Broadbandreports
Encyclopedia
Broadband Reports, located at the web URL www.dslreports.com (mirrored at www.broadbandreports.com), is a North American-oriented information and review site based in New York City
. The site's main focus is on high speed Internet
services in the United States and Canada, such as DSL
, cable Internet
, and fiber optics
. As of September 8, 2011, dslreports.com is the first result which shows up on Google
when searching for the term "broadband". Although the site is still called Broadband Reports, it is located at dslreports.com due to issues with Google's PageRank.
Broadband Reports was created by Justin Beech in June 1999. According to Alexa's pageranking system, dslreports.com went online on May 28, 1999. As of March 2006, Alexa showed that it was within the top one thousand most visited websites on the Internet. See the Alexa
article for information regarding possible inaccuracy in these figures.
Over a period of 4 hours on Wednesday April 27, 2011 an automated SQL Injection
attack occurred on Broadband Reports website that was able to extract 8% of the username/password pairs: 8,000 random accounts of the 9,000 active and 90,000 old or inactive accounts.
(ISP), Web hosting service, and digital phone service. Users may also read reviews written by others. Many large ISPs have over a thousand reviews on the site. Reviews may be filtered for the user's location and/or connectivity preference.
The site is also a source of HSI (high speed Internet
) related news sometimes being the first to report a story about a broadband Internet service provider. BBR's editors post HSI-related news items on the site's front page throughout the day. Common topics of news items and features include wireless
technologies, peer-to-peer
filesharing, upgrades and new offerings from high speed ISPs, legal/regulatory issues, and security issues.
Other site services include speed tests, line monitoring (more accurately, IPv4 address monitoring), tweak testing, and packet loss testing. Some of these services are provided free of charge, but others require the user to purchase "tool points".
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The site's main focus is on high speed Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
services in the United States and Canada, such as DSL
Digital Subscriber Line
Digital subscriber line is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line ,...
, cable Internet
Cable internet
In telecommunications, cable Internet access, often shortened to cable Internet or simply cable, is a form of broadband Internet access that uses the cable television infrastructure. Like digital subscriber line and fiber to the premises services, cable Internet access provides network edge...
, and fiber optics
Fiber-optic communication
Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information...
. As of September 8, 2011, dslreports.com is the first result which shows up on Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
when searching for the term "broadband". Although the site is still called Broadband Reports, it is located at dslreports.com due to issues with Google's PageRank.
Broadband Reports was created by Justin Beech in June 1999. According to Alexa's pageranking system, dslreports.com went online on May 28, 1999. As of March 2006, Alexa showed that it was within the top one thousand most visited websites on the Internet. See the Alexa
Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
article for information regarding possible inaccuracy in these figures.
Over a period of 4 hours on Wednesday April 27, 2011 an automated SQL Injection
SQL injection
A SQL injection is often used to attack the security of a website by inputting SQL statements in a web form to get a badly designed website in order to dump the database content to the attacker. SQL injection is a code injection technique that exploits a security vulnerability in a website's software...
attack occurred on Broadband Reports website that was able to extract 8% of the username/password pairs: 8,000 random accounts of the 9,000 active and 90,000 old or inactive accounts.
Site features
Broadband Reports allows its users to submit reviews of their Internet service providerInternet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
(ISP), Web hosting service, and digital phone service. Users may also read reviews written by others. Many large ISPs have over a thousand reviews on the site. Reviews may be filtered for the user's location and/or connectivity preference.
The site is also a source of HSI (high speed Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
) related news sometimes being the first to report a story about a broadband Internet service provider. BBR's editors post HSI-related news items on the site's front page throughout the day. Common topics of news items and features include wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
technologies, peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
filesharing, upgrades and new offerings from high speed ISPs, legal/regulatory issues, and security issues.
Other site services include speed tests, line monitoring (more accurately, IPv4 address monitoring), tweak testing, and packet loss testing. Some of these services are provided free of charge, but others require the user to purchase "tool points".