Bill Would Make Carriers Publish 4G Data Speeds 99
GovTechGuy writes "A new bill from Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) would force wireless carriers to provide consumers with information on the minimum data speeds for their 4G networks at both the point of sale as well as on all billing materials. The bill would also task the FCC with compiling a Consumer Reports-style comparison of the 4G data speeds at the top ten wireless carriers so customers can view a side-by-side comparison."
Explain this.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Why shouldn't this be regulated under the category of "fair business practice?"
In California, some businesses are already certified through uniform weights and measurement requirements for their products.
(bottom line, let the customer make an informed and accurate/measurable decision based on validated information, instead of hype)
I'm sure the telco trolls will throw every lame excuse they can muster to discredit the intent of the proposed legislation.
Re:What about latency? (Score:4, Interesting)
Much of today's cell tower equipment is installed with no queue management turned on - and 100% retry "forever" (or at least a long period of time, longer than the 2 seconds it takes TCP/IP sessions to decide a packet didn't get there and resend, causing cascading congestion) and loads of buffer space to the point where latency is measured in 10s of seconds in some cases.
A carrier that actually takes advantage of the queue management built into the edge equipment can make their network faster and "feel" faster, and cut down on the actual amount of data they carry - but many (most?) don't have a clue.
For those interested in diving deeper - take a look at the Bufferbloat mail list and for want of a better one, this post by Jonathan Morton that speaks of 3G [bufferbloat.net]