FCC: US Broadband Doesn’t Suck If You Squint Just Right
March 20th, 2008
This via Dave Farber’s IP list. If I tell you that the big news that that the FCC has finally decided to increase the definition of “broadband” from 200Kbps (in one direction) all the way up to 768Kbps, and that “availability” will no longer be determined at the ZIP code level, does that give you a sense of the bizarro broadband fantasy land we’re still living in here in the US?
There’s a link to the actual report (PDF) at the bottom, if you want some more depressing reading.
[Note: This item comes from friend Ken DiPietro. DLH] From: kenDate: March 20, 2008 3:49:54 AM PDT To: Dewayne Hendricks Subject: The FCC has released their High-Speed Internet Status report. Included in this report is some pretty interesting facts, for those of us that follow this kind of stuff. There are now over 100,000,000 high speed connections (as defined by exceeding 200Kbps in one direction) in service in the United States. A little over 60,000,000 are connected to residential dwellings. Of those connections only 5.6% have a greater throughput than 25Mbps. The total number of connections that have speeds in excess of 100Mbps (in one direction) is a staggering 21,708 as opposed to Japan which has already achieved close to 100% deployment of 100Mbps. Over 95% of all lines are serviced by the duopoly. This would be the same duopoly that does not exist, according to AT&T's management. And with a level of hubris that is beyond all concept of reality, we find the FCC stating that 99% of all US ZIP Codes now have, at least, one broadband provider, a statement that Commissioner Copps called the ZIP code methodology "stunningly meaningless." Even better, roughly 85% of all ZIP Codes (estimated) to have four or more providers. And in a move that I can only term, better late than never, the FCC has decided that 200Kbps (in only on direction) is no longer a true definition of broadband) and has voted to increase that rate to 768Kbps, which coincidentally is the speed that many of the ILECs provide as entry level DSL. The FCC's report. titled, "High-Speed Services for Internet Access: Status as of June 30, 2007" can be downloaded here: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280906A1.pdf A reasonably good review of this report can be found here: http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9898118-7.html
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Broadband
