

Speed Test Your Local Broadband Area - theblackbox
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8314272.stm

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RiderOfGiraffes
There are frequently complaints about the speed being delivered by ISPs not
matching the promises made. The regulatory watchdog has few teeth, and they're
blunt, and the consumer frequently has insufficient information to be going on
with.

I see this site as an attempt to make the ISPs more honest about the speeds
delivered, and surely that can only be a good thing.

Of course, the quoted site is currently slower than a snail on valium ...

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theblackbox
I'm still not sure, there are a host of available testing sites and places one
can go to get this level of info to leverage your ISP. Making a one stop shop
that actually tells you what ISP your "neighbour" is using, just seems
superflous.

To me it just seems like another chink in the everyday users armour, something
that can be used to detirmine more precisely what households are vulnerable.
It isn't difficult to find ISP specific default passwords and so on for
routers and it wouldn't be difficult for a determined individual to utilise
this "consumer watchdog" service for the wrong purposes.

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theblackbox
I just couldn't see this being particularly useful for anyone except identity
fraudsters and various elements on the underbelly of society. If the ISP has
_LIED_ to you about the available speed, then surely this is a matter for
legal recourse... not some fluffy web 2.0 (ohhh) db that opens everyones isp
up to postcode searches.

Dunno, I may just be naively underestimating the market for such a product or
paranoid about my information, but this just seems pointless at best and
irresponsible at worst.

