As expected, the FCC has launched a Speed Test app that measures mobile broadband performance for Android devices. Available as a free download from Google Play, the app runs periodically in the background and performs tests when you aren't using your handset. There is a manual test option, for those of you steeped in the ways of Speedtest.net.
According to the FCC, the app is a "first step towards evaluating mobile broadband network performance, arming consumers with information to make fact-based, informed decisions about their wireless providers." In practice, data gathered from FCC Speed Test will help build out visualizations and maps that compare speeds and technologies across the country. Android users can hit up the Google Play link below to try it out. iPhone users, meanwhile, will have to wait till early next year; the FCC says it will submit an iOS version by late 2014.
Filed under: Cellphones, Networking, Mobile
Via: Phone Scoop
Source: Google Play, FCC
With 99 percent of the nation's K-12 schools hooked-up to the internet, you'd think online learning was an educational staple. Sadly, it's also estimated that some 80 percent of those connections can't provide the 100Mbps per 1,000 students bandwidth the State Education Technology Directors Association recommends. That's why NPO EducationSuperHigway has announced the National School Speed Test initiative, with the goal to take actual stock of the state of internet connections in our schools. The NSST hopes to measure the internet capabilities of every K-12 school, and identify those that are lagging behind. Educational staff and students can also help out by checking their own school's speeds on a dedicated website (linked below). The results of the NSST will be open to the institutions themselves, districts and state departments of education, enabling them to better plan upgrade strategies for the future.
Filed under: Internet
New National School Speed Test hopes to help all K-12 students get effective digital learning originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 09:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Formerly known as Everything Everywhere, also known as the union of Orange and T-Mobile's UK networks, it's now going under the name EE and (finally) bringing LTE to the British Isles in the coming weeks. We decided to see what that means by running Speed Test on the device -- and it's looking good. Upload speeds averaged around 20Mbps, while downloads peaked around 38Mbps -- consistently above 25Mbps. If you're wondering what this means for how you'll normally use your phone, Angry Birds' 20MB-plus app download rocketed down from the new network and this very site appeared in an instant. See for yourself after the break.
Continue reading We test speeds on EE, the UK's first LTE network! (video)
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet, Mobile
We test speeds on EE, the UK's first LTE network! (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 06:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It wasn't all that long ago, that the FCC tempted us with the idea of an LTE capable Transformer Pad TF300. Now, a video has popped up online from Germany's O2 network showing of the speedy tablet in all its 42 Mbps down / 32 Mbps up glory. After the obligatory speed test, you can see YouTube videos loading up a charm, along with plenty of other HD video being scrubbed along like it wasn't even a thing. A quick tour of the white-backed version reveals little else of note, but if the lack of LTE was keeping the dollars in your wallet, this might just be enough to tease them back out.
[Thanks, Alexis]
Continue reading ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 with LTE stretches its legs on O2 in Germany (video)
ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 with LTE stretches its legs on O2 in Germany (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jul 2012 08:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Competition for the US cellular speed crown is certainly fiercer than it was last year, when Verizon's 4G LTE let it walk over the competition unimpeded. With AT&T's LTE in the running, though, have the ranks changed? No, but only just barely: as PCMag discovered in its annual countrywide testing, Verizon mostly trumped its fellow telecom giant in upload speeds and reliability. AT&T could once more claim to be best in a category with the fastest downloads, although it's counterbalanced by having a considerably smaller LTE network. For everyone outside of T-Mobile and its still very respectable HSPA+ network, it's better luck next year. We'll be most intrigued then, quite frankly -- in addition to 2013 giving us a genuinely functional Sprint LTE network, that's when we could see a blistering-fast T-Mobile LTE-Advanced produce an upset victory.
US 3G and 4G networks face off once more, Verizon just squeaks out win over AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 23:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sprint doesn't have much time to meet its goals and get its 4G LTE network up and running by mid-2012. The Now Network is definitely getting closer, though, and just gave PCMag the chance to test its fledgling LTE in Atlanta. Average speeds on the downlink sit squarely in between AT&T and Verizon, at 9 to 13Mbps, despite Sprint having to use 5MHz channels half as large as what AT&T can muster in some cities. Just don't expect to upload 4K videos from your phone anytime soon: the 2.2Mbps average upload rate is certainly faster than on WiMAX or T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, but it doesn't hold a candle to the 4Mbps or even 6Mbps of Sprint's bigger rivals. We'd likewise take the results with a large grain of salt. Even though Sprint is promising to focus on consistently good speed rather than bragging rights, the tests are in controlled conditions on a mostly unpopulated network. Our hope for now is just that the network goes live and that our EVO 4G LTEs live up to their potential.
Sprint's early 4G LTE network tested in controlled conditions, hangs with the big boys originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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