FCC National Broadband Plan: some of your favorite ISPs respond
By Laura June 
posted March 16th 2010 4:45PM
posted March 16th 2010 4:45PM
Glenn Britt, Chairman, President and CEO of Time Warner Cable:
"We applaud Chairman Genachowski and the FCC for the extraordinary effort and work that went into the development of the National Broadband Plan. We share the FCC's goal of universal broadband deployment and adoption and we look forward to participating in a robust dialogue around all aspects of the plan, which will help shape the future of broadband in this country. We know as well as anyone the positive impact that broadband access can have on individuals and communities and we want to work with the FCC and others to ensure that this valuable resource is used to its most effective potential."
Tom Tauke, executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, Verizon (partial):
"Verizon strongly supports the emphasis in the National Broadband Plan on the deployment of broadband facilities and adoption by all Americans. To that end, we are encouraged by the call to reform the policies that subsidize some companies' telecommunications services so the policies are focused on the technologies of the 21st century. The plan also properly focuses on identifying the barriers to swift deployment and adoption and proposing recommendations to remove or overcome those barriers. The plan correctly notes that government is a major purchaser of services and can be a catalyst for using broadband to reform the health care delivery system, improve energy conservation, preserve the environment, and promote the use of broadband technology to advance education. Chairman Genachowski; Blair Levin, the executive director of the National Broadband Taskforce; and the commission staff should be commended for comprehensively addressing the array of broadband issues and developing a coherent plan."
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google (partial):
"Tomorrow the FCC will release a national broadband strategy. The plan will set goals for expanding broadband to unserved and under-served areas, promote greater speeds, and drive consumer demand. It will harness this communications technology to urgent national priorities, such as jobs, education, health, energy, and security. In short, the plan will lay the groundwork for investing in America's future... I support a national broadband strategy because ubiquitous broadband connectivity can catapult America into the next level of economic competitiveness, worker productivity, and educational opportunity. But as in the past, we will make this breakthrough by choice, not chance."
Brian L. Roberts, CEO and Chairman of Comcast:
"We commend the FCC for the immense effort involved in researching and writing the National Broadband Plan. The Plan appears to reflect the emerging consensus on a number of paramount broadband goals, most notably the need to achieve universal adoption and digital literacy; the need to fix and redirect outdated subsidy schemes to more efficiently deliver broadband to unserved areas and to close the affordability gap for low-income families; and the need to break down policy barriers that keep broadband from serving critical national purposes such as health care, education, and employment. With the demand for bandwidth doubling every two years, most recognize the critical need for continued private investment in faster competitive broadband networks, and the importance of maintaining a regulatory environment to promote that investment. We hope that implementation of the many recommendations contained in the Plan will help to achieve that critical balance and we look forward to playing our part in helping to make America the most connected nation on earth."
100mb? yeah... I have Time Warner's highest end home plan and I was lucky to see 20mb, currently the user base in my area went up and I'm lucky to see 10mb. Don't even get me started on upload, Most ISP's "Upload" (if you'd like to even call it that) is pathetic at best. 1Mb for most (~120KB/s for me on my best day ever).
Hell even my works connection which has a 100mb pipe down still only gets ~200-250KB upload.
@crawlgsx You might have your IT staff start searching for torrent servers or LOLcats in your servers eatz al ur uploadz.
@KAL326
Well I am the IT staff :). I tested the connection the day we hooked it up straight from our firewall before It was hooked up to the rest of the network. Time Warner FTL
@crawlgsx What is your actual binned speeds up and down? I know at my work we are one a 100Mb circuit, but we are only paying for around 30/30 right now, but could with a call jump to a higher capped bandwidth plan. I would make sure somebody at TWC has your caps set right because it sounds like you are stuck at a 2Mb upload, hell I get that at home.
@Lord Vader
I know right. I had to put Skynet on a 10Mbps connection but it desires more (with IPV6!!).
Man, I hate when the government does things. I wish they'd just leave Comcast and TWC well enough alone. I trust both companies to do what's best for the consumer.
@CtrlBurn some of the slowest broadband in the world, they need a push
@CtrlBurn
After the 80s and the last decade, I have very little trust for most large companies. The government can do a better job if it is run correctly.
