As promised, the FCC has started to investigate (pdf) the state of the broadband union. The first order of business will be to correct slowly look into their inadequate broadband statistic collection methodology, which we've been complaining about for the better part of a decade. Critics say the FCC intentionally skews their numbers "up and to the right" in order to justify the "hands-off" regulatory position lobbied for by the nation's largest ISPs. For what it's worth, FCC chief Kevin Martin says he's on it:

"The Notice asks questions about how we can obtain more specific information about broadband deployment and consumer acceptance in specific geographic areas and how we can combine our data with those collected at the state level or by other public sources," says Martin. "By improving our data collection, we will be able to identify more precisely those areas of the country where additional broadband deployment is needed."

Commissioner Copps, who has been pushing for FCC data collection reform for a while, welcomed the push:

"As scholars, industry and the Government Accountability Office (GAO, see previous stories) have documented, our semi-annual statistical reports currently fail to measure even basic concepts such as the extent of broadband deployment across the country (including in rural and tribal areas) and the degree of competition among broadband providers and modalities. Our statistical methodology seems almost calculated to obscure just how far our country is falling behind many other industrialized nations in broadband availability, adoption, speed and price."

It only took how many years to conclude that having accurate data was necessary for sound policy? For years, the FCC has declared that if one customer in a zip code has service, that entire zip code is wired for service. They've also been under fire for their determination that 200kbps constitutes a broadband connection.

The assorted rulemaking documents and individual commissioner statements can be found at the FCC website.