Time is of the Essence
FCC testing began in 2020 for major communications providers who received funding under CAF Phase II. Providers who’ve received funding under alternative funding mechanisms are required to begin testing in 2021. While testing and reporting for these funding mechanisms must begin in 2021, the FCC will not be applying penalties for providers who can’t meet the strict speed and latency reporting requirements until 2022.
January 1, 2022 will be here before you know it. The time is now for all who are required to meet FCC test requirements to select an intuitive, easy-to-use solution that is well-integrated with their enterprise system.
Avoiding Pitfalls and Surprises
An infrastructure was developed by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to measure compliance and report performance. There are specific requirements to prove speed and latency compliance, and the intricate nature of these requirements cannot be overlooked. The FCC requirements will test your performance through connections to specified Internet Exchange Points (IXP) during peak usage hours, not just your own access network. Be strategic in your approach to ensure you are prepared and avoid costly surprises. Look for a turnkey solution that includes not only test tools, but the networking infrastructure that guarantees test traffic transits the FCC required IXP for your test locations.
Integration with the Enterprise
When selecting a solution for FCC compliance testing, communications providers should consider a solution that not only offers a standalone test execution tool but also an integrated enterprise software suite that can deliver a solution that integrates across all key platforms.
It’s important that the solution selected seamlessly integrates into the enterprise system, including billing and mapping software for site location identification, and for association of subscriber identity to active sites required for randomized test site location selection. While there are a number of standalone solutions on the market, there are few that combine data from mapping and billing with test execution to reduce the burden of coordinating data flow between the enterprise and test software, reporting and analysis tools.
Standards-Based Reporting with Ease & Accuracy
An efficient reporting and testing solution should leverage network equipment already in place, avoiding the significant costs additional customer premise equipment (CPE) hardware can bring. There are great options for utilizing existing managed internet gateways for the testing when leveraging the Broadband Forum TR-143/TR-069 standards. There are options that support all speed tiers including Gigabit per second over next generation fiber access networks.
Selecting an effective reporting and testing solution is critical to successfully meeting FCC compliance. NISC provides an intuitive, integrated and turnkey solution, allowing your staff to schedule and report effortlessly to ensure your organization meets requirements.
And the time to act is now.
Click here for more information or email uss.sales@nisc.coop to request a demonstration.