CenturyLink says it needs more guidance to measure broadband service performance

CenturyLink wants to give its wireline users what they pay for when they purchase a broadband connection, but it has a number of concerns with how the Federal Communications Commission collects information about service providers' broadband performance via their Measuring Broadband America (MBA) program. The FCC developed the MBA program as a performance study of broadband service in the United States. It was developed out of a recommendation by the National Broadband Plan to improve the availability of information for consumers about their broadband service.

In particular, CenturyLink said in an FCC filing that it wants clarity on how Measurement Lab servers collect information on the quality of its DSL connections. During a call with members of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, CenturyLink discussed if the regulatory should provide it and other Internet service providers additional guidance on speed definitions, latency and packet loss, and the methods of measuring these metrics. It also asked the FCC to rely on industry standards while encouraging "reasonable flexibility in methodologies."