DSLReports

DSLReports is a North American-oriented broadband information and review site based in New York City.[6] 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).[7][8]

DSLReports
Screenshot of DSLReports as of December 22, 2015.
Type of site
Consumer advocacy
Available inEnglish
Created byJustin Beech[1]
EditorKarl Bode (2001-2018)[2][3][4]
URLwww.dslreports.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Users1.8 million
LaunchedMay 28, 1999 (1999-05-28)[5]
Current statusOnline

DSLReports was created by Justin Beech in June 1999.[9] 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.[10][11]

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.[12][13] Once the intrusion was detected, stopped and the extent of the compromised accounts had been assessed, passwords for those accounts were automatically reset.[14]

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.[15]

Reviews

DSLReports allows its users to submit reviews of their Internet service provider (ISP), Web hosting service, digital phone service (VOIP), and more.[16] Users may also read reviews written by others.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] However, since July 2, 2018, the site has not published new articles, as its main editor, Karl Bode, was laid off due to funding.[21][22] However, compilations of links to articles on other sites are published every weekday.

Tools

DSLReports is reported to have the most comprehensive package of internet and connection testing tools available.[23]

Speed tests

The DSLReports speed test claims to be the best speed test and the first popular speed test.[24] The speed test uses HTML5.

Ping tests

DSLReports does have a ping and jitter test.[25]

Other tests and tools

Other tools include stream tests, line monitoring, tweak testing, packet loss testing, and many other tools.[26][27][28] 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.[29] 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.[30] 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. There are also well hidden private invitation and very controversial forums such as the "meatlocker" which can be seen by adding the /forums/meatlocker suffix to he website address. It is said this private area is for nude and pornographic material submitted by the moderators and special guests.

Robb Topolski, a software tester whose findings and subsequent political activities have contributed to the movement for net neutrality has contributed to the site.[31]

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.[32][33][34][35][36][37][38]

The site has been described by The Washington Post as a "comprehensive reference" for internet services.[39] Discussion topics on the DSLReports frequently generate thousands of comments.[40] 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.[41]

CNN has rated DSLReports as one of the best free online services.[42]

References
  1. Edward C. Baig (November 12, 2001). "Which broadband flavor suits you?". USA Today. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  2. David Lazarus (April 15, 2009). "Tiered pricing seems like a plan to Net extra cash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  3. EST, justinMonday Jul 02 2018 21:50. "Karl Bode - home page news from the beginning | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  4. Bode, Karl. "Laid Off". Twitter. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  5. "DSLReports.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  6. Andrew Backover (November 8, 2001). "Service gripes can be tough to untangle". USA Today. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  7. Kim Komando (March 11, 2002). "A guide to Mother's Day on the Web". USA Today. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  8. MATT RICHTEL and KEN BELSON (November 18, 2006). "Not Always Full Speed Ahead". The New York Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  9. Brian Livingston (February 19, 2002). "A one-man e-commerce site that pays off well". InfoWorld. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  10. Timothy Karr (December 15, 2008). "WSJ Gets It Wrong: Net Neutrality Still in the Front Seat". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  11. "Top 100 Classics". PC Magazine. April 20, 2004. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  12. "DSLReports says member information stolen". Cnet News. April 28, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  13. "DSLReports.com breach exposed more than 100,000 accounts". The Tech Herald. April 29, 2011. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  14. Zeljka Zorz (April 9, 2011). "DSL Reports intrusion compromises over 9000 accounts". Helpnet Security. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  15. J. D. BIERSDORFER (February 1, 2007). "Staying Updated On Security". The New York Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  16. https://www.dslreports.com/reviews/
  17. Patrick Marhsall (September 1, 2001). "DSL could solve your domain name woes". Seattle Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  18. Yinka Adegoke (January 17, 2008). "RPT-Time Warner to test Internet billing based on usage". Reuters. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  19. Saul Hansell (May 14, 2008). "Charter Will Monitor Customers' Web Surfing to Target Ads". The New York Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  20. Brian Krebbs (December 5, 2008). "Security Fix Live". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  21. EST, justinMonday Jul 02 2018 21:50. "Karl Bode - home page news from the beginning | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
  22. Bode, Karl. "Laid Off". Twitter. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  23. Steve Bass (August 30, 2006). "Tools for Geeks". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  24. "Speed test - how fast is your internet? | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  25. "Ping test - how good is your internet? | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  26. "Speed tests, ping tests and bandwidth tools | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  27. AZADEH ENSHA (August 20, 2008). "How to Travel at a Million Files a Minute". The New York Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  28. Lee Hudspeth. "DSL: Improve Your Speed, Part 3 - The Naked PC Newsletter (#3.08)". TNPC News. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  29. "ISP discussion forums | DSLReports, ISP Information". DSL Reports. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  30. https://www.dslreports.com/who/
  31. Daniel Roth. "The Dark Lord of Broadband Tries to Fix Comcast's Image". Wired. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  32. Steve Bass (October 19, 1999). "Opinion: Move over, cable -- DSL has arrived". CNN.com. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  33. Robin Raskin (February 6, 2002). "How to move to high-speed Net access". USA Today. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  34. Stephen P. Pizzo (September 10, 2001). "Why Is Broadband So Narrow?". Forbes. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  35. Bob Sullivan (March 10, 2005). "Feds probe mysterious credit card charges". NBC News. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  36. Brian Krebs (April 16, 2005). "Comcast Net Outages Tied To Upgrades". Washington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  37. J. D. BIERSDORFER (March 8, 2007). "Updating Devices for Daylight Saving". The New York Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  38. John Timmer (December 2, 2008). "Sorry, Beaumont! AT&T brings (more) bandwidth caps to Texas". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  39. Gabe Goldberg (December 13, 2008). "Nice View, but How's the WiFi?". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  40. Bootie Cosgrove-Mather (January 30, 2004). "Comcast Limits Broadband Usage". CBS News. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  41. Matthew Fordahl (January 29, 2004). "Comcast targets Internet 'abusers' but won't reveal limits". Associated Press. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  42. Kim Zetter (February 14, 2002). "Best free stuff online: Hall of fame". CNN. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
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