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?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you had to change your penetration metrics, would you advertise it? What if the change in metrics show that you cannot penetrate as far, or for as long as you used to? What if they show that you don't penetrate as much as your European or, worse, Asian counterparts?

No, this is very much justified.

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?

[eln]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here, but I think they have pills you can take for that now.

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[Solandri]

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.

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.

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[InvisblePinkUnicorn]

"Vote accordingly."

That's the whole purpose of my discussing it here. To persuade others to vote and think accordingly.

Re:How can they keep this secret?

[aero6dof]

"Because the government is the people. Joe Blow did find this information - he paid the government to do it."

And what about Jane Blow who does not want to pay the government to find out that information? What choice does she have?

One has the same choices as anyone else - talk to your representatives. Beyond that, you also have the opportunity to work within the political system to elect a representative who more closely matches your values.

Or, you could fall in with the fringe tax protestor crowd that wants so badly to believe that they don't actually have to pay taxes - maybe you could ask Wesley Snipes how that's going...

Obama, please prove your platform

[rsborg]

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).

Re:Obama, please prove your platform

[digitrev]

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.

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.

STOP

[Rezonant]

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT SOME OF US ARE STILL ON TLGRPH STOP YOU INSENSITIVE CLODS STOP

(yeah yeah. lameness filter. yeah yeah.) Some more antilameness filter. And some more. There is also the issue of the antilameness filter. It really sucks.

A few good points.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Slashdot: I want the data.

FCC: You can't handle the data

in addition...

[ILuvRamen]

And they've labeled cable broadband like 7000-8000kbps Road Runner as "real broadband." Hey here's an even better idea. For those "basic broadband" numbers, they should if people are actually getting 1.5mbps or if they're dipping into the "first generation" category in actual speeds. I don't know one single DSL provider that ever gives remotely close to what they promise as a top speed.