Skip to footer

FCC redfines high speed: Do you still have 'broadband' Internet?

The FCC announces that it will only consider Internet connections with download speeds of 25 megabits per second or faster as high-speed broadband.

|
Matt Rourke
A sign outside the Comcast Center, left, is shown in Philadelphia.
  • By Alina Selyukh Reuters

U.S. regulators on Thursday raised the standard for high-speed Internet, voting that only connections with download speeds of 25 megabits per second or faster will qualify as broadband, meaning fewer parts of the United States have broadband access.  

The change in the Federal Communications Commission's definition of broadband, previously a download speed of at least 4 megabits per second (Mbps), means nearly a fifth of Americans and more than half of those living in rural areas lack access to high-speed Internet.

The change, opposed by Internet service providers and Republican FCC commissioners, is not expected to immediately influence how competitive the FCC formally views the broadband market. But it could give the agency more of a bully pulpit to push Internet service providers to increase connection speeds and support competitors formed by municipalities.

The new definition is also likely to give new ammunition to critics of the pending $45 billion merger of Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc as cable companies emerge as the dominant competitors to offer such speeds.

The FCC is expected to use the new definition to guide how they distribute subsidies to encourage broadband deployment and upgrades to networks. Some observers also said the agency could also use it in their work to prevent states from blocking cities' efforts to build municipal broadband networks.

The FCC could also press Comcast to commit to faster speeds in its Internet Essentials program, a discounted Internet service for low-income families, if they decide to use it as part of the merger review, analysts said.

The FCC has not typically used broadband reports, such as the one that set the new definition, for punitive measures or stricter regulations, said experts.

Such reports, required by Congress, are meant to ensure high-speed Internet is rolled out to all Americans "in a reasonable and timely fashion." The FCC will now collect comments on how it should spur faster deployment.

The FCC also voted on Thursday on new requirements for wireless carriers to better locate callers who dial 911 on cellphones indoors.

Nationwide carriers will have to help 911 dispatchers locate, within 50 feet, 40 percent of wireless 911 calls within two years and 80 percent of such calls within six years.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to FCC redfines high speed: Do you still have 'broadband' Internet?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2015/0130/FCC-redfines-high-speed-Do-you-still-have-broadband-Internet
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe