FCC Identifies ASSIA's Cloudcheck(R) Mobile Application to Aid in Net Neutrality Enforcement

REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 16, 2015) - Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment, Inc. (ASSIA), a leading broadband solutions company, today announced that the FCC stated that Cloudcheck mobile application may aid in enforcement of the FCC's net neutrality Report and Order. Specifically, the FCC Report and Order states, "...fixed providers...may measure and disclose their broadband offerings using...reliable, relevant data from third party sources. [...] Various software-based broadband performance tests are available as potential tools for end users and companies to estimate actual broadband performance. See e.g.... Assia, Cloudcheck, http://forum.cloudcheck.net."

"Broadband and mobile service providers sit between consumers and the content they want to access," said Dr. John M. Cioffi, Chairman and CEO of ASSIA. "Consumers, ISP's, content/app providers, and the industry as a whole, need an independent, objective way to ascertain that consumers get the Internet service for which they paid. They should be able to identify the location of "bottlenecks" accurately and without bias, regardless of whether the issue exists somewhere in the "Cloud", or within the consumer's home Wi-Fi network. Cloudcheck thereby objectively reduces confusion regarding the source of a problem, protecting the interests of all. We are pleased that the FCC highlighted our tool in this context."

Dr. Cioffi added that most Speed Test applications provide only a single aggregated measurement to a local server node, typically in the service provider's network. However, consumers need to know more about their connection, including which portion of the connection is the slowest, and is therefore causing the bottleneck. Consumers also deserve to know whether or not specific content sites may be being throttled or blocked, he said. Armed with that information, they are in a much stronger position when asking their service provider to fix the problem or complain to the FCC about potential net neutrality violations.

Cloudcheck enhancements to aid in the enforcement of net neutrality
ASSIA 's Cloudcheck application provides consumers, ISPs, and content providers visibility into Internet connectivity performance and when possible offers consumers solutions to improve connectivity performance without service provider intervention, providing better, faster Internet. Cloudcheck's Speed Test function uniquely separates the Wi-Fi speed measurement from the broadband speed measurement, which enables consumers and ISPs to understand the slowest link in a subscribers' connectivity experience.

The latest version of the Cloudcheck Speed Test, currently on the Apple App Store and on Google Play, includes a new content download speed test capability as a part of the Speed Test function that allows the user to input their choice of website/URL to test. While the default URL is www.youtube.com, the user can input any content source after the default test has been performed. This feature allows the user to ascertain real time whether a particular content site is potentially being blocked or throttled, compared to other sites. A tutorial on Cloudcheck is available here. Additionally Cloudcheck can provide insights for ISPs, CDNs and content providers as to site connectivity performance by ISP, region, and so on, providing greater insights into network performance issues.

The recent FCC's Report and Order on net neutrality classifies broadband as a utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, and provides consumers with regulatory framework for an open Internet. In addition, the FCC's rulemaking specifically prohibits any paid prioritization (sometimes referred to as "throttling") or blocking of lawful content and services and is referred to as "bright line rules." The decision, in brief, prevents broadband providers from engaging in pay-for-play deals that would enable faster delivery of content by companies to their consumers. It also extends net neutrality rules to mobile devices and gives the agency new authority over "interconnection" agreements aimed at unclogging network congestion.

Resources

FCC's Report and Order
Information on Cloudcheck: www.cloudcheck.net

About Cloudcheck
Cloudcheck is a product of ASSIA, Inc. (www.assia-inc.com), a strategic and trusted solutions vendor to broadband service providers worldwide. Cloudcheck analyzes connections within consumers' Wi-Fi and broadband service provider network, using techniques the world's largest service providers trust. Cloudcheck's Wi-Fi Speed Test feature also helps locate the fastest and slowest Wi-Fi locations in a room to achieve optimal performance. For more information, go to www.Cloudcheck.net.

About ASSIA, Inc.
ASSIA, Inc. is a strategic and trusted solutions vendor to broadband service providers and consumers worldwide. ASSIA solutions enable providers to grow revenues, increase customer satisfaction, improve operational efficiencies, and deliver new multimedia content to the broadband-enabled home. ASSIA has more than 70 million broadband lines under contract with top-tier service providers worldwide and is backed by a broad portfolio of strategic investors. For more information, visit www.assia-inc.com.

"ASSIA" is an acronym for "Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment."