The Communications Workers of America are measuring upload and download speeds on their Speed Matters blog, created to argue for a national broadband policy. The speed tests appear to show that service is lacking in some areas of the U.S.

The site breaks down the data state by state.

Since the U.S. is falling behind, the CWA, which has an obvious interest in more broadband, has listed four principles for a national broadband strategy: universal service, higher speeds, free speech with network management, and the reporting of deployment, actual speed, and actual price.

This project appears to compete with the broadband census that I wrote about in April. The broadband census is not as slick. At the moment, I cannot view its data. But it does have a great news feed.

The FCC remains hypocritical on this issue. The Broadband Census page points out that "According to its semi-annual report released in March 2008, the Federal Communications Commission states that there are no ZIPcodes in Alaska that are without a broadband provider, as of June 30, 2007, yet the map provided by the FCC portrays large swaths of parts of Alaska as 'zero delivery areas.'"

A lot pf people are arguing for a national broadband policy, and some are arguing against it. We'll present both arguments at ISPCON in a session pitting Bruce Mehlman against Dewayne Hendricks, with Kris Twomey as moderator.