Google and Friends Release Net Neutrality Measuring Tools 126
angry tapir writes "Google and a group of partners have released a set of tools designed to help broadband customers and researchers measure performance of Internet connections. The set of tools, at MeasurementLab.net, includes a network diagnostic tool, a network path diagnostic tool and a tool to measure whether the user's broadband provider is slowing BitTorrent peer-to-peer (P-to-P) traffic. Coming soon to the M-Lab applications is a tool to determine whether a broadband provider is giving some traffic a lower priority than other traffic, and a tool to determine whether a provider is degrading certain users or applications. 'Transparency is our goal,' said Vint Cerf, chief Internet evangelist at Google and a co-developer of TCP/IP. 'Our intent is to make more [information] visible for all who are interested in the way the network is functioning at all layers.'"
Dundle Linux and Google (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Comcast (Score:2, Informative)
Where's the irony tag? (Score:1, Informative)
We now have a metric to measure neutrality? Isn't that like having a metric to measure fairness?
"Well, objectively speaking, this deal is ten times more fair for me than it is for you."
What about Glasnost (Score:2, Informative)
The Max Planck Institute for Software Systems has been developing a similar tool. Glasnost: Test if your ISP is manipulating BitTorrent traffic.
Re:Define slowing (Score:3, Informative)
Data pipes are like realty, location location location. I'm in a rural area and a large part of the cost of a T1 is the local loop. The next factor is your type of upstream provider - Tier 1, etc. I can get a Tier 2 T1 for 595. If I was in a city it'd be cheaper but still expensive compared to cable or DSL. Also 1.5Mbps isn't what it used to be.
I just came up for contract renewal on my Sprint T1. One year is about a grand a month, a 3 year term drops it to 895. Do a NxT1 deal and it gets a little cheaper but not much. Still a decent deal compared to the pricing of other Tier 1s out there. In the decade I've had T1s the price has dropped by about 1/3. Local loop has stayed about the same - the ILECs (Verizon in my case) really are out to screw everyone.
So yes you may have some minor choices but telephone and cable are legislated monopolies. It's a losing game to try to compete against a company that you have to use along some point in your delivery to clients. There are obvious exemptions to this but there's a reason there aren't many local ISPs around. Last mile data connection has turned into a monopoly controlled commodity in the US.
Re:Define slowing (Score:1, Informative)
A T1 is too slow. You'd need 10 or more, but that would be expensive because you'd be paying retail price for the T1s while trying to operate a commercial scale network.