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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Ajit Pai's rosy broadband deployment claim may be based on gigantic error
Ajit Pai's latest claim that his deregulatory policies have increased broadband deployment may be based in part on a gigantic error. Pai's claim was questionable from the beginning, as we detailed last month. The Federal Communications Commission data cited by Chairman Pai merely showed that deployment continued at about the same rate seen during the Obama administration. Despite that, Pai claimed that new broadband deployed in 2017 was made possible by the FCC "removing barriers to infrastructure investment."
But even the modest gains cited by Pai rely partly on the implausible claims of one ISP that apparently submitted false broadband coverage data to the FCC, advocacy group Free Press told the FCC in a filing this week. Further Reading Ajit Pai says broadband access is soaring—and that he's the one to thank
The FCC data is based on Form 477 filings made by ISPs from around the country. A new Form 477 filer called Barrier Communications Corporation, doing business as BarrierFree, suddenly "claimed deployment of fiber-to-the-home and fixed wireless services (each at downstream/upstream speeds of 940mbps/880mbps) to census blocks containing nearly 62 million persons," Free Press Research Director Derek Turner wrote.
"This claimed level of deployment stood out to us for numerous reasons, including the impossibility of a new entrant going from serving zero census blocks as of June 30, 2017, to serving nearly 1.5 million blocks containing nearly 20 percent of the US population in just six months time," Turner wrote. "We further examined the underlying Form 477 data and discovered that BarrierFree appears to have simply submitted as its coverage area a list of every single census block in each of eight states in which it claimed service: CT, DC, MD, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VA."
In reality, BarrierFree's website doesn't market any fiber-to-the-home service, and it advertises wireless home Internet speeds of up to just 25mbps, Free Press noted.
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Plans for the U.S. government to build a national 5G network secured against China appear to have been quashed following intense telecom industry lobbying:
The Trump Administration made a few announcements about building super-fast 5G wireless networks on Friday, but the real purpose of the White House event was buried beneath the headlines.
On the surface, President Trump and Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai were promoting the schedule for a new spectrum auction and funds for extending faster Internet service to rural areas. But the auction, now slated to start on December 10, has been on tap for the "second half of 2019" since last year. And the funds for rural Internet connections, which don't have to use 5G technology or even wireless, were just an extension of a long-existing program.
Instead, the real agenda was to try and kill a well-funded lobbying effort to convince the federal government to take over 5G airwaves and build a nationalized network that private carriers would have to lease from the government. Supporters included prominent Republicans Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove, as well as Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale.
But the idea has driven the U.S. telecommunications industry, which is spending tens of billions of dollars to build private 5G networks, bonkers.
Ajit Pai talked about "up to" gigabit connections for rural homes.
Also at Engadget.
See also: FCC "consumer advisory" panel includes ALEC, big foe of municipal broadband
Related: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Proposes Raising Rural Broadband Speeds
Ajit Pai's Rosy Broadband Deployment Claim May be Based on Gigantic Error
Ajit Pai Wants to Cap Spending on Broadband for Poor People and Rural Areas
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @06:16PM (1 child)
Of course he does. The ISPs can't noticeably throttle sites that don't pay for special delivery if everything always seems really slow.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @09:09PM
Well, give the office dweller a screwdriver and a soldering iron, and sent him out there to raise them speeds. Talk is easy, Ajit.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Saturday November 24 2018, @06:28PM (19 children)
I want less expensive. I have no need for faster and no one has shown me an application where increased speed would be beneficial, other than maybe to try and show me more video adverts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:08PM
Have it and not need it then need it and not have it...
(Score: 5, Informative) by XivLacuna on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:11PM (7 children)
Here are some uses for higher speed broadband:
Multiple people using the same connection while consuming 4K video.
Faster video game downloads/patches from Valve's Steam, Blizzard's Battle.net, Electronic Art's Origin launcher, etc.
Ability for you to actually enjoy your connection while a sibling or significant other uploads pictures and videos from their latest outdoor outing to their various social media accounts.
