Paris, 13 May 2015
Background
Today, ARCEP is publishing its second quality of service scoreboard for fixed internet access in Metropolitan France, pertaining to the second half of 2014. Still in the trial phase, this new observatory comes to complete the ones the Authority already publishes on a regular basis: on the quality of fixed network access and wireline calling on the one hand and, on the other, on mobile service quality and coverage.
ARCEP introduced this new observatory in January 2013 through Decision No. 2013-0004, with a view to improving the information available to internet users and to provide the Authority with the means to satisfy the responsibilities assigned to it by Law, i.e. to supervise the overall quality of internet access services. These measures concern the five biggest internet service providers (ISP) and the three main fixed internet access technologies used in the retail market in Metropolitan France: xDSL (1) (ADSL2+ and VDSL2), optical fibre with coaxial cable in the last metres (HFC and FttLA) and fibre to the home (FttH).
Given the limited hindsight, however, and the inherent risks of error when any such system is launched, ARCEP asks readers to apply caution when interpreting the data contained in this summary report. Any dissemination, reuse of or reference to this data must be accompanied by the disclaimers on the methodology mentioned in this report.
ARCEP is beginning a period of assessment and enhancement of both the measurement tool and the publication format. This could involve a review of the terms and methods of utilising crowdsourced data (i.e. obtained directly from end users) on the quality of their individual connection.
Measurement tool
The measurement tool is based on dedicated test lines, inside a technically-controlled environment whose conditions make it possible to achieve a high degree of comparison between operators, and a broad representation of the various network access conditions that users encounter.
A technical committee, managed by ARCEP and composed of the affected ISPs, consumer associations and independent technical experts, drafted the technical specifications for the measurement protocol. The committee continues to meet on a regular basis to improve and enhance the system.
There are four technical indicators and three indicators relating to specific types of usage, or seven performance indicators in all.
As with the first publication, only the usage indicators are published in detail. Work on the methodology used to measure the technical indicators continued on throughout this second round of tests, with a view to stabilising the protocol during the measurement period. Aggregated results for all ISPs combined are nevertheless being provided as a yardstick. They make it possible to illustrate the performance gaps between the different types of access.
Main findings
This press release provides the aggregate results for four of the six indicators published for the second half of 2014. All of other findings – concerning far-off facilities for the two remaining indicators – are contained in the report and provided separately in a reusable format. The report also contains notes on the methodology used, and explanations to facilitate interpretation of the results.
The report and the associated data are available for download on the ARCEP website and on data.gouv.fr.
Each of the following graphs represents average performance levels for each type of access, for all of the lines tested.
Web browsing – heavy traffic periods
Download speed – heavy traffic periods, nearby facilities
Upload speed – heavy traffic periods, nearby facilities
_______________________(1) " Digital Subscriber Line ".(2) Measurements for the “packet loss” indicator were significantly diminished by a malfunction of the system during the first round of testing. ARCEP thus decided not to publish this indicator in this report.
Linked documents
The report (pdf - 2.24MB) (pdf - in French) 
The associated data (zip - 161KB) (zip)