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FCC Giving Away Wi-fi Routers For Broadband Tests
An anonymous reader writes "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be giving away 10,000 Wireless-N routers as part of their program to perform a number of broadband tests, for the benefit of a better connection in the future. They are striving to work on improving a number of issues including latency, packet loss, connection speeds and much more."
Do I win a free router?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Making sure everyone has fast, reliable access available is great; but the FCC also has to worry about internet caps! Now that AT&T is cutting people off after a certain amount of bandwidth use, someone with the power to stop this monopolistic abuse needs to flex some muscle. What is the FCC doing about internet caps?
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
My privacy is worth much more then a crappy router that will accidentally send all my browsing information.
Knowledge = Power
P= W/t
t=Money
Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/06/02/0035237/Washington-Wants-10000-Web-Surfers
FCC buys wifi routers using taxpayer money for people that can afford broadband connections.
Why not instead just do a voluntary program with existing routers people own? (Think far-simplified SETI@Home.)
Ok, once in a while I see latency that actually impacts quality (mostly on DSL), but when's the last time anyone had packet loss that wasn't on their own network?
Money has been pissed away to bring broadband to the US because at one time people saw the utility of it. Someone is now looking into why it never materialized but the checks were cached.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
They have extended their research efforts to the public, but there are some minor requirements which need to be met. For example, your connection must be consistent (suffer very few disconnections), users must be considered average Internet browsers and not heavy downloaders [...]
its a trap
Old news. This is already ongoing. It's a pretty darn decent Netgear (almost $100 on Newegg).
Geez, somebody is late to the party... I've had one for months now. I still haven't figgered out what to do with my old DGL-4300 router, though.
BTW, if you read the actual agreement you will notice that it doesn't guarantee that participants will be allowed to keep the router. The text of the agreement clearly leaves open the possibility that SamKnows might repossess the routers, though it is probably impractical for them to do so (thus the extra-contractual assurances about keeping them).
It is a simple program. I plugged in the Netgear router in between my firewall and my cable modem and configured it as a bridge. It analyzes the traffic and sends the information to the FCC.
I love how some people here are whining about privacy. I think those people will whine about anything. What is the alternative? The data needs to be collected. Either you want the government to step in and regulate the telcos, or you don't. If you don't, then STFU and stop whining about the crappy service they are giving you. If you do, then realize you have to be part of the solution. Whining about it never fixed anything. At some point, someone has to collect some data.
If you don't want to participate in the program, don't. On the other hand, I'm happy to know that the FCC is getting some real data to show that when I fire up my VPN client from home to do some work, everything else on the network (NetFlix, et al) gets throttled back to next to nothing. I'm happy to be a guinea pig so that the FCC an see that the supposedly "faster" connection that I'm paying for is not really any faster than the basic package.
If you're doing something with your internet connection that the government cares about, they already know about you. Participating in some research is not going to suddenly put you on their radar. Your browsing history is a lot less interesting to most people than you think it is. The country is involved in two wars and the economy is crumbling around us. Do you really think the government cares if you want to wank off to www.fatmomfetish.com, or whatever other "super secret private" stuff you are doing with your internet connection? Running a Tor exit node? Seeding the latest movie rip? Ooooo, you crazy rebels you!
Why wouldn't it be the ISP collecting these statistics (as part of end-to-end monitoring and customer support reduction), and the FCC perhaps requiring that they be given a copy to stay aware of and create these regulations from?
The FCC is making much fuss and noise about "digital inclusion" and whatnot, but no one at any level is willing to talk about the fact that most of the country has two or less options in broadband. During the summer of love (2002, IIRC), the big telecoms took advantage of deregulation to divide up the broadband market by city, and it's been higher prices, lower caps and no new pipe in ten yearsever since. Verizon FiOS is dead. Wireless is consolidating. It's permanent monopoly time, and the FCC just keeps talking about broadband maps and Internet literacy training (?!) as the solution.
Here's a better answer: bring back common carrier rules for backbone service rates, and let the local ISPs (remember those?) come back to life. Pass network neutrality. Ban the ownership of both content services and pipes. Lay some city-owned dark fiber and let the private sector bid to operate it. It ain't rocket science, but it will require standing up to Comcast and AT&T.
I am sure it is already happening, but 10,000 applications have probably already been filled out.
I have one of these devices. It's plugged into a port on a managed switch and doesn't see any of my traffic; basically it has access to the Internet connection and that's it.
There's a site at http://reporting.samknows.com/ that I can log into and see graphs of the test results, which are:
All these stats are graphed daily.
I have U-Verse, and the instructions state that with U-Verse you just plug the device into a switch port and plug nothing else into it. They probably don't want the U-Verse video traffic running through it. I also disabled its wifi, since it wasn't necessary.
Putting moderation advice in your
How much data is sent/received for the tests? I wouldn't want to hit my monthly cap...
Also, how long before the ISPs are able to uniquely identify traffic from/to these particular routers, and will "traffic shape" accordingly? I'm guessing more than one ISP employee has one to experiment on...
I'm glad they were cached, I'd be pissed if they were actually cashed.
