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Ajit Pai's FCC Can't Admit Broadband Competition Is a Problem (dslreports.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from DSLReports: While the FCC is fortunately backing away from a plan that would have weakened the standard definition of broadband, the agency under Ajit Pai still can't seem to acknowledge the lack of competition in the broadband sector. Or the impact this limited competition has in encouraging higher prices, net neutrality violations, privacy violations, or what's widely agreed to be some of the worst customer service of any industry in America. The Trump FCC had been widely criticized for a plan to weaken the standard definition of broadband from 25 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, to include any wireless connection capable of 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up. Consumer advocates argued the move was a ham-fisted attempt to try and tilt the data to downplay the industry's obvious competitive and coverage shortcomings. They also argued that the plan made no coherent sense, given that wireless broadband is frequently capped, often not available (with carrier maps the FCC relies on falsely over-stating coverage), and significantly more expensive than traditional fixed-line service.
In a statement (pdf), FCC boss Ajit Pai stated the agency would fortunately be backing away from the measure, while acknowledging that frequently capped and expensive wireless isn't a comparable replacement for fixed-line broadband. "The draft report maintains the same benchmark speed for fixed broadband service previously adopted by the Commission: 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload," stated Pai. "The draft report also concludes that mobile broadband service is not a full substitute for fixed service. Instead, it notes there are differences between the two technologies, including clear variations in consumer preferences and demands." That's the good news. The bad news: the FCC under Pai's leadership continues to downplay and ignore the lack of competition in the sector, and the high prices and various bad behaviors most people are painfully familiar with.
In a statement (pdf), FCC boss Ajit Pai stated the agency would fortunately be backing away from the measure, while acknowledging that frequently capped and expensive wireless isn't a comparable replacement for fixed-line broadband. "The draft report maintains the same benchmark speed for fixed broadband service previously adopted by the Commission: 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload," stated Pai. "The draft report also concludes that mobile broadband service is not a full substitute for fixed service. Instead, it notes there are differences between the two technologies, including clear variations in consumer preferences and demands." That's the good news. The bad news: the FCC under Pai's leadership continues to downplay and ignore the lack of competition in the sector, and the high prices and various bad behaviors most people are painfully familiar with.
Ajit Pai couldn't admit his ass was on fire even he smelt smoke.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Ajit Pai is an industry shill. He will not admit to anything that is not in the interest of his industry masters.
Why is this so hard to understand ?
And they're doing everything in their power (and beyond) to stamp out such competition.
it's because the Republicans can't afford to piss off rural voters. The US system of government gives them a disproportionate amount of voting power and their interests don't often align with the city voters, making them a prime candidate for politicking.
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Net neutrality via FCC didn't solve all of the problems. However, it was a stop-gap for a few big problems. All other factors being equal, we are better off with net neutrality than without. The right solution would be to fix the problems before getting rid of it.
And yet, Charter / Spectrum decided it would be a good idea to raise my bandwidth to 230 mbit/sec and charge me less than I was paying for 60 mbit.
Maybe they understand simple economics better than you think. A regional telco has been rolling fiber here, and it's got the cable company improving service without increasing price... sounds like competition might actually be a thing, and may actually be paying off for the subscribers.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Is rule saying the last mile is a public right.
Yes, Obama technically appointed Pai, but he didn't pick him.
In November 2011, Obama appointed Jessica Rosenworcel for the Democratic seat and Ajit Pai to the Republican seat. Ajit Pai was picked by Mitch McConnell who was minority leader at the time. Only 3 FCC commissioners may belong to the same political party.
I don't really understand how much say the president has over the seats belonging to the other party. In practice, I believe the senate leader of the other party picks them, but I don't think that is a requirement by law. However, even if it isn't the law and the other party is in the minority, you can only piss them off so much without grinding things to a standstill (Trump hasn't figured this out).
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In my area, we have Comcast for cable (eww), Frontier for VDSL (that tops out at 24 MB/sec, and doesn't even qualify as broadband given the current FCC rules), or some sort of overpriced satellite or cellular connection with an insanely low data cap. Frontier is near bankruptcy, and hasn't attempted to improve their network in our area (coastal Connecticut) since they bought it from at&t a few years ago.
So, basically the choices in my area are Comcast or shit. You know that they're bad when Comcast comes out as the only good option.
I'm still wondering when the municipal gigabit broadband connections are coming. The state promised investments in this a few years ago, but nothing ever came of it. It seems that Google Fiber is vaporware as well.