I was looking for news and this looked interesting.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/06/samknows_broadband_performance/ISP watchers have launched a bid to get to the bottom of what's going on with UK broadband by recruiting people to install specially-adapted network gear on their line, to collect reams of independent performance data.
The initiative to improve the transparency of ISP packages is being led by Samknows.com. The site is aiming to attract 200 volunteers who'll be sent a free tweaked Linksys router that will measure and report download speeds for HTTP and non-HTTP traffic, latency, packet loss, DNS response, and website loading times.
It comes as consumer anger against ISPs over tricksy marketing campaigns, opaque traffic management policies and low investment in infrastrucure continues to ferment.
Lets hope this test is successful and some bad habits are revealed in ISP activity, of course if many where more open in what their policies entailed then such research would no longer need to be undertaken.