FCC submits National Broadband Plan to Congress: at least 100M US homes with access to 100Mbps download speeds
By Ross Miller 
posted March 15th 2010 4:08PM
posted March 15th 2010 4:08PM
The appeal to our taxpaying wallets comes in the form of the FCC expecting the "vast majority of recommendations [to] not require new government funding", and that the 500MHz of spectrum going on auction is "likely to offset the potential costs." The plan, as the paper itself says, is in beta and be perennially in flux. Set aside 15 minutes of your day and hit up the PDF for all the details, or 25 if you're having to download over dial-up.
Update: Here's a friendly reminder to keep the discussion friendly and on topic -- that is, about the broadband proposal itself. All other comments will get deleted and the respective users run the risk of being banned.
@willowtwf Wow. Someone used "couldn't care less" correctly on the internet.
@midnightblade it's not that hard really. it's just that the majority of the internets are consumed with 13-yr-olds who haven't learned proper English. which is why they should be doing their English homework instead of commenting on engadget.
Sounds like a load of hogwash to me... 10 years? Come on now FCC.
Karl Bode has a good point-by-point article over at BBR: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Gives-Final-Sales-Pitch-For-Broadband-Plan-107367
Capped at 250 gigabytes! Monitored constantly by the RIAA and MPAA! Sustained use (more than 30 minutes) of 100 Mbps will result in throttling to 1.5Mbps!
You can't believe that the above won't be true.
@Tallest Skil Sounds like comcast.
@stabbytheicepic So... yep. Sounds like our government, all right.
The cost of fiber is dropping 10% year after year. This includes the glass fibers (tubes) and the optical switching equipment. It used to be $3500 or so to light up a house for FiOS, now it's around $1300 and constantly falling every year due to economies of scale improving the production of switching equipment and the cables. Remember it takes time to ramp up production on this kind of stuff--remember, it has taken 10 years to get LCDs to their current state of production (cost & quality)! Remember dead pixels and $5000 TV sets?
Also, there is starting now to be the demand for high speed internet. It's getting more expensive to maintain copper (phone) networks. As the cost of supplying fiber continues to go down and demand goes up, we will see more fiber optic networks deployed.
Honestly this whole government program seems like lip-service. It's easy to say "100 by whatever" in ten years when the gears are already and have already been in motion for fiber for a long time.
@stabbytheicepic
Hey, I live in the sticks. (I don't farm mud, just some horses).
We already have 5mb dsl, even at 10 miles from the CO. My ONLY complaint is the cost. And at $50 a month, it really isn't a very large complaint.
@Showbiz and the only reason you have access. Government mandates, and subsidized infrastructure.
@stabbytheicepic That's also the reason that the US has an interstate system. The reason wasn't to make your daily commute easier or travel faster for you. It was to develop a nation highway infrastructure to move military personal and equipment quickly and easily throughout the nation if needed. I'm sure the government has some alter motive for insuring the build out of a more advanced and widespread network infrastructure including wireless data coverage.
So whats the point of all this if its going to take a decade to get it done? By that time the rest of the wold will be at 5gbps downloads and the U.S. will still be lagging behind.
@OGM Once the initial infrastructure is in place, we can upgrade it quicker. As long as the we elect leaders that understand the kind of value such a system brings to the nation.
Just finished reading it before seeing this post.... Hopefully this will help with the nations 3G services too.
@stabbytheicepic Well, I can live with that. So stuff it.
////goes to another post and enjoys gubment enhanced dsl////
I feel like this is a step in the right direction. Moving into the future etc. I also feel like this will make things more expensive before it makes anything cheaper. But wtf do I know. Thats just a feeling.
It would be cool if my taxes covered my broadband. Like, to use the Interstates, I dont have to have an account. I can just drive right the eff on. I feel like my internet should be the same.
@ppmcdoodles
Why stop there?
Lets have federal-controlled everything!
It's all worked so well so far, right?
There is something wrong with a generation so callously willing to fork over liberty and freedom to a central authority and still have the audacity to call themselves free.
@LAY
Freedom is all relative. Besides, the government is not a restriction when the technology development is competitive and the government is the best fit to distribute it. Plus, there's a better target to blame when it fails.
The government will probably contract it out anyway, and there'll be less overlapping lines.
And the CRTC responds:
The six goals set out for "the next decade" propose that every Canadian have the sort-of-but-not-really affordable access (the key, oft-repeated phrase) to "not so robust broadband services," and, more specifically, at least 1 million Canadian homes with affordable access to at least 10MBps down / 1Mbps up speeds. All communities should have at their disposal 1Mbps service, every first responder should have "access to a nationwide, wireless interoperable broadband public safety network, for a fee" and here's an interesting one: every citizen should be able to use broadband to "track and manage real-time [home] energy consumption for a fee."
Canada is awesome, EXCEPT when it comes to telecommunications.
OK, so two things:
1. Great plan! Let's get this done! And instead of waiting till year 8 to start seeing results, how about we start from year 1 and show incremental results. Yea? Good!
2. Whoever wrote this PDF, needs to be immediately hired by Obama's healthcare proposal/plan committee. We can use a 8-10 page summary of that thing.
