Earlier this month the FCC announced they were looking for help defining broadband, given they can't craft a national broadband plan without a concrete definition. For most of the last decade broadband was defined as anything faster than 200kbps, the FCC only recently upgrading that definition to 768kbps downstream and 200kbps upstream. Consumer advocate group Free Press today proclaimed that the FCC should set the bar as high as possible. In their letter to the FCC (pdf), the consumer group defines that high bar as at least a symmetrical 5 Mbps with low latency:In contrast, the cable industry's primary lobbying apparatus the NCTA says they'd prefer if the definition of broadband remains the same. In their filing, the lobbying group says not only should the definition remain 768 kbps/200 kbps, but the FCC should stick to defining broadband by the speed advertised -- not the speed actually delivered:Most ISPs like a lower bar, as it helped the FCC provide rosy reports on the quality of U.S. broadband, which in turn kept government from the revenue-eating task of trying to improve competition. Many phone companies have preferred definitions that are even lower than the cable industry's minimal metric, as a significant number lack the resources (or willpower) to upgrade most of their customers to next-generation service.