Consumers and service providers alike can now go to an Ookla-based application and find out whether they're getting/giving their money's worth when it comes to broadband services. Ookla has expanded its offerings beyond a broadband speed test to include a wider "net index" that ranks the value of broadband services in 26 countries throughout the world based on speed, median-cost-per-megabit over the last six months and overall impact of broadband costs on a monthly budget based on a nation's gross domestic product (GDP).
"We take in survey data, ask users to tell us how much they're paying for broadband on a monthly basis and what speeds they're subscribing to (and) based on that data we're able to provide an average cost in United States' dollars per megabit," an Ookla spokeswoman told FierceCable. The results are posted on Ookla's speedtest.net site where everyone can see how services around the world compare.
The index is only for broadband wireline users, for the most part, since Ookla uses another measurement for mobile broadband, the spokeswoman said. Using surveys of site visitors, Ookla even provides information on whether consumers are getting what they've paid for. "We have 26 countries with a percentage of how much they're actually receiving against what they subscribed to," she said.
So who's getting the most for the money? Moldovans (110.26 percent). Who's getting the least? French (57.9 percent). "The United States is ranked 11th at 93 percent," she said.
Scientific American has published an editorial that seems to dovetail with Ookla's findings. Titled, "Why Broadband Service in the U.S. is so Awful," the item points to the U.S.' low standings in money paid for broadband services rendered. According to Ookla, U.S. broadband subscribers spend about $6.13 per Mbps which comes to about 0.159 percent of household income, ranking the country 15th of 26 surveyed worldwide.
For more:
- see this news release
- Broadband Reports has this story
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