US FCC redefines broadband to mean 25Mbps+ download speeds

[HEXUS]

Previously any speeds faster than 4Mbps could be called broadband.

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[Dooms]

So what is it if its below 25Mps? Its not dialup, its not broadband... It's just slower internet?

"Hello I would like your slow internet package please"

[Smikis]

So what is it if its below 25Mps? Its not dialup, its not broadband... It's just slower internet?

"Hello I would like your slow internet package please"

You never encountered those applications where you have to fill in your internet speed and it list " Broadband 4-10 mb " as highest choice, when you had 100mb for last 10 years... yeh Murica and theirs silly definitions.

[jag272]

Seems like quite an odd idea really, especially with the "slow internet" middleground Dooms pointed out.

I wonder if it would put more pressure on providing more modern speeds if it were to happen over here though. I'm still sitting on 13/1 near Hull, though I think were a bit of an odd case become of KCom's control of the area. Still no fibre in sight here from any providers and no current plans for it either it seems.

[3dcandy]

11/1 here from BT and it's 5 times the price to go to 30 meg. So really not worth it when I get 4G that rivals it already in my "town"

[The_Brown_Light]

I hate my DL package. We are happy to inform you that your internet will be getting an increase to a whopping 4/mbs. Sadly the max I can expect is 6.5/mbs for my house but our bill says Up to 24/Mbs. I hate that Up To bollocks they spout.

[OilSheikh]

Does that mean 75% of the UK does not have broadband , in FCC's language ?

[zarnywoop]

So what is it if its below 25Mps? Its not dialup, its not broadband... It's just slower internet?

"Hello I would like your slow internet package please"

In the late 90s when speeds were slow:
56kbs dialup = narrowband; >125kbs=broadband.

Now tech has moved on, speeds are much greater, redefine the basepoint
< 25Mbs=narrowband; >25Mbs=broadband.

This of course means the crappy <4Mb speed I get is no longer broadband under this definition.

[3dcandy]

I hate my DL package. We are happy to inform you that your internet will be getting an increase to a whopping 4/mbs. Sadly the max I can expect is 6.5/mbs for my house but our bill says Up to 24/Mbs. I hate that Up To bollocks they spout.

That's pretty bad.... you must be able to increase that. Tried all the usual suspects like better filter, removing phone's you don't use etc. etc.?

[abaxas]

Hmm, what a load of tosh. Just moved to a 'very rural' area with community run wireless broadband. I get 2bmps down 0.5 up.

Do I notice the difference from my old 'not quite so rural' place where i got 8mbps? Yes, is the difference that great, NO.

Things take longer to download and gaming ping is higher. Everything else is the same.

[gwp]

Some still get 0.5mbps

[herulach]

Hmm, what a load of tosh. Just moved to a 'very rural' area with community run wireless broadband. I get 2bmps down 0.5 up.

Do I notice the difference from my old 'not quite so rural' place where i got 8mbps? Yes, is the difference that great, NO.

Things take longer to download and gaming ping is higher. Everything else is the same.

Without wishing to sound smug, when we move house cable or fttc is literally going to be up there with has a roof in terms of selection criteria.

I'm so used 120mb now going back to adsl speeds would be like not having a phone line. Ican't imagine going back to buying physical media - I'd have to find my dvd drive for one thing!

[Dooms]

Without wishing to sound smug, when we move house cable or fttc is literally going to be up there with has a roof in terms of selection criteria.

I'm so used 120mb now going back to adsl speeds would be like not having a phone line. Ican't imagine going back to buying physical media - I'd have to find my dvd drive for one thing!

Indeed when looking for my last flat not having cable or fiber made it an instant no. So much of my lifestyle while living in the UK relies on a decent internet connection that I now class it a requirement.

When I go visit the parents its infuriating that they are running 5~ MB and if someone else in the house is streaming it all goes to ****. I end up tethering my mobile and running off LTE instead.

[aidanjt]

It's obvious, Tom Wheeler is a 'former' Comcast lobbyist, Comcast is well able to provide a minimum of 25mbps to most of its victims, AT&T's telephone infrastructure isn't. This is cronyism dressed up as progressivism. Any money Wheeler gets a higher position back at Comcast after his stint in the FCC is done.

[GuidoLS]

It's obvious, Tom Wheeler is a 'former' Comcast lobbyist, Comcast is well able to provide a minimum of 25mbps to most of its victims, AT&T's telephone infrastructure isn't. This is cronyism dressed up as progressivism. Any money Wheeler gets a higher position back at Comcast after his stint in the FCC is done.

Has nothing to do with this - it's a fact that there's a disparity in net speed availability, and it's all based on competition (or severe lack thereof). The fastest speeds offered in the US, on a large scale, are not offered by the cable companies, but by the Telco's that offer true fiber connections. We're not talking capability here - we're talking true availability, which are 2 entirely different things.

Most articles I've read about Europe and the net seem to indicate multiple (as in at least 3 or more) competitors in a given area for connectivity. Here in the states, it's a good day if there are 2 real options, and not just the local cable monopoly and the telco offing 3mb/256k ADSL as the competitors.

That, and in this particular situation, all the major players have at one time or another, in the very recent past, said that 4/1mb is more than sufficient for everything, including HD video streaming, gaming, etc, all while pushing much higher tiers of service, which is pretty much a load of junk.

Until Wheeler actually does something that seems pro-incumbency, which he hasn't come close to doing, he gets the benefit of the doubt from a lot of people, and draws the ire of a LOT of industry shills.

So no - it's not obvious cronyism. That would be along the level of him working to stifle things like Google Fiber, or not actively trying to get the anti-competition laws in the individual states overturned.

[Gerrard]

Without wishing to sound smug, when we move house cable or fttc is literally going to be up there with has a roof in terms of selection criteria.

I'm so used 120mb now going back to adsl speeds would be like not having a phone line. Ican't imagine going back to buying physical media - I'd have to find my dvd drive for one thing!

When I bought my house last year, I was told that it had FTTP. I've even spoken to the Openreach engineer who said he had fitted it. 8 months later, and i'm still stuck on a 2.5mbit ADSL because it isn't on the system. BT can't help becuase it's not on the sytem, and Openreach aren't much help because they don't deal with individuals. They did refer me to a "Better Broadband for Oxforshire" and I haven't heard anything from them.