said by TKJunkMail :

A law that would mandate better data collection of broadband penetration makes sense. But changing the law to label anything below 2/1 mbps speeds as not broadband is not productive. What would that accomplish? Will it make 3g/4g wireless providers suddenly up their upload speeds to something their infrastructure can't currently support. And all the locations, especially rural, where distance make 768 kbps DSL a good deal would no longer be broadband?

said by openbox9 :

You can define the service however you'd like (you don't need a law to do this) so long as providers aren't mandated to provide said service.

said by openbox9 :

Then defining "broadband" is unneeded legislation. Less government is the way we be moving towards, not more bureaucracy.

said by lesopp :

I'd feel more comfortable if the IETF or some such technical group defined broadband.

Given their track records over the past 30 years any congressional definition, of how fast something should be or how efficient something should be, lacks creditability.

said by lesopp :

It has nothing to do with commerce, which existed before there was a definition, it continued to exist with the current lame definition and it will continue to exist regardless of any congressional definition. Once they set the definition it will likely never change and 20 years from now there will be more political battles. Moving this into the realm of the IETF would depoliticize it.

said by lesopp :

The mission of the IETF is to produce high quality, relevant technical and engineering documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet in such a way as to make the Internet work better. These documents include protocol standards, best current practices, and informational documents of various kinds.

said by openbox9 :

Then defining "broadband" is unneeded legislation. Less government is the way we be moving towards, not more bureaucracy.

said by firephoto :

Yes they do need to define it and do it properly because the government gives out loans and grants for broadband deployment and guess what

said by TKJunkMail :

Obviously the cable companies are backing this because they feel they get an advantage over the telcos and wireless companies in the advertising game, if they can say that their service is broadband and the others aren't.