We protect your subscribers and your business.
NetForecast independently audits the accuracy of ISP data usage meters to ensure subscribers are billed fairly and to enable an ISP to correct system inaccuracies that could harm its reputation.
Accurate, Unbiased and Reliable: NERA report on NetForecast’s audit technology and process.
We are the only company providing end-to-end meter accuracy validation of actual user traffic from subscribers’ homes to ISPs' billing systems. This assures that our audits track real-world conditions.
Learn More About What We DoEvery ISP NetForecast has audited experienced major meter accuracy problems, and new issues appear constantly.
NetForecast provides the vigilance needed to make a data usage meter accurate. Data usage meters are complex, ever-changing systems incorporating components from many vendors. Even if meters are accurate at some point, factors such as software upgrades, server stress, and network changes degrade accuracy over time. For a decade, we have audited ISPs that connect more than 70% of US wireline Internet customers. To date, we have audited the accuracy of 12 ISP data usage meter systems in the US and Canada.
In 10 years we have yet to find a meter system that met accuracy specifications on the first try.
Why Data Usage Meter Accuracy Matters
To ensure business wellbeing, data usage measurement system accuracy should matter to ISP executives, business managers, and network engineers—and of course, to end users.
Executives
You are the guardian of your company’s reputation, and few things anger subscribers more than believing they are being overcharged. Our audits in 2016 found meters were inaccurate 13 percent of the time—mostly due to server problems and human error. Meter issues can lead to legal and public relations headaches and ultimately to government regulation.
NetForecast’s monthly audit reports let you know if data usage meter errors are causing overcharging, and they empower you to correct the problem before complaints spread via social media. NetForecast’s reports provide an end-to-end assessment of meter accuracy to help detect and correct meter inaccuracies as soon as feasible. Moreover, our yearly public reports show you care enough about fairness to have a third party audit the accuracy of your data usage meter.
Our audits in 2016 found meters were inaccurate 13% of the time
Business Managers
If you are responsible for business aspects of usage-based billing, you will be in the hot seat if subscribers discover they are being billed for more data than they used, or if executives learn that subscribers are not being billed for data they did use.
NetForecast’s independent monthly audit reports give you a timely heads up when errors occur so you can focus on problems before they multiply and affect customer relations or the bottom line.
". . . NetForecast certifies our IP Detail Record (IPDR) system is accurately collecting, measuring and reporting data usage. Data counting accuracy is important to Cable ONE and our customers, and we will continue to ensure that we meet or exceed our accuracy measurement benchmarks."
Engineers
As the network engineer responsible for keeping the usage meter running, you want to find and fix problems as quickly as possible. When you learn, as we have, that meters tend to be inaccurate most of the time, you will appreciate an auditing system that can pinpoint the times, locations, and conditions that may have contributed to over- or under-reporting.
NetForecast’s end-to-end assessment gives you insight into the causes of inaccurate meter readings, such as system upgrades and software changes, overloaded servers, and downstream packet losses that cause overcounting due to retransmissions.
Day
ISP Counter
(Mbytes)NetForecast Counter
(Mbytes)ISP Counter vs. NetForecast Counter
Monday
3,559
3,589
Under
Tuesday
1,572
1,564
Over
Wednesday
2,391
2,413
Under
Thursday
3,991
4,019
Under
Friday
9,863
9,924
Under
Saturday
13,969
13,783
Over
Sunday
5,141
5,279
Under
Accuracy is determined by continuously comparing our usage counter at the subscriber's location with the ISP's counter in its network.
Users
No matter what you are buying, you want to know that you are being fairly charged. But when you purchase Internet access that is subject to usage-based billing, how do you know that you are being billed for what you actually used? Without NetForecast’s independent data usage meter audit services, you can have no assurance that you are being fairly billed. And our decade of experience has shown that meter accuracy cannot be taken for granted.
Without independent verification, an ISP cannot know for certain that their meter is accurate. And if they don’t know, how can you?
“NetForecast found that our current technology accurately reports usage within plus or minus 1% of actual usage. In the interest of fairness, we doubled that margin of accuracy for the purposes of this program, which means we do not consider an individual account as over its data plan until the measured usage is more than 2% over.”