In their most recent report on the status of broadband internet in the US, the FCC has finally admitted “broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”
Although this is the sixth Broadband Deployment Report to be issued by the agency since 1999, it is the first to reach this conclusion. Previous reports have been widely criticized for both the benchmark by which broadband was defined and the methodology for determining service areas.
For example, in the last report, from 2008, 200kbps downstream (download) speed was still considered broadband. Additionally, a single address capable of broadband service was equated to the entire zip code being served.
In the current report notes, “Our examination of overall Internet traffic patterns reveals that consumers increasingly are using their broadband connections to view high-quality video, and want to be able to do
so while still using basic functions such as email and web browsing.”
In order to more accurately reflect that reality the standard for broadband has been raised to 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. Service areas were based on numbers from the National Broadband Plan, published earlier this year.
Result for: internet traffic
In their most recent report on the status of broadband internet in the US, the FCC has finally admitted “broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”
Although this is the sixth Broadband Deployment Report to be issued by the agency since 1999, it is the first to reach this conclusion. Previous reports have been widely criticized for both the benchmark by which broadband was defined and the methodology for determining service areas.
For example, in the last report, from 2008, 200kbps downstream (download) speed was still considered broadband. Additionally, a single address capable of broadband service was equated to the entire zip code being served.
In the current report notes, “Our examination of overall Internet traffic patterns reveals that consumers increasingly are using their broadband connections to view high-quality video, and want to be able to do
so while still using basic functions such as email and web browsing.”
In order to more accurately reflect that reality the standard for broadband has been raised to 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. Service areas were based on numbers from the National Broadband Plan, published earlier this year.
Using the new metrics resulted in a determination that 14 million Americans live in areas where broadband internet service isn’t offered.
More information on these changes can be found in Chapter 3 of that plan.
National Broadband Plan Chapter 3 Current State of the Broadband Ecosystem
[More]>>
Result for: internet traffic
Hitwise has posted a very interesting chart today, one that shows that Facebook has become the most popular site (by traffic) in the United States, at least for the week ended March 13th, the first time in years that Google has been unseated for a full week.
Visits to Facebook increased 185 percent for the week year-on-year, while Google only saw 9 percent YoY growth. Combined, FB and Google accounted for a giant 14 percent of all US internet traffic last week.
Facebook was the most visited site on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and the weekend of March 7th, but never for a full week.