Not really related (well, sort of), but it looks like Kansas City, Kansas are the lucky winnars! of the Google Community Fiber project.
Forget that it also graphs VoIP Call Jitter, up and down in milliseconds.
Presumably these stats are the results of its own testing, as I'm not using VoIP.
Putting moderation advice in your
Money has been pissed away to bring broadband to the US because at one time people saw the utility of it. Someone is now looking into why it never materialized but the checks were cached.
Well there is the problem. Had they cashed the checks, instead of caching them, we might actually have some good broadband throughout this country.
Lots of comments about waste of money, etc., but it depends on what and how it works.
First off: without some independent metrics, how is the FCC to gain an understanding of the status of broadband quality? Sure they can infer somethings from stats provided by ISPs but I am sure there are all kinds of issues with using secondhand data from parties with vested interests.
Given that the FCC should have an independent understanding of broadband deployment and quality in the US, then sticking 10,000 data collectors out there is not a bad idea. I would guess that the routers have custom firmware and call home to a server on a regular basis. Putting the metric collector on the router instead of a program on a local PC is obviously the way to go: always on, known behaviour, and relatively free from user fiddling.
It seems like a damn good idea to me.
Once it is yours (after the test) just nuke the custom firmware and load your favorite WRT flavor. I mean, unless you are paranoid enough to think they have custom hardware in there just to spy, and if you are that paranoid, you probably already think they have it in commercially sold routers.
Someone had to do it.
Are the routers DD-WRT compatible?
Paranoid?
Apparently you are, if you think the purpose is to "control internet connections."
God damnit. Thats what I get for actually working today.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
TEABAGGER SPOTTED.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
Same thought here, but there are some things to be aware of:
"What effect will this have on my monthly download cap?
Our units involved in the FCC project transfer a large amount of data, which varies according to the speed of your connection. The usage on a 10Mbps connection will be around 20GB/month, and will likely be around 60GB on a 50Mbps connection. The amount that's downloaded is speed dependant (so a slower connection will use less traffic than a faster connection).
If you're on a product with a low cap then we'd advise against signing up, or at least informing us beforehand so that we can apply a different testing profile (we can run smaller speed tests on a per-device if necessary)."
"How long will the testing period last?
The initial testing period is scheduled to last three years."
http://www.testmyisp.com/faq.html
"Information collected
We may collect personal information about you which you give to us when you use our website, for example, to receive our exchange updates and regular website updates. For the purpose of the FCC and Ofcom studies we will collect your personal information and information about the performance of your internet connection."
"Your data
Users of SamKnows.com have certain rights under the your country’s Data Protection Legislation. You can, for instance, ask to be told what information we hold about you in our databases. SamKnows.com will provide you with all of the details that we hold about you, both online and offline, upon request. In order to request this information, please contact us by sending an email to team@samknows.com."
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/privacy
while I dont like the idea of a government router, I do like the idea that the government is trying to measure the speed consumers are actually receiving. So I'm going to say this is a good thing. If you're concerned about your privacy, don't sign up. If not, do us all a favor and help them do this measurement.
This has been going on for quite a while now, they've already shipped a bunch of routers, mines been hooked up for a few months already.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
I have one of these already. It's a NETGEAR WNR3500L. I've not seen any impact on my connection quality. Quite the contrary, I've used its reporting functions twice already in trying to get my ISP to track down connection quality issues at their end.
It keeps a running log of your ping, throughput, packet loss, etc. which you can access freely through their website. I was able to use this to document periods of latency spikes and massive packet loss.
I guess if you think the FCC is taking a particularly convoluted route to spy on me, rather than just, tapping in at the ISP itself, you're free to do that. I'll just think you're probably more than a bit daft.
If by "given away" you mean spending tax dollars on...
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
I do the same thing all the time, but I usually correct myself. It's a natural result of working in IT. So much cache and so little cash.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Ahem. The WNR3500L they're giving away is a linux-based (openwrt) high-end wireless router. It was $150 when new, now can be had for $80. Its successor the WNDR3700 retails for $185 and it's freaking awesome. A customizable linux-based router is precisely what I'd choose if I wanted to do an experiment like this.
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
Read the TOS you agree to. they want them back when done of if you dont set it up for them. and you agree to not hack it or reverse engineer it.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Old news, and it was even posted on Slashdot when the program started last summer. I've been running an FCC White Box for several months now and love it. The router is a high quality Netgear with QoS filtering and all the bells and whistles you expect out of a $100+ router. It beats the ever living crap out of my old Belkin Wireless N. The tracking software doesn't monitor actual sites or any actual private information. Just packet loss, ping times, download and upload speeds, streaming stability, voip stability, etc. The graphs and charts it spits out are extremely useful and I've been using them for the past 2 months when complaining to Mediacom about my slow speeds, packet loss, and horrible ping times. It keeps 2 weeks of hourly data, and after that just tracks it as an average/min/max for the day. http://i53.tinypic.com/35bt5ro.jpg
Frozen Insanity
http://frozen-solid.net
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Agreed. I'm participating in this and I've had my router since around November.
