DSLReports

DSLReports
Type of site
 Consumer advocacy
Available in English
Created by Justin Beech[1]
Editor Karl Bode (Retired as editor)[2]
Website www.dslreports.com
Alexa rank Negative increase 10,093 (February 2018)[3]
Commercial Yes
Registration Optional
Users 1.8 million
Launched May 28, 1999 (1999-05-28)[4]
Current status Online

DSLReports is a North American-oriented broadband information and review site based in New York City.[5] The site's main focus is on internet, phone, cable TV, fiber optics, and wireless services in the United States and Canada, as well as other countries (United Kingdom and Australia).[6][7]

DSLReports was created by Justin Beech in June 1999.[8] According to Alexa's page ranking system and the WHOIS, dslreports.com's domain URL was registered on May 28, 1999.

History

"Broadband Reports"

In the 2000s, DSLReports was concurrently branded as "BroadbandReports.com," a domain that now redirects to dslreports.com.[9][10]

2011 SQL Injection attack

Over a four-hour period on April 27, 2011 an automated SQL Injection attack occurred on the DSLReports website. The attack was able to extract 8% of the site's username/password pairs, which amounted to approximately 8,000 of the 9,000 active accounts and 90,000 old or inactive accounts created during the site's 10-year history.[11][12] Once the intrusion was detected, stopped and the extent of the compromised accounts had been assessed, passwords for those accounts were automatically reset.[13]

Content

DSLReports rates and reviews cable, DSL and fiber optic internet services from providers all over North America. The site also runs support and discussion forums and offers online tools for testing internet connection.[14]

Reviews

DSLReports allows its users to submit reviews of their Internet service provider (ISP), Web hosting service, digital phone service (VOIP), and more.[15] Users may also read reviews written by others.[16] Many large ISPs have over a thousand reviews on the site. Reviews may be filtered for the user's location and/or connectivity preference.

News

The site is a source of internet related news and opinion, and occasionally breaks stories about broadband internet service providers, such as Time Warner Cable's 2008 decision to test consumption-based billing with subscribers.[17] That same year, when Charter Communications began sending letters to high-speed internet customers regarding a new website tracking policy, reports of the letters first appeared on DSLReports.[18] DSLReport's editors post Internet-related news and opinion items on the site's front page throughout the day. Common topics of news items and features include wireless technologies, peer-to-peer file sharing, upgrades and new offerings from ISPs, legal issues, regulatory issues, and security issues.[19]

Tools

DSLReports is reported to have the most comprehensive package of internet and connection testing tools available.[20]

Speed tests

The DSLReports speed test claims to be the best speed test and the first popular speed test.[21] The speed test uses HTML5.

Ping tests

DSLReports does have a ping and jitter test.[22]

Other tests and tools

Other tools include stream tests, line monitoring, tweak testing, packet loss testing, and many other tools.[23][24][25] Some of these services are provided free of charge, but others require the user to purchase "tool points", which are approximately $1.

Community

DSLReports operates over 200 forums, many of which focus on Internet and computer-related topics.[26] Other forums are dedicated to general conversation, political discussions, do-it-yourself projects or regional discussions. There are over a 1.8 million total registered users on the DSLReports forums.[27] A discussion forum is automatically created for every news and opinion article posted on the front page, which allows members to discuss the article in question. Although membership is free, the forum community allows for anonymous posting so the information or source in [anonymous] posts may be questionable as compared to posts made by actual frequent members of the site.

Robb Topolski, a software tester whose findings and subsequent political activities have contributed to the movement for net neutrality has contributed to the site.[28]

Influence

DSLReports has been written about or had their reports featured in CNN, USA Today, Forbes, NBC News, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Ars Technica, among others.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35]

The site has been described by The Washington Post as a "comprehensive reference" for internet services.[36] Discussion topics on the DSLReports frequently generate thousands of comments.[37] The Associated Press reported that over 5,000 messages were posted to forum discussing a potential data cap imposed upon Comcast Corp. customers in 2003.[38]

CNN has rated DSLReports as one of the best free online services.[39]

