FCC: Not All Broadband Is Created Equal

The FCC has been concerned for some time that not all Americans have broadband, and that those who do have slower connections than they believe. The agency released a report, it claims, shows its suspicions were right. Farmers still do not have broadband, and some broadband suppliers dissemble about how well they serve customers.

The “Measuring Broadband America” study found that “modest but still sizable 49 percent of consumer volunteers inaccurately reported the advertised broadband speed they believed they had purchased from their ISP.” It is hard to see why that matters. People are mistaken about everything from the costs to heat their homes to the mpg they get on their cars. The weakness of most FCC reports is that the agency believes that people want ultra-fast broadband when moderately fast broadband will do.

The methodology of the research is straight-forward. The FCC tested speeds among the 13 largest broadband suppliers, all of which deliver via cable, fiber-to-the-home, or DSL. Fiber performed the best, which is no shock. It is the newest technology and uses a transmission method that is only a few years old. DSL is the slowest connection, which again is not surprising. It is the oldest method of broadband delivery.

The FCC decided to call out the laggards, as if these corporations will spend billions of dollars to increase the speed of their networks. AT&T (NYSE: T) received poor grades as did Cablevision (NASDAQ: CVC). Verizon’s fiber product did better than any other in the study.

The conclusion of the research was that “Consistent broadband metrics can help consumers access their broadband service and compare service providers in meaningful ways.” That assumes that the consumer cares. Most do not know what the latency of their systems is or how many seconds it takes to download a video file. The few seconds difference between AT&T broadband and Verizon may be measurable by scientists, but there is no public outcry from broadband customers that they have been cheated.

Douglas A. McIntyre