Also they're not "giving them away" per se. The routers have custom firmware on them and they come with a letter saying when we're done we want the routers back otherwise we're sending you a bill (as agreed on when you signed up for the program).
Paranoid?
Not at all. You're just being a diligent, alert American.
- Glenn Beck
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Great! Just in time for my ISP to throttle its competitors when the FCC fails to impose Net Neutrality, which it can do without having to buy 10,000 pieces of equipment.
they come with a letter saying when we're done we want the routers back otherwise we're sending you a bill (as agreed on when you signed up for the program).
Hmm, according to the FAQ, that's not how it works:
http://www.testmyisp.com/faq.html#faq-19
"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway" -Andrew Tanenbaum
This is old news. I got my tax payer funded router (thanks) about 3 months ago. The online reports are very neat and shows me that I'm glad my life doesn't depend on my ISP.
Date / Failure Rate in % (the online graphs are much better).
2011-03-30 0.02
2011-03-29 0.00
2011-03-28 0.24
2011-03-27 0.00
2011-03-26 0.04
2011-03-25 0.11
2011-03-24 0.04
2011-03-23 1.23
I'd like to run the reports monthly versus weekly and daily though, I'll write SamKnows and ask about that.
Government is either totally good for everyone (other than the 400 you mentioned) or totally bad for everyone. Thanks for clearing that up for us.
Now I don't feel so bad about my ISP. I've been running it for a while now too. http://tinypic.com/r/2j5z120/7
and was not concerned with a bit of security to the people that will be using one, + what I was getting at is netgear has a bad rep of only lasting a few months at best, I know I keep buying them refurb for 19$ usually twice a year for work who are too cheap to get anything decent
Welcome to the real world. Politicians will never invest tax money in risky ventures when they can just spend ten times as much and take credit for something that already works.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Yeah, sorry. I misread the letter. It says I must send it back if I decide not to continue participating in this program.
The gov't invented and manages large parts of the Internet.... Please, please tell me this is not just a half jest, but full on irony at work ;)
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
You mean the hardware is decent. Out of a dozen or so Netgear products I've used, one (a white 5 port switch) was decent. The rest were shit, likely due to incredibly awful firmware. Crashhappy routers and switches that will blast your network with piss if you plug another brand into the network, I shit you not.
Area I'm at does not have DSL and I ain't gonna signup for Comcast! So..... could one of these be used to access some highspeed wireless broadband? (OK so I admit I'm not a wifi guru like everybody else). How would it compare to using a Ubiquiti Networks Bullet mounted on a tall pole with a high gain 2.4GHz antenna to reach free wifi in certain neighborhoods that have it? Though I also have to ask do these have reasonable throughput as I found Google wifi in Mountain View reeeeaaaallllyyy ssssllllooowwww.
mfwright@batnet.com
Australian pronunciation is "cay-sh" for cache. Frustrates the hell out of the Americans and English here, but it doesn't leave anything ambiguous.
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
This white box has already produced great results. My crappy Internet connection improved 2 days after I was informed via email from Sam Knows that my ISP (Cox Communications) had been informed that I was participating in the trial. AWESOME! It's been running great for two months hence. That's been worth the price of admission already.
So I have questions for you paranoid freaks. What makes you think your off-the-shelf POS router doesn't already include government spyware? Oh, right, because you immediately flashed the firmware and installed dd-wrt. And you don't think that government scriptgrammers with unmentionable agencies haven't already checked in code to the latest development build? And while you're reading through the source code trying to find unmentionable hard-coded IP addresses pointing to servers running in data centers that don't exist, don't you think the warm silicon slamming bits through your router has the very logic you are searching for burned within?
Boo! Don't look behind you.
On any decent cable connection or with something like fios this will eat up like 20GB+ a month. That's actually not a lot but still if you are running near some sort of cap with your isp I'd avoid it.
The router btw seems to get pretty good reviews and its 300Mb N, does open source firmware, and has some really nice features. Much better than what I would have thought they would be using. Then again maybe they are using it specifically because of an open source firmware that can be cutomized.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Netgear.
2 weeks ago I received my free fcc router for the test it's a Netgear WNR3500L, after unboxing I immediately flashed it and installed DD-WRT on it :)
set it up as a repeater and turned off dhcp and all routing just to use it as a wifi repeater and extended the wifi range around my house for the low low cost of 0
thanks fcc!
hehe
I am participating in this program. I think America is way behind in the broadband area, and if the FCC doesn't know what the big players are really doing, they cannot make good decisions on our behalf. I believe there are people in the government that want us to stay competitive, if only to pay taxes. I have my doubts about what Comcast is doing to me for my money, and this program gives me access to great statistics. I for one like this program. There is nothing I am doing that I am concerned about them knowing anyway. Any business I do over the Internet is https anyway, and I assume if they want to look iside my encrypted packets badly enough, they can. My opinion anyway :-)
the routers are actually infected with Syphilis.
Someone is now looking into why it never materialized but the checks were cached.
Were the checks cached in the cloud somewhere ?
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
The lady selling me my last processor insisted on using " Ka-Shay" Which I've heard elsewhere, but still makes my hair stand on end ;(
That's cachet.
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.