Why You Should Care That The FCC Is Trying To Redefine Broadband
In the wake of the ongoing net neutrality argument, another equally important squabble between regulators and telecoms companies has been overlooked. The FCC is trying to redefine ‘broadband’ as “internet which is actually fast enough to use”, and telecoms companies don’t like that one little bit.
According to current FCC policy, ‘broadband’ means 4Mbps down/1Mbps up. That’s been the definition since 2010, when it was upgraded from a (hilariously slow) 200Kbps. However, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently outlined a plan to update that definition, to 25Mbps down/3 up. It’s a position supported by a number of companies, including Netflix; but unsurprisingly, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) is dead against the plan.
As arbitrary as the 25/3 numbers sound, they’re not picked totally out of thin air: they’re based on a clause in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which states that broadband must “enable users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology”.
Based on that criteria, broadband should be fairly easy to define. Netflix publishes a handy little chart of how fast your internet has to be in order to stream video from its servers. To get any kind of buffer-free service, they recommend a 1.5Mbps connection, with 5Mbps recommended for HD, and 25 for 4K content.
Going by those numbers, saying that 25Mbps is the minimum standard for broadband seems a little excessive. 4K content is a rare beast on the internet, and the necessary equipment for watching it — a 4K TV — is rarer still (although, give it five years and we’ll see how things change).
But an alternative argument for a 25Mbps standard, put forward by policy group Public Knowledge, is that a single internet connection is commonly shared between several individuals. If, say, three members of a five-person household are streaming Netflix at the same time, you’d need a minimum of 15Mbps in order for everything to work seamlessly — and that’s assuming that the Wi-Fi network isn’t causing any slowdown…
Love it the way it is and if the Feds get their paws on the internet we will see it slow down stop working over time. Anything the government has their hands on messes up to where no one can use it .
Ken, you gotta be kidding me. The internet will NEVER stop working. The ONLY ones who will see a slow down are the people like you and me who won’t be able to afford the higher price for the “fast lanes”, which is what the ISP’s want the ability to do. It’s the ISP’s who will demand those prices. It’s the government who can stop it. So keep the pressure on the FCC to “keep it the way it is” as you say. As soon as Mr. Boehner and his ilk in Congress heard that the FCC would protect the internet by reclassifying it, Mr. Boehner and his ilk in Congress submitted a bill to undermine or prevent the FCC from doing that by reducing their “authority to regulate”.
The FCC protecting the internet? You’re kidding, right? The FCC has hand its hand out every month taking its ‘cut’ from your internet service bill. This agency has taken a ‘cut’ from your phone bill (your land line) since phone service began. They took their share of old long distance rates, then regular rates. Then they came up with all kinds of weird ‘code’ for charges no one can interpret. Then they got their claws into cell phones. They charged me a fee for their ‘share’ of long distance service when I didn’t even have long distance service. When I called Washington DC and spoke directly to a representative at the FCC, I was told that ‘you WILL use long distance service at sometime so you are expected to share in the cost’. You think they’re protecting your interest? That corrupt agency was taking your dimes long before ‘Boehner and his ilk’ were out of high school. They are not in business to protect consumers, dear.
Muriel would you care to comment on this?
Boehner? (laughing) Really7 You have got to be kidding. I’m from Ohio 🙂
I totally agree the government should not have their paws in this! But, you tell me, what the hell can I, this little retired older lady do about it? Just like everything else our government is doing these days…not a dang thing can I do about it except get angrier! Care? Yes I care a bunch…but until I can actually do something to stop it, then hey, I just pour another glass of wine!!!!