Also, I am on a 15mbps down / 5 up connection. I am hopeful that one of these days I'll be out of dark ages. See ya!
@stabbytheicepic Sorry, can't reply now. Eating some cheese I got from the food......place where they sell cheese. Yeah, that's it.
Not gonna happend as long AT&T and other ISP company heavy lobby
awww. i only got a 10mbps connection and i pay hefty for it.
@Icepop4who
but you probably wont qualify for the 100mbps service because you actually work for a living....i feel sorry for you i honestly do. It doesnt even pay to work in this country anymore, its like the government wants to become our parents. It pays food, home, cell phone, now internet, bought the car industry, the banks all with OUR (working people) money!! i could use those income tax dollars to pay off my debt, or even start saving some money.
My ciggs are taxed, my m&m's are taxed, my soda is taxed, my bank account, my car, my house, my cell phones, my cable, my paycheck....EVERYTHING
Soon well be taxed for having children, they are taking our souls, for what?! there going to spend the money and nothings going to get done, just like everything else they do
This has been done before and failed in soviet russia, thts just my little piece, and for the people that complain about the library as an option, if you cant walk or find a ride, what you have to do prob isnt anything more than facebook or torrents anyway. SO STOP MAKING ME AND THE REST OF US PAY MR BIG GOVT MAN, and get a real job yourself makin shoes or nexus ones or some sh*t
Thank you all
I saw this broad down on 5th avenue walking around in a little bitty tube top that looked like a band aid strip.
Judging by her onramps hanging out and the low price barrier entrance fee, I can see that she can take the heavy pipes of the masses.
Does that count if she is on a country road looking for a ride on down the interweb highway?
Right now, I have ONE option for broadband: $30 a month for 3Mbps down/0.5Mbps up. I don't care who runs it; someone just get me a better option.
@kevout Move out of the sticks?
Seriously, if you want CITY like services, move to the city..
And now the government will know how much porn I look at. Not good.
I'm for it.
The benefits of the web have profound implications and usability for citizens. I see no point in letting a few big companies corner and charge us up the wazoo for it. They will make enough profit on it.
Over-pricing it would also be socially polarizing.
The right, and the people who fund them, will be after this like wee beasties on left-out-too-long chicken.
I wonder what is consider “affordable access”
Im paying $29.99 for a 5Mbps down /.7Mbps up plan (New York)
and in my personal case $30 is the ceiling.
What is the US government supposed to do? Where in the constitution does it say, "The government is required to force private companies to upgrade their product outside of market forces."?
If we go by the belief that the government is there to provide for the infrastructure to help the people on whole, how is faster internet doing that?
As someone else has pointed out, the average speed of US internet connections TODAY are fast enough to provide the basic useful information that most people need. Anything beyond that is fluff I.E. not a necessity but a LUXURY.
LUXURIES are NOT provided for in the Constitution. Thus, the government has NO business sticking it's nose in the speed part of the equation.
"Keeping up with the Jones' (IE other countries) is NOT part of the constitution.
@dataninja
Based on your logic, we never would have invented the Atomic Bomb. Germany would have beat us to it.
Oooh, I want 50mbps up. Really, that's the important part. We want fast seeds!
This is a great step. Right now, I'm living in Tokyo, and I've got a max speed of 20Mbps up and down @ about $40 a month.
I wonder how they will define the privacy terms in the months to come, and whether or not bandwith/download caps will still apply.
What I would like to see, is an effort to bring more wireless access to areas out of normal coverage reach. Such as in subways (actually in the subway car between stations), rural areas and mountains, and over seas.
Also, I would like to see a lift on access to native content from non-native IP addresses. As long as you are a US citizen, you should be able to access and purchase content over the internet, no matter where you are residing.
@jbondsr
Question: Do you actually see 20 mbps or is that just max speeds?
And I wish I could get speeds like that priced like that. I'm at 10 mbps and I'm paying slightly more.
Did I read this right??? "100 MBps/ 50 mbps"
MegaBYTES???? that's insane... usually interent speeds are in bits... not bytes... i'm on board haha
Government's got no business in this business. Any proposal that includes me paying for someone else's internet is just unacceptable.
I think it's a neat idea. 100 Mbps will come in handy as video and Software As A Service increases. I have 450 Mbps at Georgia Tech and love it (except that a lot of servers aren't that fast.. so I still wait on some video sites).
My home *just last Wednesday* got access to a real cable broadband connection here in rural NJ, so I understand much too well the necessity of broadband access in today's world.
This plan has to happen.
As always, a nice idea that will probably be implemented in the worst way possible.
I have in-laws in a small town just outisde the city. They still don't even have cable TV available. Cable companies don't see it as worth it to run cable to lower density population areas. What are the chances that this proposal will improve their situation in the slightest? These are the areas that need attention more than the big cities that will end up getting get the lion's share of the high speed in order to get the numbers that they are looking for.
"Broadband to 'track and manage real-time [home] energy consumption'" in the next decade sounds peachy green, but if you're an AMI vendor selling smart meters and communication infrastructure today, your products sound neolithic before installation. Home Area Network integration has all the mindshare in academic ivory towers and the state planning bureaucracy, but utility execs know that the technology is still highly speculative, costly and poorly supported (with broadband IP at least) by available infrastructure.