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Find All The Broadband Options At Any Street Address

40 points by arjunlall 16y ago

arjunlall 16y ago
Really useful when searching for office space or apartments. I can recall many friends who get a great lease on an office only to find they have really slow internet available for their startup.
- zmblum 16y ago
neilbowers 16y ago
Any street address in the US.
russell_h 16y ago
This thing is so broken its not even funny. I tried it when it first came out and not a single one of the wired providers it listed will actually serve my address. The two that actually do serve my address weren't mentioned anywhere. Now when I search my address it doesn't show anything at all. I'm glad we spent $200 million on that.
- stinkytaco 16y ago
  It did OK for my street. It wasn't missing anything that I was aware of but some of the speeds were incorrect (I get 10 Mbps from a provider it listed as only offering 1.5). Overall a valuable tool that needs improvement. I think 200 million is a pretty good deal considering the volume of data it promises to handle.
- joeybaker 16y ago
  It gets the providers right, but completely and utterly misses on the speed estimations.
  - amalcon 16y ago
    My speed estimates for wired providers were both about an order of magnitude high.
  - Natsu 16y ago
    I believe it goes by maximum advertised speeds. As you might imagine, there are plenty of reasons why that would be out of touch with reality.
- rbranson 16y ago
  What you're looking at is probably all of the TIGER city blocks bounced against various zip code or county lists that the telecom companies provide. That's why if, for instance, AT&T has ANY U-verse coverage in your area, you will likely be flagged as receiving U-verse, even without being able to subscribe to it. So I can say with pretty high certainty that the reason this sucks is because of the telecom lobby. There is an enormous amount of pressure on regulators to not require the telecom companies to disclose detailed information about where they provide what levels of service. Even information that's retrievable by going to their site and checking for coverage and/or service availability at an address. They most certainly have this information, but it's considered one of their most closely guarded trade secrets. Those at the NTIA (and FCC to a degree) seem to be mostly interested in figuring out the minimum amount of disclosure they can give to meet the law-mandated requirements. This is the same old problem in Washington where the people who end up regulating are those that were plucked right out of highly-networked positions in the industry they regulate.
whalesalad 16y ago
Uhh...? http://grab.by/98T3 http://grab.by/98T3 Totally broken.
- colanderman 16y ago
  That site doesn't work at all in Opera. I haven't had that happen in years. (At least the ads show up...)
aidenn0 16y ago
It shows the right wired providers, but the max up/down rate is low for Cox), and Verizon DSL shows 50-100Mbps; I don't know anyone who gets 50Mbps on the highest plan here, and the lowest plan is like 768kbps.
draebek 16y ago
Seriously, we're going to report AT&T and Verizon "mobile data," seemingly at their maximum published speeds (i.e. impressive marketing numbers)? It would be a sad day when I have to resort to a data card from either of these providers--with their latency, data caps, and limited coverage--as my main source of "broadband."
ANH 16y ago
This is practically useless for my semi-rural location. The listed speeds are so wrong it's hilarious. Yes, Verizon is a service provider here, but the only option is Mobile Broadband which peaks at about 1.3Mbps on a good day. The site makes it look like everyone out here has FiOS. And they broke the back button when you navigate to the 'Engage' page. Edit: And I'm really trying to find a way to confirm or refute the info, but I see no 'yes' or 'no' icons it claims are there.
harold 16y ago
This data is not accurate, at least for me. After calling AT&T and Verizon just now (both listed) they tell me I can't subscribe because they don't offer service here.
pyre 16y ago
At my address it finds me several companies that are only offer business solutions with a choice of T-1/OC48/etc. Not exactly consumer broadband... I like how the redirect to some of the providers' sites is a redirect to http:// http://, even for big names like Comcast. If it does have a site, it's a redirect to e.g. http://http://example.com http://http://example.com
dhyasama 16y ago
I'm in Manhattan (so a rather large city) and use Time Warner which isn't listed for my address. My anecdotal evidence aside, this really cost $200 million? I'm pretty cynical, but there must be more to it.
pitdesi 16y ago
It suggests I get satellite broadband. For my apartment in downtown Chicago. Government!
whatusername 16y ago
Or in Australia (for any Landline phone number): http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/ http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/
cema 16y ago
What, another example of lavishly founded government service? I would understand the value of something like this in a poor or enterprise-unfriendly country. But in the US? If it has been funded with taxpayers' money, I say it's a waste.
shmulkey18 16y ago
We're from the government and we're here to help! No results in Chrome at all for my area, which is served by Comcast. I wonder how much taxpayer money was dumped down this particular rat hole.
ajays 16y ago
For me: Advertised Speeds Above 3 Mbps Data as of: 6/30/10 Comcast Corporation 100 Mbps - 1 Gbps Advertised Speeds Above 768 Kbps and Below 3 Mbps Data as of: 6/30/10 AT&T Inc. 1.5 - 3 Mbps Firstly, I don't think Comcast will give Gbps speeds anytime soon. Secondly: I get close to 6Mbps from ATT. Thirdly: data is from 6/30/10 ? Did somebody like physically walk the data over from SF to DC ?
forcer 16y ago
something similar what my startup does in UK - http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my_area.aspx http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my...

