Washington State Bill Would Boost Definition Of Broadband To 100 Mbps; + more notable news → Re: 100mbps broadband

I likewise would wish it were symmetrical, but as for "weeding out older technologies", I'm not sure what difference 100/100 vs 100/20 would make

Both pretty much rule out DSL and both allow HFC (DOCSIS 3.1+)

100/20 could be done on VDSL, even on a single pair, though it would require probably pole mounted DSLAMs close to homes (as has happened in Australia - 100/40).

It would be an utterly terrible idea but no doubt some copper-wielding telco would consider it

100/100 is possible as well. But you would need to be really close to the dslam. I had 90/50 from Windstream for a while. And I could have had 70/70 to. But I chose the higher download at the time. But I had to ask the tech doing the install to set it that way for me.

Yes it can be done on vdsl, and that's where the problem is. By the time it gets rolled out it's obsolete with no room to upgrade. Why would you want your tax money to go towards the same thing multiple times?

well, sure, that's what has happened here in the UK where my VDSL line has been at 80/20 for almost 10 years.

However the subsidies aren't being wheeled out again - I'm due to get FTTH at some point but this is an entirely commercial rollout, the spare fibre installed first time around means that to wire me up is not really that much more costly/difficult than an equivalent place in town, I can almost see the end of the fibre from here. Semi-rural location, the really rural parts got FTTH first time around

Rather, the problem is that the VDSL leash is so short you'd have to be in spitting distance of the DSLAM to make 100/20 work. By the time you've brought the fiber so close, you're just throwing money away by not bringing fiber to the premises.

The only exception I can see is a MDU what has a DSLAM in the basement to serve units on premises and it has already been determined that wiring the building would be more destructive than beneficial.

The Australian approach was textbook “how to avoid doing ftth”. They are using pole mounted DSLAMs with four ports and is reverse powered by the CPE, only such telco to do this and as such the modem is custom and proprietary. Copper length is going to be like a hundred feet max.

It only exists for political reasons - the centre left government designed a mostly FTTH network (rest would be dedicated 4G network and satellite). Election, right wing government claiming they could do it cheaper and faster, only to make it more complicated and expensive with more VDSL and HFC