As a lawyer I'm surprised you don't know the answer. The definition of "Broadband" is important because that definition is used in other laws. In particular, it now means that in order to get Federal $$$$ to build broadband networks (usually for rural communities) you must provide at least that level of speed. This is the FCC telling the telcos that they no longer will allow them to keep taking federal money for infrastructure projects that are never completed. For two decades telcos have been taking tax money to build out networks which they never have, or only barely did, and that is what this whole thing is about.
Sova -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Madden Sent: January 30, 2015 1:47 PM To: A discussion list for dorkbot-pdx (portland, or) Subject: Re: [dorkbotpdx-blabber] The FCC updated its broadband benchmark speeds today. On 1/30/15 12:09 PM, Nathan McCorkle wrote: > I mean, why did they even take the time to deliberate on changing the > definition? Speaking from a lawyerish perspective, it's probably an incomprehensible-to-an-engineer reason like Truth in Advertising, as argued about by corporate behemoths who don't give a sh!t about providing good service, but want to _claim_ "we are broadband and they are not" or "we are broadband" even though their speed is sh!tty. There are situations where this can be important (for example, if Cocmast got caught selling 256K lines as "broadband" to elderly grannies on SSI) but it's a stupid waste of time if you know how to measure your bandwidth and just want the most pipe for the least dollar. Unfortunately, it does nothing to increase the "pipe per dollar" ratio, but it allows everybody to pat themselves on the back (and grease their politicians) for "making a difference." -- Mersenne Law LLP . www.mersenne.com . +1-503-679-1671 - Small Business, Startup and Intellectual Property Law - 9600 S.W. Oak Street . Suite 500 . Tigard, Oregon 97223 _______________________________________________ dorkbotpdx-blabber mailing list [email protected] http://music.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/dorkbotpdx-blabber