Faster cloud backups of your personal files.
A driving force for people and companies to come up with more uses for high speed internet. You have to build a road or bridge before people can use it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by suburbanitemediocrity on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:24PM (5 children)
I live alone, don't play video games and don't use cloud backup. This is most people I know.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @08:04PM (4 children)
sucks to be you :o)
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Saturday November 24 2018, @09:49PM (3 children)
Which part?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:03PM (2 children)
The part where you live alone and suck your own dick for company.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:40PM (1 child)
Better than beating off in your mom's basement. Do you even help with the cable bill?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @11:22PM
He tries to, but his mom doesn't want to take the money from his unwashed hand.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:00PM
To summarize,
> some uses for higher speed broadband
Blah blah blah video.
Faster video blah blah blah.
Blah blah blah videos blah blah blah.
Faster cloud backups of your personal files, especially your videos.
And mysterious future uses.
These days, what percentage of Internet traffic is video? 80%?
Something else to think about. Speed is critical for live video. If it's not live, then fat pipes is what matters.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:23PM (4 children)
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.
Again, what speed do you have now?
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Saturday November 24 2018, @09:54PM (1 child)
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
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)
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
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.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 24 2018, @09:46PM (4 children)
Fair enough. I take it that you have reasonable speed already. And, I take it that the trash pushed at you along with your internet requests aren't especially punishing. Those of us out in the sticks are still dreaming of 10MB internet. I have 2MB, which most of the time translates to 1.25 up to 1.75, and very rarely reaches 2MB. The advertisers choke up my pipes, if I let them. It is absolutely impossible to play any online games, unless those advertisers are throttled. Even then, simple games can be difficult. Streaming is all but impossible at the best of times. If you want to watch a hi-def video, you need to use something like youtube-dl to grab the video, then watch it at your leisure.
10MB down would be sweet. 3MB up would be even sweeter, regarding those games that the wife likes to play, as well as my own online game. Ping times that stayed under 200ms is almost beyond my ability to imagine.
There IS the problem that with more bandwidth, the wife will want to watch more movies, but since I configure the router, it shouldn't be much of a problem.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:06PM (3 children)
Let's use MB (megabyte) and Mb (megabit) correctly.
10 Mbps = 1.25 MB/s
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @10:49PM (1 child)
I find it funny that the cable outfits advertise mega-bits per second.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @01:16AM
Funny? Just a dumb marketing ploy
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 24 2018, @11:59PM
Oooops, sorry.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:17PM
What a surprise..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @04:10PM
Out where I live, the problem is maintenance. Here you have two choices: satellite (expensive and capped, but reliable) and DSL (expensive and highly unreliable).
Why pick one over the other?
DSL has lower latency, but don't do anything remotely important on it because you just can't rely on uptime. You probably could, if they'd maintain their lines, but that costs money. All they want is to collect their subsidy money by pointing at the lines and saying that they did their bit.
Satellite has high latency, but modern satellite receivers are pretty darned reliable. If there isn't a thick snowload or an actual thunderstorm passing overhead, you're probably fine. So, if what you do online is important, it's the one to choose.
Satellite doesn't seem to matter to the FCC's promises, for some reason, so really this is about the DSL guys.
If Pai wants anything to change, he'd have FCC monitoring on uptimes, with SLAs. He's not talking about that, so nothing important is changing. Moving on ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @05:47PM (1 child)
i want more upload bandwidth. these download heavy plans are an anti competitive ploy designed to keep content production(for lack of a better term) in the hands of the few. they want all home users being mindless consumers of an internet they reduce to tv. if people had more/equal upload bandwidth more things could be hosted out of the data centers, which likely scares the shit out of the powers that be. it's sad that people don't demand better, but they are too busy swiping on the ipads.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 26 2018, @02:54AM
Google Fiber provided 1 Gbps down, and 1 Gbps up. Symmetrical. But the lofty predictions about it changing the industry turned out to be false. It provided competition in just a handful of cities. Only satellite-based Starlink can save rural America now.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]