FCC To Evaluate Telecom Carriers' Mobile Broadband Speed

A public meeting will be held Sept.21 in Washington D.C. to seek participation by other parties including researchers, PC World reported.

At the meeting, the FCC will hold discussion on testing mobile service for acquiring and analyzing performance data.

The test assumes significance as the mobile operators make several claims about network speed, but formal system to determine the actual performance is lacking.

In a public notice issued Tuesday, the FCC mentioned that major wireless carriers and the CTIA, the key industry group for U.S. mobile operators, pledged commitment to cooperate in the speed program.

However, the Consumer Watchdog has said that FCC's plan seems to fall short as carriers are not required to disclose their network performance to consumers.

"The public may finally get some reliable information on mobile broadband data speeds, but it will not prevent wireless carriers from fooling consumers with inaccurate and confusing data speed claims," the Consumer Watchdog said in a statement Wednesday.

The group urged the FCC to ask the carriers to report the actual network speeds in ads and at the point of sale. The testing initiative follows the FCC program for gathering data about the real-world speeds on the fixed broadband network.

The agency recruited 10,000 volunteers to carry out the task in 2010, PC World added.