Independent test validates Comcast broadband usage meter

A third party research and measurement company has validated the meter Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) uses to measure the data usage of its ISP customers.

NetForecast said Comcast's usage meter is accurate to within the tolerance established by the cable company, which is to correctly gauge data passing through individual subscriber modems with a 1 percent error range.

In fact, NetForecast found that Comcast's meter is accurate to within a range of -0.75 percent to +0.36 percent. The auditor's full report can be found here

It's the third time NetForecast has conducted such an audit for Comcast, after publishing similar reports for the Philadelphia-based conglomerate in December 2009 and May 2010.

The most recent report, which was first unearthed by DSL Reports, conducted 569,376 measurements at 55 Comcast service locations from January to March of this year.

Of course, in an ISP industry rife with questions about data usage measurement accuracy, the NetForcecast report stands out as a bit of savvy marketing on Comcast's part, if nothing more.

"NetForecast validates that the Comcast Internet data usage meter cumulative daily view achieves an Apdex accuracy score of 0.98, which is a score of 'Excellent.' The month-end view is accurate within a range of -0.75% to +0.36% which is well within the +/-1% goal," wrote report author Peter Sevcik, president of NetForecast.

For more:
- see this NetForecast report
- see this DSL Reports story
- see this Multichannel News story

Related links:
YouTube launches its own ISP streaming quality index
What does data usage tell us abut data demand?
Dashboards to measure data