Many of you guys probably know that the FCC has changed the definition of broadband Internet. It is now 25mbps down and 3mbps up. That means that just because of the upload requirements, any of you guys that have dsl, you officially don't have a broadband internet connection. I have 10mbps down and 0.75mbps up, and that is currently the best that I can get where I live. So my question is that do you guys think that this will change what the isp's will do? I honestly don't think that the isp's will care, however on the optimistic side maybe some bigger isp's will start to roll out some fiber. Like I said highly unlikley, but what do you guys think?
Hopefully this will increase their game in the sense that they cannot any longer classify this type of connection as broadband. Considering "Broadband" is such a hype word these days I really do hope it encourages them to increase their network capabilities.
Well here in New York (state, not just city), the plan is to have 100 mbps available nearly everywhere by 2019. And just because your service isn't 'officially' broadband doesn't make it any slower. It just means your ISP can't sell subpar internet as if it is something revolutionary. As people rely more and more on cloud storage, online video streaming services, and online commerce, the definition of broadband should increase to ensure that a reasonable bandwidth is accessible to everyone. I don't know if the answer is redefining broadband (and 4 mbps may have been considered fast 10 years ago, it really shouldn't have been considered broadband imo), but it sure doesn't hurt. What really needs to change are the laws which prevent small ISPs from establishing their own service/infrastructure from where larger ISPs have established local monopolies. If the republicans actually care about a free market, let them prove and allow everyone to play, not just the people who line their pockets with cash. Dems are no better in this regard, but the republicans are the ones who go around pretending to be the champions of capitalism.
Yeah... they'll just stop calling it broadband and just call it high speed or something. Same thing happened the last time they upped the broadband label requirement.
I think this will hurt them the most in their number one priority, their funding. Yes, they can't advertise that they're selling broadband anymore, but they also will have to up their game if they want funding that "supports" broadband deployment.
Honestly all the FCC fought for was the definition of a word. Any speed under that will remain "HIGH SPEED INTERNET." So I'm not really seeing a big moral victory here and I don't think the FCC are suddenly heroes for doing this. Tomorrow for the ISP it's back to business as usual.
The importance of reclassification isn't really that ISPs can't use the term "broadband" for marketing, it's that by changing the legal definition all subsidies and incentives that ISPs get for providing broadband to certain places, will be lost unless they actual roll out minimum 25/3 connections. Additionally, when the FCC and FTC evaluate the monopoly power of a ISP for any enforcement actions with respect to broadband they can only focus on 25mbps+ connections, which basically eliminates DSL from the analysis.