References

  1. ↑ Edward C. Baig (12 November 2001). "Which broadband flavor suits you?". USA Today. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  2. ↑ David Lazarus (15 April 2009). "Tiered pricing seems like a plan to Net extra cash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  3. ↑ "Dslreports.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
  4. ↑ "DSLReports.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
  5. ↑ Andrew Backover (8 November 2001). "Service gripes can be tough to untangle". USA Today. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  6. ↑ Kim Komando (11 March 2002). "A guide to Mother's Day on the Web". USA Today. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  7. ↑ MATT RICHTEL and KEN BELSON (18 November 2006). "Not Always Full Speed Ahead". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  8. ↑ Brian Livingston (19 February 2002). "A one-man e-commerce site that pays off well". InfoWorld. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  9. ↑ Timothy Karr (15 December 2008). "WSJ Gets It Wrong: Net Neutrality Still in the Front Seat". Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  10. ↑ "Top 100 Classics". PC Magazine. 20 April 2004. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  11. ↑ "DSLReports says member information stolen". Cnet News. 2011-04-28. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  12. ↑ "DSLReports.com breach exposed more than 100,000 accounts". The Tech Herald. 2011-04-29. Archived from the original on 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  13. ↑ Zeljka Zorz (9 April 2011). "DSL Reports intrusion compromises over 9000 accounts". Helpnet Security. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  14. ↑ J. D. BIERSDORFER (1 February 2007). "Staying Updated On Security". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  15. ↑ https://www.dslreports.com/reviews/
  16. ↑ Patrick Marhsall (1 September 2001). "DSL could solve your domain name woes". Seattle Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  17. ↑ Yinka Adegoke (17 January 2008). "RPT-Time Warner to test Internet billing based on usage". Reuters. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  18. ↑ Saul Hansell (14 May 2008). "Charter Will Monitor Customers' Web Surfing to Target Ads". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  19. ↑ Brian Krebbs (5 December 2008). "Security Fix Live". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  20. ↑ Steve Bass (30 August 2006). "Tools for Geeks". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  21. ↑ "Speed test - how fast is your internet? | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  22. ↑ "Ping test - how good is your internet? | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  23. ↑ "Speed tests, ping tests and bandwidth tools | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  24. ↑ AZADEH ENSHA (20 August 2008). "How to Travel at a Million Files a Minute". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  25. ↑ Lee Hudspeth. "DSL: Improve Your Speed, Part 3 - The Naked PC Newsletter (#3.08)". TNPC News. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  26. ↑ "ISP discussion forums | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  27. ↑ https://www.dslreports.com/who/
  28. ↑ Daniel Roth. "The Dark Lord of Broadband Tries to Fix Comcast's Image". Wired. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  29. ↑ Steve Bass (19 October 1999). "Opinion: Move over, cable -- DSL has arrived". CNN.com. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  30. ↑ Robin Raskin (6 February 2002). "How to move to high-speed Net access". USA Today. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  31. ↑ Stephen P. Pizzo (10 September 2001). "Why Is Broadband So Narrow?". Forbes. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  32. ↑ Bob Sullivan (10 March 2005). "Feds probe mysterious credit card charges". NBC News. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  33. ↑ Brian Krebs (16 April 2005). "Comcast Net Outages Tied To Upgrades". Washington Post'. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  34. ↑ J. D. BIERSDORFER (8 March 2007). "Updating Devices for Daylight Saving". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  35. ↑ John Timmer (2 December 2008). "Sorry, Beaumont! AT&T brings (more) bandwidth caps to Texas". Ars Technica. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  36. ↑ Gabe Goldberg (13 December 2008). "Nice View, but How's the WiFi?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  37. ↑ Bootie Cosgrove-Mather (30 January 2004). "Comcast Limits Broadband Usage". CBS News. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  38. ↑ Matthew Fordahl (29 January 2004). "Comcast targets Internet `abusers' but won't reveal limits". Associated Press. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  39. ↑ Kim Zetter (14 February 2002). "Best free stuff online: Hall of fame". CNN. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
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