The U.S. government in its efforts to expand broadband across the great digital divide is offering free web-testing on their website and Android as well as iPhone apps to check broadband speed. Their website is such a big hit, it, took 30 seconds to load, we're still waiting to view their original post.
The free Broadband.gov apps test broadband speed and gives the Feds a way to see if the carriers and providers are really giving the speed and service they say they do.
If you want to test your broadband speed from a computer they ask for your address, this test took us longer than Speedtest.net or other web based broadband testing sites It's powered by Ookla and M-Lab. It tests latency and jitter. The web version does not work in Firefox or Safari.
The Android App is available on Android Market and the iPhone app is in the App Store.
We did a quick text on a Google Nexus One with only one 3G bar and the download and upload speed were good. If you think your carrier is not doing a good broadband job, you may want to download the app that reports your speeds to the FCC.
The applications are part of the FCC's national broadband plan, due out next Tuesday, to offer affordable broadband
to all of the U.S.