Thursday, September 4, 2014

Find: Most of the US has no broadband competition at 25Mbps, FCC chair says

The first step toward solving the problem is recognizing you have one. This may be recognition. 

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Most of the US has no broadband competition at 25Mbps, FCC chair says
// Ars Technica

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler speaking to the cable industry in April 2014.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler today stated what is obvious to US Internet users: for broadband speeds fast enough to serve modern homes, competition simply does not exist in most of the country.

The numbers are OK if you use the FCC’s outdated broadband definition of 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. But the FCC is proposing to boost the download portion of the definition to 10Mbps and considering whether to raise the upstream portion. Even 10Mbps doesn’t cut it in homes where numerous devices connect to the Internet, however, Wheeler said.

“A 25Mbps connection is fast becoming ‘table stakes’ in 21st century communications,” Wheeler said in a speech this morning at 1776, a self-styled "hub for startups" in Washington, DC (transcript).

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