EU Broadband Survey : Effective Speed to be Measured

clohamon

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=6053&utm_campaign=isp&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=newsroom&utm_content=tpa-118

2 OBJECTIVES

The objective of the study is to measure effective download throughput speed of a representative sample of fixed broadband users in all the 27 Member States of the European Union, Croatia, Iceland and Norway, using hardware monitoring units, so as to compare the effective average download speed and the advertised average speed, both between urban and rural areas of each country and between countries.
The value added of the study lies in the use of the same methodology and measurement tools and equipment under similar testing conditions across the EU Member States, Croatia, Iceland and Norway. This should ensure that results are fully comparable and can be used in the benchmarking of the objectives of the Digital Agenda.
The scope of the study is limited to wired technologies, and more precisely to xDSL and cable modem in those countries where this latter technology has a significant share of the broadband market. Wireless technologies are excluded from the scope of the study. Other fixed technologies are excluded from the scope of the study, unless they are predominant or of similar importance to xDSL and cable in terms of take-up by consumers.
The study should measure the effective speeds of broadband products offered by all fixed broadband providers that have been identified as having significant market power on their national broadband markets and the two or three largest ISPs15. The final list of ISPs included in the sample is to be agreed between the contractor and the European Commission services.
The contractor should ensure a geographical balance in the members of the panel, so that the final results enable a comparison of effective broadband speeds at national level and in urban,sub-urban and rural areas, but should not compare actual speeds between ISPs within the countries concerned.
The study should concentrate on the most popular broadband offerings in terms of download speeds. The final choice on the offerings in each country that can be regarded as the most popular will be done by the contractor in agreement with Commission services. According to the latest available data16, two thirds of fixed broadband lines in the EU offered speeds between 2 and 10 Mbps.
Tenderers should in their offers detail how they intend to select the most popular broadband products offered by the ISPs included in the sample.
The following indicators should be monitored:
• Headline download and upload speeds of the broadband products selected for the test;
• Maximum speed, i.e. the highest speed that the line is capable of;
• Effective download and upload speeds (throughput) using HTTP file transfer and HTTP browsing protocols;
• Effective download and upload speeds (throughput) of other internet uses such as VoIP, online games and video streaming and downloading.
• Ping time; • Packet loss; • DNS lookup speed;
Indicators on consumers' own perception of the service are outside the scope of this report.
Tenderers should in their offers explain the technical approach for measuring each of the above performance indicators. The use of hardware monitoring units is a requirement. Use of software agents could be envisaged as a complement in order to obtain additional results that can help to understand variations in measuring performance
using either technology.

The annual final study report should present the data on the indicators listed in section 2 above in different ways, for instance sorted by speed ranges, by time of day and week, by geographical location and type of demographic area (urban, suburban and rural) and aggregated at national and/or EU level. It should also present data on effective speeds depending on the distance from the exchange where this information is available.
For each country and selected broadband offering or speed bracket, the final study report should eventually provide the average speed of the members of the panel, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the headline speed and the maximum speed i.e. the highest speed that the line is capable of.

Sponge Bob

Don't worry lads, Comreg will not let Speedtest.net get the contract here.

Ireland is currently

BOTTOM of the EU for quality bar Greece

THIRD BOTTOM FOR DOWNLOAD SPEED bar Italy and Cyprus but behind Greece

FOURTH BOTTOM for Upload speeds ahead of those three countries

gogo.ie

:P