Screenshots

Do you still believe your TM-Streamyx works hard to give you their 'best-effort' speed, or Celcom HSPA can do 3.6Mbps? Or do you want to know if you're actually getting what you're paying for to the ISPs?

Yesterday, Google Inc. launched an online tool that allows researchers and consumers measure Internet performance. It's called Measurement Lab (M-Lab).

You didn't get it from me. The announcement was made in GoogleBlog by Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist, and Stephen Stuart, Google's principal engineer. Quote:

Researchers are already developing tools that allow users to, among other things, measure the speed of their connection, run diagnostics, and attempt to discern if their ISP is blocking or throttling particular applications. These tools generate and send some data back-and-forth between the user's computer and a server elsewhere on the Internet.

Unfortunately, researchers lack widely-distributed servers with ample connectivity. This poses a barrier to the accuracy and scalability of these tools. Researchers also have trouble sharing data with one another.

M-Lab aims to address these problems.

For a start, Google will provide researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the U.S. and Europe, to enable them to participate in the programme. You, too, can get involved in this networked effort. Visit here for details.

There are some tools that aggregate search results to show whether your ISPs are changing their BitTorrent blocking policies.

Frankly, I like what Cerf and Stuart had said: "... everyone can agree that Internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up for broadband, and good data is the bedrock of sound policy. Transparency has always been crucial to the success of the Internet..."

Halim Shafie and Zamzamzairani are darn fools if they didn't already hear that.