@CtrlBurn "I trust both companies to do what's best for the consumer." Oh really?? Hey ever wanted to own your own bridge, nevermind if you didn't the price is too hard to pass up...its a steal of a deal. Nice location too, right down there in Brooklyn.
Dag guys. I just realized the sarcasm-lock on my keyboard doesn't work for Windows. Sorry for the mix-up. Yeah, I was definitely kidding. I don't trust Comcast or TWC any further than I can throw them.
Now if only comcaat would run the cable to my house. It stops just a mile down the road from me. Come on comcaat I want something besides satelitte!!
I want to believe these people, but when I read their quotes, all I hear is Charlie Brown's teacher talking.
@MichaelDola
Wah, wah, waaah?
WTB GoogleISP 1Gbps for $60
I don't see much conversation about an item which should be a priority for any national broadband plan: unbundling.
Even today, my phone, video/TV and web can all come over the same pipe. I shouldn't have to "bundle" to get "discounted" rates on my internet access. I don't need traditional TV or phone service and I don't want to have to pay for it to get discounted internet.
No plan should move forward without an explicit rejection of "bundling" (a.k.a customer lock-in)
It's about time we started to invest in this country's infrastructure again.
Sounds like a scam. They will probably upgrade people who can already get 20-50 Mbps that are technically capable of getting100 Mbps, cap away to handle the load, and pocket the money leftover. I wouldn't be surprised if the 100M number was already met in terms of technical capability (capacity on the other hand is another story).
Did Engadget try to contact Mediacom? I bet you would have just got a busy signal from their PR number much like we do with their tech support.
that cat looks like a Vogon...
not going to lie but.. that cat just made my day, and its into the internet, which is unlike my cat who likes to chew on the cords for our wireless modem.. crazy thing..
About time the US started getting it infrastructure together it really takes the government to put these plans together to make it really click and let industry take it the rest of the way.
The US is lagging behind just about every industrial nation in terms of broadband and connectivity. Yea some people will say well look at our size that is bull we are still using phone lines from the time of Alexander Graham Bell in alot of areas so government intervention on this is definitely needed.
@Lord Vader Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient infrastructure has not helped you conjure up the required bandwidth, or given you clairvoyance enough to find an agreeable business model that helps the consumer...
+10 for using Serious Cat in a newspost. :)
i seriously lol'd
@owen66 He finds your lack of consumption disturbing.
so, 100mbps/50mbps speeds, how fast is that REALLY?
So basically they support everyone having broadband but the reasonable prices part is out the window.
Well okay I know this is going to set things off and I hate to be the one to point out this error. It should read 100Mbps it is megabits people not bytes...very big difference in speed. 100Megabits per second is the proper speed and that comes to 12.5 megabytes down. Coaxial cable is only rated without fancy algorithms for boosting like DSL has up to 100Megabits per second so 100Megabytes is impossible (again without fancy compression algorithms)
Nerd Badge goes to:
Anyone care to explain the relevance of a Wombat-Looking Cat as the main picture for this article?
I can't wait to see At&t's response to this
@Gflo It will be something like "We've already got plans to roll out the new service in all of our areas. But until we can move everyone to it, we'll keep the speeds rate limited to what our DSL customers can get. " (Which is what they currently do with U-Verse.)
@James5mith
At&t is by far the worst ISP I've ever delt with. They increased their price from $43 to $46 for their fastest speed claiming it "Increases the value to better represent their speeds" The speed caps were good in 2004-05 and they refuse to change it or at least offer an uncapped tier. I honestly don't care how much it costs but, compared to Cox, Comcast, TWC, Verizon, and now Google its horrible for what I pay(and its the only thing availible in my area).
If I'm reading this wiki right(link below) VDSL can be deployed anywhere there is a pair of copperwires(I.E. Telephone line) twisted or untwisted. All At&t has to do is change the servers on their end. And if it takes more than a single telephone line, why don't they just run a second one to a persons house if its not already there(I have 2 lines installed, however i only use one)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_high_data_rate_Digital_Subscriber_Line
I didn't even bother to read.....all clap trap.
Huh, looks like these guys learned nothing from Neville Chamberlain.
@Lord Vader
We got Death Star!
DEATH STAR!
We got Death Star!
DEATH STAR!
Thanks for including Cox's statement. Oh, wait...