What Information We Collect
The information we collect about your broadband performance is anonymous. No unique or persistent identifier is associated with any data we collect from you.
We collect five kinds of information to measure the performance of your mobile broadband service.
This data is stored on your phone in the Application's sandbox (a protected private area for the Application) for you to review, and periodically uploaded to our servers. Older data is also periodically deleted from your phone. You can find more detail in the FCC’s technical summary of this program.
Third Party Data Sharing
The data we collect is helpful for consumers, the FCC, and others interested in understanding mobile broadband in the United States.
We share your mobile broadband performance information in four ways.
Internally
We may share your mobile broadband performance information within the FCC to write our Measuring Broadband America Report on Mobile Performance and to support our development of broadband policy.
Third-Party Partners Who Help Us Run Our Test and Support Our Program
We share your mobile broadband performance information with our contractor who manages the measurement program, with partners who support the program and architecture, and with partners supporting our analysis or contributing peer reviews.
Data Available to the Public
We will publish aggregated averages and minimally necessary datasets that support our review of the statistics that we determine pose very low risks to your privacy, including:
Aggregated Data
We plan to publish averages and other aggregated statistics that describe important features of mobile broadband performance. These highly aggregated statistics pose very low risks to your privacy.
Processed Coarsened Raw Data
We plan to publish only the anonymous data in a processed and coarsened form that supports the averages and other statistics that we publish in our reports. Prior to release of this data, the FCC and researchers skilled in the field of statistics and computer science will identify patterns in the raw data that could be exploited to compromise your privacy. If we find concerns, we will take steps to address the risks by making the time, location or other information less specific, limiting the combinations of information we release, or deleting information.
Pursuant to legitimate requests by law enforcement or where otherwise required by law or regulation
We may share mobile broadband performance data collected by this Application subject to legitimate requests by law enforcement or where otherwise required by law or regulation.
Data Consumption
By default the Application is configured to use no more than 100 megabytes (MB) of data each month for automated testing. Any additional tests you initiate will also consume between 100 kilobytes (kB) for the smallest packet loss test and 40 MB for a complete suite of tests. At any time you can change the amount of data the Application uses by increasing or reducing the “mobile data cap” in the settings menu. You should ensure that your monthly broadband usage, including the data used by the Application and Service during the Program, does not exceed the data allowance included in your mobile broadband package. Your carrier may charge you for any data used in excess of your package’s data allowance.
Stopping Your Participation
If at any time you want to stop participating in this program, simply delete the Application and the accompanying data, and the Application will not collect further data. Any data collected prior to the deletion of the Application will remain in the data sets subject to the above terms and protections
Other terms of use of the Application
About the FCC and Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Notice. This Collection Authorized By OMB Control No. 3060-1139 (Expires 2/28/2014).