The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is surveying the consumer broadband experience, has sought the help of 10,000 volunteers - under its first Consumer Task Force initiative - for measuring the speed of their broadband Internet service.

The volunteers, whose broadband experience will form a part of a countrywide, scientific study of the performance of major providers, will need to install specialized hardware in their homes, so as to help FCC gauge the performance of all leading broadband service providers in the country.

Noting that the volunteers can register at www. testmyisp. com for the initiative, the FCC has revealed that it intends using the survey findings to compile its later this year report, titled “State of Broadband.”

Talking about the initiative, the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said: “Speed matters. The more broadband subscribers know about what speeds they need and what speeds they get, the more they can make the market work and push faster speeds over broadband networks.”

Genachowski remarks come in response to the results of the survey – conducted in April and May - of 3,005 adults; which found that nearly 8- percent of the survey respondents were unaware of the advertised speed of their broadband connections. While 67 percent of the respondents said they thought they always should get the promised speeds; 24 percent believed they always got the advertised speed.