MBA and the 3 A's
Measuring Broadband America for the U.S. is making getting Americans connected a priority, find out about the history of the program Measuring Broadband America and how you can help by becoming a volunteer.
Customer Stories
How our customers are using SamKnows’ technology to monitor and improve internet services.
Regulatory Project Principles
At SamKnows, we’re committed to making the internet better for everyone. Part of our work involves regulatory projects with governments, conducting market studies to measure performance of a country’s internet infrastructure. During our many years of experience in the public sector, we’ve developed a unique set of principles that we apply to all regulatory projects that help us uphold a high standard of care and diligence in our work.
Extension and expansion of Measuring Broadband Australia programme announced
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has announced their extension of the MBA (Measuring Broadband Australia) program, and plans for expansion. Find out more about the exciting work we've accomplished in MBA and what we hope to do in the future.
Measuring Broadband New Zealand study awarded renewal
After successfully improving Fibre Max customers' speeds alongside New Zealand’s Commerce Commission, we’re pleased to announce that Measuring Broadband New Zealand has been renewed! Read more about the important work the program has accomplished improving New Zealanders' internet, and our exciting plans to expand for the future.
Benchmarking Gaming Performance in the Middle East
With an emphasis on online gaming spurred on by a young and competitive generation, Saudi Arabia is prioritizing gaming performance for its citizens. Read more to find out how and check out the latest Meqyas gaming report.
New Zealand Fibre Max customers see huge performance improvements
The Measuring Broadband New Zealand project, put together by New Zealand's Commerce Commission, collaborated with RSPs, Wholesale Providers, and SamKnows to monitor internet performance across the country. The data collected helped improve speeds for subscribers across the Fibre Max network, here's how it happened.
The SamKnows CAF Solution
The SamKnows CAF Solution is a cost-effective measurement platform for internet service providers participating in the Connect America Fund (CAF). Our solution removes the headache of self-testing and ensures you meet all the Performance Data Requirements. Just last month, we were delighted to assist a large ISP prove their testing capacity before CAF II went live. Find out how we can help!
Critical Services Report: Video Conferencing (UK)
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, regulators and ISPs have been asking us to help them understand the performance of critical applications. Today we're looking at recent video conferencing performance in the United Kingdom, and demonstrating our new video conferencing tests for Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, and GoToMeeting.
SamKnows Critical Services Report: CDN Performance (UK)
The COVID-19 pandemic has instigated the world's largest working-from-home experiment. This has inevitably led to questions about the ability of broadband networks to cope with the additional traffic. In an effort to separate fact from rumour, we are prototyping a tracking report that studies key quality indicators for broadband.
Critical Services Report: Video Streaming (UK)
In recent blog posts, we have been looking at the impact COVID-19 has been having on internet performance in the UK and USA. In this latest post, we're returning to the UK for a closer look at the video streaming performance of Netflix, YouTube, and BBC iPlayer.
SamKnows Critical Services Report: Fixed Speed (USA)
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the world’s largest ever working-from-home experiment. This has inevitably led to questions about the ability of broadband networks to cope with the additional traffic. Last week we published our first report that looked at some core metrics in the UK. Today we are publishing a first high-level look at how speeds have changed across the US since the start of the pandemic.
Global internet usage during COVID-19
The internet is under enormous pressure. A quarter of the world’s population is in lockdown, with billions of people relying on home broadband for work, education, information, entertainment, and essential services. We’ve been focusing all our efforts on helping governments and ISPs understand how COVID-19 has changed internet usage almost overnight.
Help improve New Zealand's internet!
The Commerce Commission (ComCom) is on a mission to improve the future of New Zealand's internet with their Measuring Broadband New Zealand program. For the last 12 months, we've been busily supporting them by measuring how well the country's internet is performing. We're now looking for more people in rural areas to join us!
Analysys Mason: regulatory best practice
Analysys Mason is a company that specialises in advising government regulators on the best ways to regulate their telecommunications industry. We’ve long been admirers of their work and are excited to publish our interview with Franck Chevalier, their Co-Head of Technology Consulting, to learn how Analysys Mason helps regulators conquer some of their most prevalent challenges today.
USA, actively participate in FCC policy-making!
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are opening the Measuring Broadband America (MBA) program to new volunteers in the U.S., to benchmark and improve national Internet performance. We are proud to be part of such an important study. Read on to find out how you can track your home Internet performance and be at the heart of the FCC's policy-making.
How to create better coverage maps
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai recently suggested crowdsourcing data could be the best way to gather information on U.S. internet coverage: the Digital Opportunity Data Collection program. Here, SamKnows proposes the solution that will enable the FCC to create the largest and most reliable dataset possible, at the lowest cost.
