The ISPs and telecoms of the United States are collectively raising an alarm which essentially is calling for the government to screw over citizens. In response to the FCC’s definition of “standard broadband,” which is 768 kpbs to 1.5 mpbs of actual throughput, the service providers are essentially arguing that what the FCC wants is too much. According to AT&T,
For residential customers, that minimal set of applications should include the ability to exchange e-mails, participate in instant messaging, and engage in basic Web-browsing. It also should include the ability to engage in Internet-based education programs, interact with Internet-based government services, and participate in online energy, healthcare, and public-safety programs.
That sounds like dialup to me. Essentially, AT&T wants the government to revise its definition of broadband to mean dialup. And that’s terrible.
This whole riffraff about what is broadband is in response to America’s broadband stimulus bills, which will spend $7.2 billion to bring broadband internet to people who are “unserved” or “underserved.” But to get federal funding, providers have to set up connections which actually deliver what the promise. The lobbyist groups are hitting back and saying that the government should use the speeds that providers advertise, not actual speeds.
Now that is a heaping load of crap because providers seldom offer their advertised speeds. And yes, there is data to confirm this. A study of major British ISPs shows that speeds are normally half as fast as what the companies advertise. And this is certainly true here in the states. If the cable companies were piping as much bandwidth as they claimed they were, then they wouldn’t be calling for this change to the definition of broadband. The telecoms’ whole argument directly implies that their advertised speeds are different from what they actually deliver (making for false advertising that the government should really do something to stop).
All and all, this boils down to yet another instance of providers trying to screw the little guy. This isn’t just a behavior limited to the wireless providers; it’s all of them. Thankfully, there is something we can do about it. The FCC is always open to suggestions. You can submit your comments, which will be actually read, here. In that first field that’s marked “proceeding,” enter 09-51. And there’s not much you have to say. Just let the FCC know that to call a class of internet connection “broadband,” it has to deliver more than what AT&T thinks it should do.
