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Why 6 Republican Senators Think You Don't Need Faster Broadband (cio.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the why-in-such-a-rush? dept.

itwbennett writes: Broadband in the United States still lags behind similar service in other industrialized countries, so Congress made broadband expansion a national priority, and it offers subsidies, mostly in rural areas, to help providers expand their offerings,' writes Bill Snyder. And that's where an effort by the big ISPs and a group of senators to change the definition of broadband comes in. Of course, the ISPs want the threshold to be as low as possible so it's easier for them to qualify for government subsidies. In a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, dated January 21, 2016, the senators called the current broadband benchmark of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream 'arbitrary' and said that users don't need that kind of speed anyway. '[W]e are aware of few applications that require download speeds of 25 Mbps.' the senators wrote, missing the simple fact that many users have multiple connected devices.

6 of 522 comments (clear)

  1. Think? by Krishnoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't it closer to "Why 6 Republican Senators Are Repeating Cable ISP Lobbyists' Talking Points on Why You Don't Need Faster Broadband"?

    1. Re:Think? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 5, Informative

      Be warned that Marco Rubio also supports lowering the broadband standard, and is against net neutrality.

      Anything less than 25/5 (and no scumsucking usage cap!) is like having to crawl across a swaying rope bridge on an Interstate Highway.

  2. Congressmen from Republican party bought off by pecosdave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    by different lobby group than congressmen from Democrat party. New at 11

    They cooperated to get the SOPA and PIPA stuff we fought against so hard crammed into the TPP so whichever evil side you support remember, this left wing propaganda article brought to you by Slashdot.org!

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  3. 25 Mb/s would be amazing!! but.... by nichogenius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    but.... I would be happy if my parent's rural location could get a consistent 2 Mb/s up and down connection without paying $100/month for high latency satellite.

    1. Re: 25 Mb/s would be amazing!! but.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      There's an easy solution to that. Order a POTS line then tell them your FAX doesn't work. They are legally required by the state to make that work, and they'll fight the city to be allowed to replace wiring and equipment. That's what I did, and now 160 kbps DSL now works for me.

  4. Re:Governmental solution to government problem by meglon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Broadband in the United States still lags behind similar service in other industrialized countries

    Is this a race or something? Is such "lagging behind" — whether it is even true or not — automatically bad?

    Perhaps one of the stupidest things i've read today..... We're basically talking about how the US compares to other counties in the basic medium that allows us to compete as a world economy, so YES, IT IS AUTOMATICALLY VERY FUCKING BAD. You may like the idea of burying your head up your ass and dreaming of 1950, but suggesting our country should be able to compete with the rest of the world while they move ahead and we're stuck looking at the inside of our colon is just stupider than shit.

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