Measuring Broadband Canada: project update
Two months ago, we asked you to help us improve the future of Canada's internet. We received an overwhelming response, thank you! Today, we're providing a quick update about our progress so far, which is excellent, and encourage those of you who would like to get involved to sign up for a Whitebox - it's not too late.
Bonjour Canada… prêt à tester votre Internet ?
Inscrivez-vous dès maintenant au projet de Mesure de la large bande au Canada - une étude nationale qui permettra de porter un regard approfondi sur la situation des performances d'Internet au Canada et d'en apporter les mesures nécessaires à leur amélioration.
Hello Canada… let's get testing
Now is the chance to help improve Canada's internet performance! Join the Measuring Broadband Canada program - a nationwide study that's taking a deep look into the state of the country's internet to find out what needs to be done to improve it for the future.
Defeat bad internet in a snap!
When performance goes down, the stakes go up. The clock is ticking and the pressure is on. Happy customers turn into angry, Hulk-like monsters. With 27 tests and 65 metrics, we can show you exactly what to do to resolve your issues, whether they're Thanos-sized, or so small you'd need an Ant (Man) to identify them.
ARRIS and Virgin Media test new 10Gbps speeds
In September 2018, Virgin Media contacted us about trialling their new 10Gbps FTTH product, testing both the access technology and in-home connectivity. We were delighted to assist Virgin Media and Arris measure these super-fast speeds, using our new 10Gbps Whitebox prototype that we had developed the year before.
BBC and SamKnows join forces for better internet
We were on BBC Watchdog last night. This week’s episode asked the all-important question: are you getting value for money when it comes to your internet? BBC Watchdog found that 35% of those who contacted their ISP with their SamKnows speed test results, saw an improvement. And 13% were offered a discount.
Creating the ultimate performance app for Ofcom
Last year we launched a home Wi-Fi checker for the UK telecoms regulator Ofcom. Since then, we collaborated with Ofcom and UK ISPs to build the ultimate performance app that's great for all technologies. And today, we're thrilled to launch an update that adds way more features. Read this article to read all about it. And download the app - it's free!
Measuring Broadband America's 2016 report
We're proud to announce that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published its Measuring Broadband America report, which is entirely based on SamKnows data. The USA saw internet speeds increase in 2016 - but with plenty of exceptions. In this article, we give you a quick overview of the report's key findings.
Fixing annoying home Wi-Fi with Bell
We built a web test for Bell. We love it. It shows Bell users what's affecting their internet speeds. And it's as accurate as can be! This test discounts all in-home factors, like an under-performing PC or a bad in-home Wi-Fi connection - showing you whether there's a problem with Bell's provisioning or an issue inside the home.
Improving customer care with SamKnows
We've had an epiphany about how we can help your internet experience. SamKnows creates measurement tools to help ISPs and regulators improve internet performance and customer care. And while we've dramatically improved the richness and accuracy of internet performance intel, we believe we can do more. Time to think differently.
Oh hello Oceania... let's measure your internet
We're proud to announce two new internet measurement projects with the Australian and New Zealand regulators! Both projects aim to better the internet for everyone. And both projects are using SamKnows data to help increase transparency, direct policies, and update infrastructure. Find out how you can get involved.
Updating internet regulation in the UK
Ofcom are updating their Voluntary Codes of Practice (VCOP) to benefit home and business internet users in the UK. The aim of VCOP is to aid and protect internet users when buying broadband products. ISPs volunteer to follow the codes and need a measurement solution to prove their performance levels. Here's a guide to VCOP how we can help.
Solving poor Netflix performance
Speed tests don't always tell the whole story. An unhappy user contacted us about their poor Netflix performance, despite their 100 Mbps connection. Turns out the problem extended far beyond this user! Using SamKnows One, we discovered a routing issue spanning two continents. We quickly alerted the ISPs so they could deploy a quick fix.
Reporting on the state of Australia's internet
The ACCC is using SamKnows One to measure the quality of Australia's internet and encourage reform. Find out how Australia's internet is faring in their latest report. Following the Initial Findings Report of March 2018, this second instalment gives a more granular analysis on the performance of Australia's internet services.
Connect America Fund reporting requirements
In July 2018, the USA's FCC released an updated order, detailing the auditing requirements for ISPs participating in the Connect America Fund (CAF). In this post, we summarise the CAF measurement requirements and how ISPs can meet them. SamKnows also has a solution to help ISP's prove they comply - read on to learn more.
The SamKnows Cloudflare Platform
We're excited to be expanding our fully-managed test server platform, with the help of Cloudflare's clever Workers. Cloudflare's Workers allow us to run code directly on their network, and incorporate them as part of our internet measurement platform. All the while, we maintain accurate measurement results without breaking the bank.