FCC Revises Broadband Penetration Metrics

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.

Comments

How can they keep this secret?

[elrous0]

Isn't the FCC a federal agency, subject to FOIA? It's not like they can label such basic data as a state secret or something.

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[digitrev]

I'm calling strawman. People are being at best misinformed, at worst outright lied to with the current classification data. You ask why should they give Joe Blow the data? I say for the ability to make an informed decision. More importantly though, why do they feel the need to keep this information private?

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[InvisblePinkUnicorn]

"You ask why should they give Joe Blow the data?"

I ask why the federal government needs to provide such information. Why can't Joe Blow find this information out on his own or choose not to go with a provider that does not make this information available. With enough like-minded individuals the provider will have a huge incentive to make it available.

And as always if the provider misinforms the customer, they can be taken to court.

And of course, if there are no other choices of provider in your area, guess (once again) who you have to thank.

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[TubeSteak]

Isn't the FCC a federal agency, subject to FOIA? It's not like they can label such basic data as a state secret or something. It's not a State Secret, it's proprietary business information.
The companies have obviously made a compelling argument for keeping that information confidential.

As a Federal Agency, the FCC can ask for proprietary information & trade secrets, but they cannot disseminate that information to the public.

It's pretty straight forward explanation that doesn't require anyone to get riled up.

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[digitrev]

Fair enough, keep trade secrets a secret. That's reasonable. But how on earth do you spin broadband penetration into being a trade secret? They just don't want people to know how much money's been squandered.

Max? Peak-time? Sustained? Up? Down?

[Bob9113]

768 Kbps are considered 'First-Generation' broadband, and speeds up to 1.5 Mbps are considered 'Basic' broadband.

Hello, cable operators, how you doin? I see the FCC is still fondling your genitals.

So - is that maximum speed? Typical speed at peak time? How about sustained speed before you get your account cancelled?

How about this - is that up or down? It's the friggin' Internet - it's supposed to be bidirectional, remember?

Good to see the FCC was willing to look past all that and just write what the cable operators told them to write.

Re:Max? Peak-time? Sustained? Up? Down?

[corsec67]

What if the speed they reported is the lowest transfer speed (up or down) that could be obtained continuously for a month?

5GB cap upload? Max reported speed can't be more than: 16 kbps.