FCC Speed Test
Why download it?Learn about your mobile broadband performance in one click. Track it over time.
What about privacy?No personally-identifiable information is collected whatsoever. Testing is totally anonymous.
Still curious? Read below for more detail.
Mobile broadband has become part of our everyday infrastructure. We hope the app helps provide greater clarity about your mobile broadband performance.
Once installed, the app will run periodically in the background. It will automatically perform tests on the mobile network you are connected to (cellular or Wi-Fi) when you aren’t using your smartphone. Aggregated, anonymous data will also help us build a map of mobile broadband performance across the country.
Privacy is paramount. The FCC has taken significant measures to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of volunteers for this program. Using privacy measures developed and reviewed by a diverse team of privacy experts, any data that could potentially identify specific smartphones is analyzed and processed to ensure privacy protection.
How does this help you?
• Tests run automatically, you don’t even have to think about it. • Run manual tests on Download Speed, Upload Speed, Latency and Packet Loss. (Make sure to disable Wi-Fi before testing cellular broadband speeds.)• Additional passive metrics collected such as Cell ID, Signal Strength and GPS location.• Access real-time performance data on your device.• Historical results available at the touch of a screen.• Be a volunteer! You can help the FCC’s Measuring Broadband America program in developing the first open and transparent information on mobile broadband performance in the United States.• By default, testing is limited to 100 MB per month--always consider your broadband usage carefully on limited data allowance plans.• Raise your data cap to see more performance data. • Lower your data cap and set a date to reset data caps so you don’t go over the limit on your plan.• The app is ad-free.• Download the source code at https://github.com/SamKnows/skandroid-fcc
Category : Communication
Reviews (26)
The app basically stopped working. The map that was full of hundreds of readings doesn't show anything anymore. I guess the upload test fails since I get a annoying notification about the upload trying to finish that won't go away unless I reboot my phone. I tried contacting the developer but just got a canned answer in response about constantly looking for ways to enhance and improve the app which totally ignored the problem I brought up. I'll fix it myself. I'm uninstaling the app....
I like that it's a pretty straightforward speed test app, and the speed results seem to be universally slower here than in other more commercial oriented speed test apps. Whether that's due to a limited set of test servers or that the FCC app is giving us more accurate results, I don't really know. It's nice to have both ping and jitter measured, and the ability to set daily automatic tests when the phone is idle is a nice way to build a history of speed results. Sadly, the interface is super clunky and the ability to chart past results is extremely limited, to just a few timeframes in bar graph format.
Wish it ran more reliably when automating. It would be nice to have better sorting between the different types of networks and the ability to thumb left or right to look at dates in the past or future without redrawing and forcing you to view the next 'set'. Look at glasswire for a great example of how to do this better. GREAT app otherwise, a true rarity- funded by US tax dollars. 👍👍👍
Original 04/30/2021: The speed analysis seems to be accurate for me, only showing a little slower than a computer on wired connection (as expected). However, the scheduler seems to not work properly. I have it set to run a wifi only scan every hour, but it went 4 days without scanning (all while connected to my wifi network). Update 06/01/2021: Scheduler is definitely not working and hasn't been fixed. -1 star
Really glad to see an app like this that's not from a network provider. It's easy to use, had common sense settings for mobile data usage, and it also has helpful charts and graphs for comparing results over time. This is a great tool, and I'm hopeful it will provide the FCC with better data to improve internet access and availability in places that don't have that.
I like the charts, but I wish the data was available in csv format so I could combine it with other device data and other speed test apps. Recently the notifications for the scheduled tests have shown the test running interminably. Have force stopped, flushed cache, etc. Still keeps doing it. Lastly, this app seems to produce consistently lower test results than other apps. Frankly I'd pitch it if it wasn't for the nice charts.
Pretty good. Like the fact it notifies you when it does a random test. Wish there was a way to have it do a set number of random tests per day. Also wish there was an option to take a picture and tag the uplink/downlink/latency data into the EXIF data. Also needs an option for the map showing LTE 5/1 compliant speed tests on the map.
The app doesn't seem accurate. I have gigabit service and all other speed tests reflect a much higher speed than this app does. It also gives no option to choose a server to test against. In other apps you can select various servers to test against and the results vary greatly from server to server, regardless of distance, jitter, etc..
As others have said, something changed and now it runs and never ends. On android, I get on notification that it completed, and then another showing the Upload test is running and it never finishes. Hopefully this will be fixed soon, as clearly it's affecting a lot of people.
Very nice! But, it could have multi- and single threaded tests. The app could also turn off wifi (for unattended tests) and use just (as what it says) "mobile broadband" / ie. cell/mobile data. Jitter, icmp, scheduling, stats and data cap included which is nice. Way above average app for testing the link, and map all areas. Great job FCC!!!! Get the broadband to everyone in the USA, and help/allow to provide choices to areas with a monopoly. ISP link is an utility - Title 2 of the Comm Act!
