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| Washington Monumenting Sorry Free Press, I like you and all, but symmetrical 5Mbps? Even 5 Mbps down is really pushing it.
All this talk of measuring broadband in terms of BPS is really bugging me. Why are we defining it in such a meaningless term? What we should do is determine the activities that people want to use the internet for, how much of it they want to do at once, determine how much bandwidth that requires, and set the bar there.
For example, one rule of thumb might be the ability to watch a single HD-quality video via realtime streaming without rebuffering. Or figure out the average number of networked computers in a home and the most those computers might want to do over the Internet at once.
I don't think setting the bar in terms of Mbps makes any sense at all. It assumes too much about the valid uses of an Internet connection as well as what uses will occur in the future. It's only a matter of time before the number of IP-based networked devices increases and we will be having this argument all over again. | |
| said by romulusnr:Sorry Free Press, I like you and all, but symmetrical 5Mbps? Even 5 Mbps down is really pushing it. That's a rather small thought process, no personal insult intended. | |
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | reply to romulusnr
romulusnr
The problem with you method is in the end it always goes back to Mbps. Who gets to decide what a "a single HD-quality video" is? 720p, 1080p , other? Some will define it as full HD quality (27Mbps). | |
| reply to romulusnr
RTFA.
Free Press's letter to the FCC is pretty clear here -- under current law, Congress defines broadband as, "as having the capacity to transmit data to enable a subscriber to the service to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video.”
Free Press said, OK, assuming h.264 720p video, that is about a minimum of 5mbps -- if you must put a bps tag on it. But they said it should be evolving, and always tied to what applications can be used.
What people here are overlooking is, the FCC asked how to define broadband for the purpose of the national broadband "plan." Plan being something you shoot for in the future. This has nothing to do with the current stimulus, which IIRC, Free Press said anything above 768k should qualify to be considered for stimulus funding, if nothing else was possible. | |
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