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posted by mrpg on Saturday November 24 2018, @06:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-have-1Mb dept.

Ajit Pai wants to raise rural broadband speeds from 10Mbps to 25Mbps

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to raise the rural broadband standard from 10Mbps to 25Mbps in a move that would require faster Internet speeds in certain government-subsidized networks.

The FCC's Connect America Fund (CAF) distributes more than $1.5 billion a year to AT&T, CenturyLink, and other carriers to bring broadband to sparsely populated areas. Carriers that use CAF money to build networks must provide speeds of at least 10Mbps for downloads and 1Mbps for uploads. The minimum speed requirement was last raised in December 2014.

Today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he's proposing raising that standard from 10Mbps/1Mbps to 25Mbps/3Mbps. "[W]'re recognizing that rural Americans need and deserve high-quality services by increasing the target speeds for subsidized deployments from 10/1 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps," Pai wrote in a blog post that describes agenda items for the FCC's December 12 meeting.

[...] The new 25Mbps/3Mbps standard will apply to future projects but won't necessarily apply to broadband projects that are already receiving funding. For ongoing projects, the FCC will use incentives to try to raise speeds. More money will be offered to carriers that agree to upgrade speeds to 25Mbps/3Mbps, a senior FCC official said in a conference call with reporters.

[...] When Democrat Tom Wheeler was FCC chair, Pai supported the commission's 2014 decision to raise the speed benchmark from 4Mbps/1Mbps to 10Mbps/1Mbps but said that the FCC should have also provided carriers with more years of funding to account for the upgrade. Pai opposed Wheeler's 2015 decision to raise a nationwide broadband standard to 25Mbps/3Mbps. Pai said at the time that 25/3Mbps was too high and criticized the Wheeler-led majority for using different standards, namely the 25Mbps/3Mbps standard for judging nationwide broadband deployment progress and the lower standard in rural projects subsidized by the government. As chair, Pai in 2017 floated a proposal that would lower broadband standards, but he changed course after a backlash.

In other words, more money will be given to established ISPs in order to improve rural service, but the improvements probably won't be verified.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:23PM (4 children)

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:23PM (#765953) Journal

    I have no need for faster

    I suppose the question here is, how fast is your connection now?

    For us out here in the boonies, either we can't get fast connections, or if we can, it's relatively expensive.

    I pay for 30(down) by 5(up), which is just about adequate (when I actually get those speeds, which isn't usually the case.) It costs me about $150 USD a month. So I too would like lower costs, but I would definitely be up for more speed. Would like to get off DSL as well, DSL is a primo source of RF interference and I hate that.

    The local ISP co-op here is laying fiber, but have not brought it into my area yet. When they do, I'll be one of the first in line. I'm sure it will be hella expensive, though. When I can get it, I'll revamp my LAN to be fiber as well. I do look forward to (much) faster downloads of OS ISOs, game updates, etc.

    no one has shown me an application where increased speed would be beneficial

    Again, what speed do you have now?

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  • (Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Saturday November 24 2018, @09:54PM (1 child)

    by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Saturday November 24 2018, @09:54PM (#765992)

    I started out 5mps, but they keep upping the speed. I think it's 10mps. I mostly do email, stocks, craigslist, educational video. Stuff to make money with.

    • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday November 25 2018, @06:38AM

      by fyngyrz (6567) on Sunday November 25 2018, @06:38AM (#766101) Journal

      So sounds like you have adequate service for what you need. Care to share what it's costing you, and what you'd consider a fairer price?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:45PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:45PM (#766007)

    Ever hear of RF chokes?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choke_(electronics) [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday November 25 2018, @12:03AM

      by fyngyrz (6567) on Sunday November 25 2018, @12:03AM (#766035) Journal

      Ever hear of RF chokes?

      Ever hear of the ISP taking issue with you screwing with their incoming data lines?

      Ever hear of the ISP taking issue with you screwing with your neighbor's data lines, which the ISP also owns?

      The DSL lines are on their side of the ownership fence, Mr. AC. So... no. They're also out there slung more-or-less by my antennas, nice and high up in the air. So also no on that basis. Not climbing their poles.

      But when (if) fiber comes to town, the more lines that change from DSL to fiber, the lower the RF noise floor will get.