This app definitely needs an update. It barely does what it's supposed to do without freezing or hiccuping. You have to press the button a million times over just to get it to do the one thing it needs to do and we need to make sure that this app cannot be manipulated by any of the companies to show false speeds as speed test now does. Speed test the app everyone knows now shows unrealistic speeds because the companies that provide internet can see you're doing a speed test on that app...
After administration in White House changed the app started to work. The design was change. Could not tell how I like it because it difficult assuming some WOW for simple app. The app collected a data of network performance and at that time I did not see my provider improves quality of my signal. It will be better if that app helps FCC to inforce network providers to provide good quality of service. One of bug negative things of the app: it consumes lot of bandwidth (2-3 gigs monthly).
Recently learned this app is a joke. They partnered with T-Mobile to test speeds of the 'area network' and not the actual speeds delivered to the device. The FCC app does not take up data to speed test on T-Mobile but won't give you the speeds you're actually getting. Using OpenSignal DOES take your data but shows actual device speeds received and transmitted. Uninstalled since I'm sending back flawed device data.
Not FCC fault but with the carrier. I know they'll allow unlimited speed but my carrier at&t will allow the app unlimited speed but I couldn't even stream a single video at 1080p nor 720p. I even tried a few other apps streaming services and the same result. FCC needs to mask their servers so carriers can't cook the books! Other then that it's works as advertised and pretty happy with it.
Every time it runs, it stays in the notification bar as still running. That eats up the battery. The only way to fix is restart the phone or uninstall. I'm tired of restarting the phone everyday.
I used the speed test on the Comcast app, they were claiming 65mbps down and connected through Boston. FCC app shows connected through New York and 26mbps. Someone is not being truthful. I'm guessing it's the people saying I need to pay more to upgrade to 1gbps because I'm not even getting the speeds I'm currently paying for. I hope this gets the data needed to have Comcast held to some level of accountability.
A very important app for speedtests without any bells and whistles or even ads! This app helps the fcc get more accurate data over inflated company values, and for those wondering about reliability, i have had the same results as ookla speedtest on mobile and on wifi. For those of us with low bandwiths (freaking 2mbps on verizon in worcester county ma) this may be a lifesaver to get better bandwiths intetnet. Be warned that the app checks connection frequently, so mobile data users be wary
Amazing! I wish they'd released this app years ago. It measures all the key metrics for bandwidth, allows you to schedule the frequency and chart it over time! Now hopefully, they will use this data to redraw the coverage maps instead of relying on the carriers and ISPs to self report the bandwidth they claim to be providing.
My results for NE Oklahoma LTE (T-Mobile)- 1.69mb/s down, 1.34mb/s up, with 70ms latency. Sad thing is, this has been the norm as new technologies have been 'scabbed' onto a decades old network backbone. I personally invite "infrastructure improvement". I'm used to the slow speeds, but I still get jealous after seeing the rest of the country getting 150mb/s down on their LTE speed tests.
Runs tests all the time, which is nice to keep my cell phone company in check. With the last update though, it keeps a notification saying it's running tests. It never goes away, even after it finishes a test. I have to restart my phone in order to get it to clear the notification.
Was an excellent tool until recently. Now it always shows Upload Test constantly, often showing a date that's 2 or more days prior. Tried rebooting and got zilch. Now I force stop it until I decide to do a manual test, then back to sleep. I expect better from the FCC!
There needs to be options to transmit the data automatically or manually. The data is collected, but it is not clear what the user should do with the data! Needs to be clarified! The app is very efficient in collecting the data. Transmitting needs to be efficient too! Thank you.
I think this is a super important app for those of us in bad cell coverage areas- hopefully we can help the FCC understand how overstated the cell companies coverage maps really are! Maybe accurate FCC maps will force cell providers into providing better coverage. All major providers show coverage in my area, but in practice I frequently have zero bars. Maybe the cities are all jazzed about getting 5G coverage, but I just want to have more than periodic one bar coverage!
The speed readings are very inaccurate because it keeps testing my connection to a server 300 miles away, instead of the Spectrum Internet office that I'm actually connected to, that's only 5 miles away. I voiced my opinion about this to the FCC customer service, but it hasn't changed. So I've uninstalled the app, since I don't want to continue providing inaccurate data to the FCC. If they're going to base any federal policies on this information, I want the information to be correct.
Used to work well enough years ago. I forgot it was on my phone until I saw the background test notification pop up. So I checked the logs just out of curiosity...they show nothing at all on my S9+. Months of empty logs from what I assume were failed tests. Uninstalling. It's about 4 years overdue for even a minor update and there are plenty of other trusted speed test apps out there. As trusted as any of them can be when providers actively try to detect and boost these tests, of course.
Great idea, but Data caps are something that should be looked into as well. Where I live I can only get Verizon, or Hughes net. No other cell service works. So $200 a month between both I get a total of 65 gigs of high speed data. Which my kid can eat up in 30 minutes if I don't pay attention...... App tends to slow down phone amd freeze it up on occasion which forced reboots. I'm reinstalling again after a bit without to see if anything changed.