The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has released a new smartphone app called MySpeed to help users keep a tab on their mobile data speed. But the even bigger mission of the app is the ability to log and report connectivity issues, irrespective of the mobile or broadband service provider, directly to the regulator. This comes after there were a lot of complaints that there is a discrepancy between the speeds the operators claim and charge for, and the actual speeds that users get in real world usage.

This is the first app under the Digital India initiative, which is directly trying to tackle the issue of poor data speeds.

What makes MySpeed relevant despite the availability of other similar apps is that it allows users to immediately report poor services to the regulator, instead of wasting time on calls with the operator, often with no solution.

How does it work?

The MySpeed app is a free to download, and is currently available only for Android smartphones. It takes up 23MB after it is installed on the phone. The interface is clutter-free and easy to follow. There are four categories. First is the test itself, where you can check the Internet speed of a mobile 3G/4G connection or the home broadband’s Wi-Fi speed. The second category is a history page where all your test records are stacked for you to see how your Internet speed has been over a period of time along with your location on the map. The map part will provide an idea about the area where the data speed was poor. The third one is a break-up of all the historical data, with info such as the exact location of a previous test, date, download speed, upload speed, delay in network and network reliability.

This page also carries the “send to TRAI" button, which automatically sends the whole report to the regulator.

How does it compares with others?

In terms of graphics, MySpeed looks pretty basic in comparison to the most popular speed testing app Speedtest. However, Speedtest doesn’t really focus on the location where the test was carried out. During multiple speed tests, we found that the MySpeed and Speedtest show up almost similar speed results, which should put regular Speedtest app users at ease if they are contemplating switching.

What gives MySpeed an edge is the option which allows users to report poor mobile network to Trai, which will eventually help the regulator assess the service quality of an operator.

At present, the MySpeed app is free to download and use, and does not show any in-app advertisements as well. This is a nice change from the Speedtest app, which shows banner adverts within the app at multiple points, unless you buy the premium app version.

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