The terms "broadband" and "high-speed Internet" are used interchangeably, but there is no standard definition of how much speed the service must have to be considered broadband. The latest definition will have special meaning to those without the service, because it applies to projects to be funded by the $7 billion for broadband in the economic stimulus package.
The prevailing definition, by the Federal Communications Commission, has been a speed exceeding 200 kilobits per second in at least one direction: from the Internet to the user’s computer (downstreaming) or from the user’s computer to the Internet (upstreaming). The FCC's definition has been criticized as being too slow. The latest one, by the Rural Utilities Service and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, moves it up, to a minimum of 768 kbps downstreaming and 200 kbs upstreaming. But some still think that's too slow.
"The choice of 768 kbps will seem like the broadband Stone Age to many, though the ability of some technologies to reach remote and rural areas likely factored into the decision," Dan O'Shea writes for Fierce Telecom. He refers readers to an non-bylined story in Telephony, which says, "Although these speeds are lower than some might have wished, a senior administration official for the NTIA told reporters that this definition was influenced by geographic realities. Because it is difficult to deliver speeds above 10 Mbs over certain types of terrain, he said, the lower data rate was chosen. But in awarding funds, he said, preference would be given to higher-speed projects." (Read more)
Though the speed threshold is lower than some expected, the agencies are ensuring neutrality among service platforms, "and that likely means an unusual opportunity for wireless providers, especially in rural areas," reports Gary Kim, a contributing editor for 4G Wireless Evolution, which follows WiMax wireless broadband for Technology Marketing Corp. at TMCnet.
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