The FCC revealed the first data points from its mobile speed test application for Android devices, which it released last week. The app, which is available for free in the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play store, runs periodically in the background when a user's phone is not in use and tests both cellular and Wi-Fi download speeds, upload speeds, latency and packet loss. According to the FCC, users can see how their broadband service performs and track it over time; testing is limited to 100 MB per month. The FCC will be aggregating the data to get a clearer picture of wireless network performance across the country.
According to the FCC, the app has been installed more than 30,000 times so far, and has generated around 40,000 collections of the full suite of mobile broadband speed measurements. Of the 40,000 tests, about 25,000 were manual and roughly 15,000 were scheduled, the FCC said, and roughly 23,000 tests were on LTE networks. All the major carriers were represented in the tests, according to the FCC, and results came in from all 50 states, and from small towns and major cities. However, the agency has not yet released actual network performance measurements. Post