Measuring Broadband America (MBA)

The Measuring Broadband America (MBA) program is an ongoing nationwide performance study of broadband service in the United States that developed out of a recommendation by the National Broadband Plan to improve the availability of information for consumers about their broadband service. This program is built on principles of openness and transparency. The FCC has made available to stakeholders and the general public the open source software used on both its fixed and mobile applications, the data collected, and detailed information regarding the FCC's technical methodology for analyzing the collected data.

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Measuring Fixed Broadband

Reports offer results of rigorous broadband performance testing for 13 of the largest wireline broadband providers that serve well over 80 percent of the U.S. consumer market. Tests conducted used automated, direct measurements of service delivered to the homes of thousands of volunteers across the United States. The Measuring Fixed Broadband studies began in 2011 with the release of annual reports based on data typically collected during a single month with few large-scale traffic events, such as major holidays, sports events or other elections. The data analyzed in the Reports thus reflect stable network conditions that provide the most accurate view of a provider’s performance under controlled conditions. The FCC works in collaboration with SamKnows, an international statistics and analytics firm supporting similar projects in other countries around the world. The Measuring Broadband America program incorporates the latest engineering best practices from these diverse stakeholders to collect and report the most accurate data for consumer broadband performance in the Unites States.

 

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Measuring Mobile Broadband

The FCC Speed Test app uses smartphone-based technology to collect anonymized broadband performance data from volunteers participating in the collaborative, crowdsourcing initiative. Data is collected to help inform consumers, industry and policymakers with the goal of improving mobile broadband performance nationwide. Users can also use the app to test their own mobile broadband service on demand.

MBA-Assisted Research Studies (MARS)

MBA-Assisted Research Studies (MARS) cover projects that are distinct from the MBA program’s routine reporting and MBA measurement operations aimed at producing year-on-year longitudinal data and reports on network performance. As the name suggests, MARS projects mostly consist of standalone research experiments initiated due to requests from academic institutions engaged in advancing the “state of the art” in network measurements. In a few cases, this component of the MBA program also incorporates pilot efforts which require particularly close technical coordination across FCC teams.

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Privacy Policy

The FCC takes your privacy seriously and incorporates numerous steps in the design of the software, infrastructure, and analysis to minimize risks to your privacy. All personal data was processed in conformity with relevant U.S. law and in accordance with policies developed to govern the conduct of the parties handling the data. The data were processed solely for the purposes of this study and are presented here and in all online data sets with all personally identifiable information (PII) removed. A set of materials was created both to inform each panelist regarding the details of the trial, and to gain the explicit consent of each panelist to obtain subscription data from the participating ISPs. These documents were reviewed by the Office of General Counsel of the FCC, the participating ISPs and other stakeholders involved in the study. For more information about the privacy policy, visit the following link: Technical Appendix for the Eighth Report

Open Methodology

The Measuring Broadband America program is built on principles of openness and transparency. The FCC makes available to stakeholders and the general public the software source code used in its fixed and mobile applications, the data collected, and detailed information regarding the FCC's technical methodology for analyzing the collected data.

Recent News and Reports

Bureau/Office: 
Engineering & Technology

Updated: 
Thursday, February 11, 2021