> I agree! I just don't think it's what we should be pushing for right now.
While I agree that it's not the only problem at hand (and perhaps not the single most useful change the FCC could make), I think any movement is better than none. If nothing else, the WFH / distance learning situation brought about by the pandemic demonstrated that the current standard for upload speeds is entirely inadequate (and so the proposal increases that from 3 Mbps to 20).
It's also possible that these government agencies are nervous about trying entirely new things, lest the current Supreme Court swat down any such efforts as perceived overreach (as they've done recently to the EPA).
> I think regulators should have a very strong understanding of what they're regulating, or should talk to people who do.
Should != do
It certainly would be nice, but in the last 20 years, the only FCC chairs with relevant prior industry experience were Ajit Pai (Verizon counsel) and Tom Wheeler (CEO of CTIA).
As far as talking to people with experience, guess who's most likely to make sure they're represented at the table? That's right, the incumbent ISPs and their lobbyists.
> To me, this is a bit like saying we should still be measuring all CPUs according to clock-speed, because it's easier for a layperson to understand a single number. (And make no mistake, clock-speed is important!)
Well, we sort of still are, except that one number is Geekbench or whichever other benchmark is popular these days. (Okay, there's also single-threaded vs multi-threaded perf, but there's a strong correlation between the two for consumer-grade CPUs.)
(and I'd expect that your typical consumer doesn't really care much about the CPU details in large part because performance is so opaque now. They probably just buy something with an i7 or the latest generation Macbook and call it a day.)