Comments about Network Information API

Hi Working Group,
 
I'm not able to attend the F2F this week in China but I wanted to provide some feedback which can hopefully be addressed during the discussions there. 
 
I have a few concerns with regards to the new draft of the Network Information API [1]. I found the previous one [2] closer to the Native implementations, specifically Android. I understand the reasons for the new proposal [3] but I think other issues arise with it.
 
The new changes in the Connection Interface require a measure of the currently available bandwidth in terms of MB/s, which can vary very very quickly (for example  as ones moves from outdoors to indoors with a mobile device: e.g. dropping from HSPA+ to GPRS). Since it can change so quickly, the bandwidth should be tested frequently enough in order to trigger the 'change' event whenever a significant change occurs. But testing for bandwidth requires to do some sort of "download" trying to get the "full bandwidth" during the test and that might generate a lot of traffic. As a user who pays for data I'm not sure I would be happy knowing that the browser is downloading data in the background just to constantly test for bandwidth. This also has the potential for draining battery, which is already a problem with many devices like Smartphones. 
 
Also, how would the bandwidth measure be implemented for Android or iOS for example? If the bandwidth is unknown or cannot be measured 'infinity' should be returned but this is, from where I see it, much less useful than having at least the Connection type. The same goes for the 'metered' attribute [4], there is no Native implementation either (for example none in Android).
 
 
[1] http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/dap/raw-file/84a2fb7b753b/network-api/index.html <http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/dap/raw-file/84a2fb7b753b/network-api/index.html> 
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/netinfo-api/ <http://www.w3.org/TR/netinfo-api/> 
[3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-device-status/2011Dec/0021.html <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-device-status/2011Dec/0021.html> 
[4] http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/dap/raw-file/84a2fb7b753b/network-api/index.html#widl-Connection-metered <http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/dap/raw-file/84a2fb7b753b/network-api/index.html#widl-Connection-metered> 
 
Best regards,
 


Diana Cheng
Web & Social Media Expert
Internet Standards, Group R&D
Vodafone Group Services GmbH
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