Developers from social network Facebook and telecoms firm Ericsson are going to let other developers test their apps in a simulated poor broadband scenario, they revealed in an internet.org presentation in San Francisco, California, last night.
The Facebook and Ericsson developers delivered their presentation at Facebook’s F8 developers conference.
As part of Facebook’s internet.org, Connectivity Lab has a target of bringing the internet to the entire world. The project’s developers will be giving any developer looking to work with Connectivity Lab the ability to recreate a scenario where their apps or technology can only access a broadband speed of a maximum of 2.5G, a speed quite common in the developing world.
As part of this simulation, developers will be able to load their software onto a pre-existing phone using an Ericsson-powered Innovation Lab SIM card. This card will allow the developers to stress test their app’s design in a number of different scenarios, such as in countries where high-speed broadband is difficult to obtain, and where data transfers and upload/download speeds have non-consistent streams.
The internet.org project is already under way. Facebook and the six telecoms companies it is working with have acquired the technology to eventually release thousands of small drone aircraft that will have the capability of transmitting a broadband signal to the surface below.