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FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

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Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#131

Post by bongodongobob »

rsynnott wrote: post #104
bongodongobob wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? Business class coax in my area is 1 Gb down. And yes, it does reach those speeds. Are you thinking of DSL?

Is this a relatively urban area, though? Generally, high speed coax networks these days consist of a relatively short, often shared stretch of coax, connecting back to a fibre-optic node. You’re looking at something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_fiber-coaxial#/media/Fi... If the premises served are low-density enough, you may be looking at only one or two per coax section, and at that point you’re p…

Ah I see what you mean now. Yeah, it's most likely fiber backbone and coax last mile. I thought you meant it was a limit of the physical medium.

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#132

Post by gamepsys »

notfried wrote: post #85

I like they raised the broadband minimum upload speed from 3 to 25Mbps. Spectrum's 300 Mbps broadband is only 10 Mbps up. Let's see how fast they change their statement that "an upload speed of 3 Mbps is enough for most households" [1]. [1: https://www.spectrum.com/resources/internet-wifi/what-is-a-g... ]

Zoom recommends 3.8Mbps for uploading 1080p video. Being able to do 1080p video conferencing is an expectation of broadband. Raising the definition of broadband to meet this basic requirement is clearly a win.

I do think 25Mbps up is more than what's required for a large number of households (>33%). I have advised family that 15Mbps is adequate when they needed to do office work from home. Perhaps the only good thing about this is that it will force ISPs to upgrade their infrastructure, but I'm worried the cost of that will be passed onto consumers at a time when inflation has already taken a toll on budgets.

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#133

Post by itsgrimetime »

notfried wrote: post #85

I like they raised the broadband minimum upload speed from 3 to 25Mbps. Spectrum's 300 Mbps broadband is only 10 Mbps up. Let's see how fast they change their statement that "an upload speed of 3 Mbps is enough for most households" [1]. [1: https://www.spectrum.com/resources/internet-wifi/what-is-a-g... ]

Makes sense why Xfinity just emailed me that they graciously decided to “double my upload speed completely free of charge”

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#134

Post by ssalka »

I wonder if this is the reason Comcast suddenly decided to double my internet speed today (they were forced to and then took credit because they're such good guys):

> # We've increased your internet speeds to show you our appreciation

>You can now enjoy 2x faster upload speeds and improved download speeds for smoother connections when you’re working, gaming and streaming.

>We’re excited to share this increase to your current internet package at no additional cost. Not seeing the faster speeds yet? Restart your gateway. Enjoy!

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#136

Post by lolinder »

gamepsys wrote: post #132
notfried wrote: post #85

I like they raised the broadband minimum upload speed from 3 to 25Mbps. Spectrum's 300 Mbps broadband is only 10 Mbps up. Let's see how fast they change their statement that "an upload speed of 3 Mbps is enough for most households" [1]. [1: https://www.spectrum.com/resources/internet-wifi/what-is-a-g... ]

Zoom recommends 3.8Mbps for uploading 1080p video. Being able to do 1080p video conferencing is an expectation of broadband. Raising the definition of broadband to meet this basic requirement is clearly a win. I do think 25Mbps up is more than what's required for a large number of households (>33%). I have advised family that 15Mbps is adequate when they needed to do office work from home. Perhaps the only good thing…

I've been coping with 6 Mbps upload speeds from Xfinity for years now. This morning I got an email from them saying they were raising my speeds at no cost, and after a modem restart I'm now getting ~20 Mbps up.

This whole time I've been told that Xfinity couldn't provide decent upload speeds because of infrastructure reasons, but now that's been proven a lie.

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#137

Post by johnnyanmac »

ssalka wrote: post #134

I wonder if this is the reason Comcast suddenly decided to double my internet speed today (they were forced to and then took credit because they're such good guys): > # We've increased your internet speeds to show you our appreciation >You can now enjoy 2x faster upload speeds and improved download speeds for smoother connections when you’re working, gaming and streaming. >We’re excited to share this increase to your…

Always kinda spin any forced regulation as if it comes from the goodness of the ISP's heart.

Either way, good. 100 is a reasonable minimum for modern society. Now if only I could get a steady connection on T-mobile.

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#138

Post by johnnyanmac »

tzs wrote: post #107
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"We appreciate providing you with the bare minimum , as required by statute."

ISPs aren't statutorily required to meet the FCC's speed bare minimum. It is just that doing so lets them be counted as broadband and might qualify them for some incentives to deploy broadband to underserved areas. Also I believe that an ISP is counted as broadband by the FCC if they have some plans available that meet the FCC's minimums. They do not have to meet them with all plans.

I mean, "we're chasing the easy carrot on the stick we coulda always given customers" instead of "we're avoiding being punished" isn't that much better a framing.

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#139

Post by lolinder »

tzs wrote: post #121
chandlerswift wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got the same message, also from Xfinity. It does sort of make me wonder: If the FCC declared broadband to be 100/50, would I have 50mbps upload speeds this morning? To me, this seems to be a clear positive outcome of the FCC's change: Xfinity had this capacity, the FCC raised their standards, and now all(?) Xfinity customers have increased upload speeds for zero additional cost. Seems like pretty much a best-case r…

I didn't get a message from Xfinity and a speed test showed no increase, but checking my plan on their website it said 300 mbps whereas it used to be 200 mbps. A modem reboot later and I'm getting 355 down/24 up on a speed test site, and 373 down/25 up on "what my ethernet card sees" test [1]. When the plan was 200 mbps I'd get around 240 down on speed tests. Xfinity has always been 10-20% faster for me than whatever…

What's different about this speed bump is that suddenly upload and download are closer together than was ever possible before. When we moved in a few years ago there were no options that provided >10 Mbps up but I'm skeptical that they just coincidentally matched the new minimum upload speed after years of insisting that residential plans could make do with 6.

Re: FCC Officially Raises Minimum Broadband Metric from 25Mbps to 100Mbps

#140

Post by conradev »

lolinder wrote: post #136
gamepsys wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zoom recommends 3.8Mbps for uploading 1080p video. Being able to do 1080p video conferencing is an expectation of broadband. Raising the definition of broadband to meet this basic requirement is clearly a win. I do think 25Mbps up is more than what's required for a large number of households (>33%). I have advised family that 15Mbps is adequate when they needed to do office work from home. Perhaps the only good thing…

I've been coping with 6 Mbps upload speeds from Xfinity for years now. This morning I got an email from them saying they were raising my speeds at no cost, and after a modem restart I'm now getting ~20 Mbps up. This whole time I've been told that Xfinity couldn't provide decent upload speeds because of infrastructure reasons, but now that's been proven a lie.

It’s not a lie – they can’t provide upload speeds anywhere near their download speeds. 20 Mbps vs 6 Mbps is still quite small compared to 1000 Mbps. DOCSIS 3.1, the latest and not fully deployed standard goes up to 10Gbps down and 1Gpbs up.

It looks like DOCSIS 4.0 is actually a path forward to symmetric upload/download speeds over the same cables

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