40 points by arjunlall 16y ago

Really useful when searching for office space or apartments. I can recall many friends who get a great lease on an office only to find they have really slow internet available for their startup.

zmblum 16y ago

neilbowers 16y ago

Any street address in the US.

russell_h 16y ago

This thing is so broken its not even funny. I tried it when it first came out and not a single one of the wired providers it listed will actually serve my address. The two that actually do serve my address weren't mentioned anywhere. Now when I search my address it doesn't show anything at all. I'm glad we spent $200 million on that.

stinkytaco 16y ago
It did OK for my street. It wasn't missing anything that I was aware of but some of the speeds were incorrect (I get 10 Mbps from a provider it listed as only offering 1.5). Overall a valuable tool that needs improvement. I think 200 million is a pretty good deal considering the volume of data it promises to handle.
joeybaker 16y ago
It gets the providers right, but completely and utterly misses on the speed estimations.
- amalcon 16y ago
  My speed estimates for wired providers were both about an order of magnitude high.
- Natsu 16y ago
  I believe it goes by maximum advertised speeds. As you might imagine, there are plenty of reasons why that would be out of touch with reality.
rbranson 16y ago
What you're looking at is probably all of the TIGER city blocks bounced against various zip code or county lists that the telecom companies provide. That's why if, for instance, AT&T has ANY U-verse coverage in your area, you will likely be flagged as receiving U-verse, even without being able to subscribe to it. So I can say with pretty high certainty that the reason this sucks is because of the telecom lobby. There is an enormous amount of pressure on regulators to not require the telecom companies to disclose detailed information about where they provide what levels of service. Even information that's retrievable by going to their site and checking for coverage and/or service availability at an address. They most certainly have this information, but it's considered one of their most closely guarded trade secrets. Those at the NTIA (and FCC to a degree) seem to be mostly interested in figuring out the minimum amount of disclosure they can give to meet the law-mandated requirements. This is the same old problem in Washington where the people who end up regulating are those that were plucked right out of highly-networked positions in the industry they regulate.

whalesalad 16y ago

Uhh...? http://grab.by/98T3 http://grab.by/98T3 Totally broken.

colanderman 16y ago
That site doesn't work at all in Opera. I haven't had that happen in years. (At least the ads show up...)

aidenn0 16y ago

It shows the right wired providers, but the max up/down rate is low for Cox), and Verizon DSL shows 50-100Mbps; I don't know anyone who gets 50Mbps on the highest plan here, and the lowest plan is like 768kbps.

draebek 16y ago

Seriously, we're going to report AT&T and Verizon "mobile data," seemingly at their maximum published speeds (i.e. impressive marketing numbers)? It would be a sad day when I have to resort to a data card from either of these providers--with their latency, data caps, and limited coverage--as my main source of "broadband."

ANH 16y ago

This is practically useless for my semi-rural location. The listed speeds are so wrong it's hilarious. Yes, Verizon is a service provider here, but the only option is Mobile Broadband which peaks at about 1.3Mbps on a good day. The site makes it look like everyone out here has FiOS. And they broke the back button when you navigate to the 'Engage' page. Edit: And I'm really trying to find a way to confirm or refute the info, but I see no 'yes' or 'no' icons it claims are there.

harold 16y ago

This data is not accurate, at least for me. After calling AT&T and Verizon just now (both listed) they tell me I can't subscribe because they don't offer service here.

pyre 16y ago

At my address it finds me several companies that are only offer business solutions with a choice of T-1/OC48/etc. Not exactly consumer broadband... I like how the redirect to some of the providers' sites is a redirect to http:// http://, even for big names like Comcast. If it does have a site, it's a redirect to e.g. http://http://example.com http://http://example.com

dhyasama 16y ago

I'm in Manhattan (so a rather large city) and use Time Warner which isn't listed for my address. My anecdotal evidence aside, this really cost $200 million? I'm pretty cynical, but there must be more to it.

pitdesi 16y ago

It suggests I get satellite broadband. For my apartment in downtown Chicago. Government!

whatusername 16y ago

Or in Australia (for any Landline phone number): http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/ http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/

cema 16y ago

What, another example of lavishly founded government service? I would understand the value of something like this in a poor or enterprise-unfriendly country. But in the US? If it has been funded with taxpayers' money, I say it's a waste.

shmulkey18 16y ago

We're from the government and we're here to help! No results in Chrome at all for my area, which is served by Comcast. I wonder how much taxpayer money was dumped down this particular rat hole.

ajays 16y ago

For me: Advertised Speeds Above 3 Mbps Data as of: 6/30/10 Comcast Corporation 100 Mbps - 1 Gbps Advertised Speeds Above 768 Kbps and Below 3 Mbps Data as of: 6/30/10 AT&T Inc. 1.5 - 3 Mbps Firstly, I don't think Comcast will give Gbps speeds anytime soon. Secondly: I get close to 6Mbps from ATT. Thirdly: data is from 6/30/10 ? Did somebody like physically walk the data over from SF to DC ?

forcer 16y ago

something similar what my startup does in UK - http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my_area.aspx http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my...