Service providers face competitive and regulatory pressures to guarantee a high-quality, high-bandwidth broadband service for their end-users. However, existing methods of capacity measurement are often difficult to employ. Not only this, but accuracy has always been a problem with testing any kind of internet connection. For example, traditional web-based speed tests can easily be impacted by issues such as slow Wi-Fi and local network congestion from background updates or other users consuming bandwidth at the same time as the test being run.
Broadband Forum has recently released a new User Datagram Protocol Speed Test (OB-UDPST) project to help mitigate these challenges mentioned. User experience is at the core of any service provider’s offering, and today’s consumers expect their broadband service to deliver speed and low latency. With the help of the Forum and its new broadband speed test, it will enable more accurate results for a vastly improved broadband user experience.
The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which current ad-hoc speed tests are based on, was for a long time considered the only option as a reliable transport protocol. However, TCP reacts conservatively to loss and round-trip delay, and therefore produces a significant underestimate of Maximum IP-Layer Capacity. Read the full blog from Al Morton and Len Ciavattone, OB-UDPST Project Leaders https://www.broadband-forum.org/building-a-better-broadband-ecosystem-with-more-accurate-open-broadband-speed-tests