Measurement Lab publishes the Internet Quality Barometer Framework

Measurement Lab is happy to announce the publication of the Internet Quality Barometer Framework! The Internet Quality Barometer (IQB) is an initiative funded by the Internet Society Foundation’s Research Grant program motivated by the need to redefine how we measure and understand Internet performance to keep pace with evolving technological demands and user expectations.

For decades, policymakers, advocates, Internet researchers, Internet service providers and more have relied on speed test data to tell us if our Internet connections are performing well. But as the Internet has evolved so have its use cases and “high-speed” alone is no longer representative of “high-quality” Internet.

IQB is a comprehensive framework for collecting data and calculating a composite score, the “IQB Score”, which reflects the quality of Internet experience. IQB takes a more holistic approach than “speed tests” and evaluates Internet performance across various use cases (web browsing, video streaming, online gaming, etc.), each with its own specific network requirements (latency, throughput, etc.).

Plenty of Internet quality data, tools, and methodologies exist, but it is unclear how to effectively integrate them with one another.

IQB’s primary goal is to fill that gap and build consensus for a more nuanced definition of Internet quality. By moving beyond a narrow focus on speed, IQB seeks to provide stakeholders with actionable insights that support smarter policies and a more equitable Internet.

To create the IQB framework, M-Lab engaged with more than 60 experts across various fields, including academic network research, public policy, digital inclusion advocacy, Internet service provision, speed test data analysis, content provision, and other related domains from November 2023 to March 2025.

This is the first phase of the project and we’ll continue iterating on. In future phases, we aim to build an accessible tool for putting the framework to use. The first public report introduces the IQB framework that will be the basis for an IQB tool that will provide stakeholders with actionable insights to support smarter policies and a more equitable Internet.

For more details about the IQB Framework, read the report or the executive summary!