Why is my internet slow?: making network speeds visible

  • Authors:

  • Marshini Chetty;David Haslem;Andrew Baird;Ugochi Ofoha;Bethany Sumner;Rebecca Grinter

  • Affiliations:

  • Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA;Orange Sparkle Ball, Atlanta, Georgia, USA;Amazon.com, Seattle, Washington, USA;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA;Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

With widespread broadband adoption, more households report experiencing sub-optimal speeds. Not only are slow speeds frustrating, they may indicate consumers are not receiving the services they are paying for from their internet service providers. Yet, determining the speed and source of slow-downs is difficult because few tools exist for broadband management. We report on results of a field trial with 10 households using a visual network probe designed to address these problems. We describe the results of the study and provide design implications for future tools. More importantly, we argue that tools like this can educate and empower consumers by making broadband speeds and sources of slow-downs more visible.