ISPs Whine About FCC's Move to Raise 4 Mbps Broadband Definition → well

the "many americans" can still use narowband

Will be interesting to see if Google supports the 10M definition or not by bumping up their 'free' 5M Google Fiber service to 10M.

5M is just enough to get Netflix 1080 HD streams, 4M doesn't quite cut it.

4 mb? seriously. 10 mb minmum

Using MPG4 encoding 4mbps is enough for HD content.

considering the bare minimum comcast offers (economy plus 3 mbps down/ 768k up for $39.99), I'm curious how the heck in 2014 that is considered "broadband" Maybe 2 decades ago...

aka DSL

10? I was thinking 25 - 100...
If an ISP can't offer at least 25mbit for ~$30 a month.. then don't bother..
Notice that the minimum requirement doesn't take into account pricing. 2015 should be a time to lift all boats on the bottom in broadband. It's not that expensive to do and is long overdue from companies that neglected DSL technologies. The so-called minimum is a move to push ATT out of the dark ages of DSL and into FTTP. Wireless gets a pass, because it's not a "wired" broadband provider and has limited 'upto' spectrum. Boo hoo to these companies that should be forced by LAW to offer more for less in the coming year.

Netflix 1080 streams go as low as 4.3Mbps and works on Google Fiber 'free' 5M service.

sadly investment funds force them to go wireless for short term profits. While at one time human investors ruled the roost and companies could invest into themselves again. Today big funds have lots of stock and lots of pull on the board, So now we are in the land of quarterly performance matters over all else. So networks rot, upgrades never happen because wireless has a better return due to its higher fees.

If the FCC defines broadband as at least 4/1, then 3m/768k technically isn't broadband regardless of what Comcrap calls it.

Corporate Conscience no longer exists. Lie, steal, deceive, cheat the consumer, then have your PR department deny everything or pass it off as a "courtesy" ( »Comcast, Bright House Using Javascript Ad Injection Via Wi-Fi [53] comments ) or benefit. Oh yeah, and pay your CEO double-digit millions in bonuses for raking in another year of record profits.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not a socialist or against sound business practices. I'm a conservative-leaning independent. But corporate America really turned a corner coming out of the '92 recession that cost the first George Bush a re-election. Big corporate really took on an in-your-face attitude in the mid-90s, moreso than anything we saw in the 80s.

Google Fiber has had an advertising problem with their free($300 install) service from day 1. If 1000 Mbps is 100 times as fast as the average internet service, as they claim, then how is it that 5 Mbps for free($300 install) represents an equivalent average service? It should have been 10/2 from day 1 using their own advertising logic. But I think they were really worried that the network would not go above 500 Mbps, so they hedged the service they were going to offer by making it 5/1. It should have been symmetrical, 5/5, though.

There was a little known waiver for 3 Mbps/ 768 Kbps systems when the 4/1 was declared. The FCC was in no position to enforce anything anyway.

Yeah... my grandparents spend $50 a month on on 768kb/s dsl that disconnects about 40 times per day, and we spend $80 a month on 7mb dsl that stops working every time it gets even a little wet outside. We have been without an internet connection for a whole 2 weeks before fairpoint sent someone out to fix it once. They call the 768kb tier "premium", 3 mb tier "ultra", 7 mb "ultimate", and 14 mb "professional". The highest we can get at my house is "ultimate".

there will come a time when Google will raise that "FREE" service tier speed and lower the install price. the day also won't be April 1st.

I think the Provo, Utah installation fee was reduced to $30, but the city gave up free FTTP for many municipal buildings in exchange for it.