{"id":75135,"date":"2015-02-03T18:34:34","date_gmt":"2015-02-03T23:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbach.net\/blog\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2024-05-26T17:13:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T21:13:27","slug":"isps-brits-speed-u-s-squabble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/isps-brits-speed-u-s-squabble\/","title":{"rendered":"ISPs – Brits Speed U.S. Squabble"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ISPs<\/a>British Telecom<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0has announced<\/a>\u00a0its plan to transform the UK broadband<\/strong> landscape from superfast to ultrafast<\/strong>. CircleID<\/em><\/a> reports<\/a> that the company plans to deliver much faster broadband for homes and small businesses via a widespread deployment of \u201cG.fast\u201d (G.9701<\/a>)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b>\u2014 a technology the company will pilot test this Summer. G.fast is aimed to help BT deliver ultrafast speeds of up to 500 Mbps<\/strong> to most of the UK within a decade. The deployment\u00a0will start in 2016\u20132017<\/strong>, BT says.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/a>The day before, the FCC<\/a><\/strong> announced<\/a> that they have re-defined the meaning of broadband in the United States<\/a><\/strong>. Under the new definition, US broadband has changed from a measly 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up to an anemic 25 Mbps down and\u00a03 Mbps up<\/strong>. There will be little impact for the end-user because this is just gooberment posturing<\/strong>. This will put the US in some low rank internationally. While the UK global telecom giant BT sets its sites on 500 Mbps.\u00a0The FCC\u2019s presser states that the ruling is meaningless<\/strong>. Their own document says:<\/p>\n

\u2026 its 25\/3 benchmark as a standard to measure the progress of broadband deployment. However, the benchmark is not a minimum speed requirement<\/strong>\u00a0and does not prevent broadband service providers from advertising or describing slower service as broadband.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Republicans<\/a>Not surprisingly, 100% of US ISP’s<\/a> are against<\/strong> this redefinition of broadband<\/span> the cable lobby is opposed to the FCC’s plan. Ars Technica<\/a> <\/em>reports<\/a> that the Telecommunications Association (NCTA) wrote\u00a0in an FCC filing Thursday (PDF) that, “Customers do just fine with lower speeds<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

In addition to the CableCo lobby’s opposition, PCWorld<\/a><\/em> reports <\/a>that Republicans blasted the FCC<\/strong> report and new definition of broadband.<\/p>\n

rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Register<\/a> notes<\/a> how little things have changed. Haters are\u00a0going\u00a0to\u00a0hate. In 2008, Commissioner Robert McDowell opposed increasing the speed definition of broadband from 200Kbps to 768Kbps. McDowell today represents Washington DC law firm Wiley Rein<\/a> and appeared last week in Congress<\/a> arguing that the FCC should not introduce net neutrality rules.<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you want Comcast in charge of the web? Support net neutrality.<\/em><\/p>\n

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