AT&T and Verizon say 4 mbps is fast enough to be called "broadband"

[bigjohnok]

http://arstechnica.com/business/201...ps-is-too-fast-for-broadband-4mbps-is-enough/

AT&T and Verizon have asked the Federal Communications Commission not to change its definition of broadband from 4Mbps to 10Mbps, saying many Internet users get by just fine at the lower speeds.

"Given the pace at which the industry is investing in advanced capabilities, there is no present need to redefine 'advanced' capabilities," AT&T wrote in a filing made public Friday after the FCC’s comment deadline (see FCC proceeding 14-126). "Consumer behavior strongly reinforces the conclusion that a 10Mbps service exceeds what many Americans need today to enable basic, high-quality transmissions," AT&T wrote later in its filing. Verizon made similar arguments.

Many Verizon DSL and AT&T customers not getting speeds they pay for
Cablevision, Verizon FiOS, Comcast better at delivering promised Internet speed.

Individual cable companies did not submit comments to the FCC, but their representative, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), agrees with AT&T and Verizon.

“The Commission should not change the baseline broadband speed threshold from 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream because a 4/1 Mbps connection is still sufficient to perform the primary functions identified in section 706 [of the Telecommunications Act]—high-quality voice, video, and data,” the NCTA wrote.


/smh have nothing nice to say about this.

 

[navychop]

Don't we already have a thread on this?

 

[andrewj0781]

When I had Verizon DSL I'd be lucky if I'd get 2 MBPS. After a week went back to cable.

 

[Stargazer]

4 MB is enough to stream HD I believe so it should be considered "broadband". That should be the standard. Perhaps in the future it will be whatever can stream 4K.

 

[berck]

AT&T Uverse uses 6Mbps to stream their content (the speed can be viewed from their boxes). 4Mbps maybe sufficient to stream a Netflix HD stream, it's not as good of quality that I see coming from Uverse, Comcast, Dish, Direct, HD streams.

 

[Lue]

I agree with the FCC raising it to at least 10 mbps. If your children are doing homework or husband is doing research/work stuff, it will slow video to a crawl on the TV.

http://muninetworks.org/communitymap

http://ilsr.org/broadband-speed-light/

 

[aquaman67]

My DSL is 2.5mbps. I'd love to have 4mbps.

I guess it's all relative....

 

[navychop]

Yep. You want to have faster speeds than your relatives.

 

[FTA4PA]

Verizon promised us 3-7Mbps and we get 2.1 on a good day and still have constant dropouts and loss of phone service, especially when it rains. We've complained about these issues for years and they won't do anything. They call that broadband. They should be held accountable and to a higher standard and we support the change.

 

[Elkview]

I had high speed Frontier a few years ago. 800k suppose to be 3mbs but they said that is all I'll get. Changed to suddenlink, this past weekend they upgraded me to 50 mbs. 150mbs is available here in the hill of WV.

 

[FTA4PA]

I had high speed Frontier a few years ago. 800k suppose to be 3mbs but they said that is all I'll get. Changed to suddenlink, this past weekend they upgraded me to 50 mbs. 150mbs is available here in the hill of WV.

Wow! Wish we had that option but Verizon is the only option at present.

 

[StanDarsh]

Wow! Wish we had that option but Verizon is the only option at present.

I wish I had ANY option except AT&T. The rate I'm going, I'll see Sprint light up their nearest tower to me with LTE very soon, as there's already one tower that has band 25 LTE and band 26 LTE, band 25 voice obviously, and now 1x800 voice since E-911 finally started vacating the spectrum here..
There's a new tower that has all the equipment already installed for 8T8R Spark LTE..and has been put on the map already, but for now, the power is turned down while it's in testing ...so soon as they get that tower up to speed and fully operational, I'll be using my data on my phone more than my DSL "broadband" (little faster than dialup) connection.
It's a sad day when my cell phone gets 4x the speed that my connection at home gets, but that's the case with LTE ...
I have speedtests showing me at 35mbps down and 15mbps up ...but if I run a speedtest right now on my desktop, it'll be pushing to get 5.75mbps down, and 410kbps upload.

They call it "6mbps/.5mbps" service but don't deliver on that ...even with an aftermarket ADSL2+ modem/router combination.

 

[FTA4PA]

Looks like there are several companies not providing the product they are selling.

 

[Stargazer]

I get around 21 MB down and 2 MB up on Frontier DSL. I unplugged a friend's Suddenlink modem and plugged it back in as they did not know about the speed bump. They got a nice bump in speed. The speed was higher than what my phone was capable of I think but the upload was bumped to 8 MB.

 

[bobvick]

I have 4.0 sometimes it is true to the advertised speed. Most of the time about 1.5-2.0. The Centurylink DSLAM I am on is on "permanent bandwidth exhaust" and from what I can tell, I don't reckon they will ever fix it.

 

[bamasat]

I wish I had ANY option except AT&T. The rate I'm going, I'll see Sprint light up their nearest tower to me with LTE very soon, as there's already one tower that has band 25 LTE and band 26 LTE, band 25 voice obviously, and now 1x800 voice since E-911 finally started vacating the spectrum here..
There's a new tower that has all the equipment already installed for 8T8R Spark LTE..and has been put on the map already, but for now, the power is turned down while it's in testing ...so soon as they get that tower up to speed and fully operational, I'll be using my data on my phone more than my DSL "broadband" (little faster than dialup) connection.
It's a sad day when my cell phone gets 4x the speed that my connection at home gets, but that's the case with LTE ...
I have speedtests showing me at 35mbps down and 15mbps up ...but if I run a speedtest right now on my desktop, it'll be pushing to get 5.75mbps down, and 410kbps upload.

They call it "6mbps/.5mbps" service but don't deliver on that ...even with an aftermarket ADSL2+ modem/router combination.

192.168.1.254 (look @ attainable or user rate. You should be over provisioned to get @ least 80% of advertised )
What modem do you have ?

 

[bamasat]

192.168.1.254 (look @ attainable or user rate. You should be over provisioned to get @ least 80% of advertised )
What modem do you have ?
SL LineRJ-11DownUp
User Rate25104 kbs2048 kbs
Max User Rate51662 kbs
Not AvailableNoise Margin19.5 dBNot AvailableAttenuation17.2 dBNot AvailableOutput Power13.2 dBm0.9 dBm

Granted this is uverse modem but terms should be same or close.
I'm 18 meg FYI... Look @ my user rate. = over provisioned

 

[StanDarsh]

Granted this is uverse modem but terms should be same or close.
I'm 18 meg FYI... Look @ my user rate. = over provisioned

Right now i'm using a modem I got from a beta test on 1 line (modem/router combo), and on the other is a moto 2210n in bridged with a TPL Archer C9 (which i'm not sure is even available in the states yet).
I connect at 8124kbps / 512kbps.

 

[harshness]

Looks like there are several companies not providing the product they are selling.

That's the magic of the all-important phrase "up to".

 

[FTA4PA]

That's the magic of the all-important phrase "up to".

Actually "up to" doesn't apply in this case. We contacted corporate after years of having no satisfaction from support. After running tests the speed was reset to 3.3Mbps and with a promise by corporate that it would be maintained there but after a few months it was back down again. Tired of being lied to and not worth the fighting them (which is what they want) - just want another option.