Thank you for your interest in our performance network. Your information has been submitted and we'll get in touch regarding your application shortly. FCC & SamKnows
caterpillar123 said: sswithjs said: it's Netgear WNR3500L wireless routerThat router supports DD-WRT. Couldn't we just get this router and install DD-WRT on it? Or at least do their test and then install DD-WRT on it?
I wasn't able to find the requirements of the program. Do you need to use the router with stock firmware for 3 full years? That would put it beyond the acceptable lifetime of a modern router IMO.
seems like a free dd-wrt router. what recourse do they have if you never 'plug it in' guess thats the question. If you flash dd-wrt and go about your business what happens?
I wonder if this will lessen the ISP shenanigans for awhile when it goes "green" by the ISP in effort to be showing best results by them to FCC to limit investigation or knowledge? This may help everyone at least temp.
rraicu said: do you have a better way of measuring bandwidth speed, capacity, quality, latency, etc. ?
Google "Switzerland" + test
wolf17
Member
posted: Feb. 14, 2011 @ 12:06p
rraicu said: caterpillar123 said: sswithjs said: it's Netgear WNR3500L wireless routerThat router supports DD-WRT. Couldn't we just get this router and install DD-WRT on it? Or at least do their test and then install DD-WRT on it?
I wasn't able to find the requirements of the program. Do you need to use the router with stock firmware for 3 full years? That would put it beyond the acceptable lifetime of a modern router IMO.
My ISP provides me with a free Wireless DSL Router already.
Would this be any better ?
RonR
Senior Member
posted: Feb. 14, 2011 @ 12:18p
I've had one of these (Netgear WNR3500L) for about 6 months. It's a very nice router (hardware-wise) and Tomato/DDWRT compatible. I'm on crappy 10 mb/s DSL that suffers badly during peak usage hours, but the Sam Knows testing seldom reveals any sign of the severe slowdowns that occur. I informed them of this, but got no reply other than "We'll pass your comment on."
The installed Netgear firmware is pretty awful. Since my participation is not adding meaningful data to their database, I'm considering flashing it with Tomato and making the router more useful.
As much as I love free stuff -- it isn't worth it to me to switch my router system. Handing over all of my information to the FCC is a deal breaker to me.
Yeah why get the data from the ISP (most comply now anyway) when they can just sucker the end user to fork it over for a free router. This is a terrible deal - stay far away.
20-60 GB/month? Yeah, I see that lastign about 2 months before these people get their service shut off for being the top 0.00001% of all bandwidth users. That's enough bandwidth for several high-usage customers, or about 20-30 "normal" users. Freaking brilliant.
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