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FCC Revises Broadband Penetration Metrics

Posted by kdawson on from the end-of-a-long-running-joke dept.

joelt49 writes "Ars Technica reports that the FCC has revised its broadband penetration metric. Previously, if only one subscriber in a zip code received connectivity at 200 Kbps, then the entire zip code was considered to have broadband access. Now, the FCC will count the number of subscribers in census tracts. The FCC has also revised its definition of broadband; previously, it was anything over 200 Kbps. Now, speeds between 200 and 768 Kbps are considered 'First-Generation' broadband, and speeds up to 1.5 Mbps are considered 'Basic' broadband." Unfortunately, the FCC has decided to keep all this new data to themselves.

5 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How can they keep this secret? by oodaloop · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yeah, can you imagine the nightmarish Orwelian scenario where citizens wouldn't know how the FCC classified their broadband access in their area? Won't somebody think of the children?

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  2. Obama, please prove your platform by rsborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Once the Obama administration comes in and sets the white house in order, a good indicator that he's keeping his campaign promises would be the opening of this kind of data (if the FCC doesn't see the light beforehand).

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    1. Re:Obama, please prove your platform by digitrev · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Perhaps it's just my political cynicism showing through, but I personally doubt he'll keep many of his promises, except the really big ones that the news will pick up on. And don't count on a bureaucracy of censors and critics enacting any sort of self improvement. And let's be honest, that's what the FCC is.

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  3. Re:How can they keep this secret? by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I ask why the federal government needs to provide such information. Why can't Joe Blow find this information out on his own
    Because the government is the people. Joe Blow did find this information - he paid the government to do it. "The government" doesn't pay for anything, the people do. Unless there's a compelling national security reason to keep it secret, the data belongs to the people and should be made available to them. You can argue the FCC shouldn't have compiled this data. But once they do compile it, it rightfully belongs to the people.
  4. Joe Blow is paying for the information... by tjstork · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hey, if the government is putting together a report for its own purposes, and there's no state secret involved, there's really no reason to NOT publish the data...

    Joe Blow is paying a pretty good chunk of taxes for this report. Indeed, given that the government is in debt such that each and every American is at least 20k in hoc, the least the FCC can do is publish the report it already paid for. Is it really cost that much to put a link on its web site and upload it?

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