Although the term “broadband” is often used in marketing materials, the actual definition has been flexible over the years. But now, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a new report on what should be considered “broadband.”
The new standard specifies 100 Mbps downloads and 20 Mbps uploads, which is higher than the previous speeds defined in 2015. At that time, the FTC determined download speeds of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps. We have reached that point.
You may be wondering where these numbers come from, but according to the FTC, these numbers are based on “standards currently used in multiple federal and state programs” as well as “consumer usage patterns. ” and “what is actually available.”
According to Speedtest.net, the average download speed in the United States is 256 Mbps, eight times faster than it was 10 years ago. In case you were wondering, the country ranks 12th in the world for internet speed. As Toms Hardware points out, streaming movies on Netflix requires at least 15 Mbps for 4K content, while Nvidia GeForce Now requires at least 35 Mbps for streaming 1080p games.
However, the FTC report concluded that an investigation conducted in December 2022 found several deficiencies in the country’s high-speed internet access status quo.
“Based on the total number of Americans, rural Americans, and people living on tribal lands who do not have access to advanced communications capabilities, and the fact that these gaps exist, the report concludes that advanced communications capabilities are reasonable and We conclude that it’s not being deployed in a timely manner. It’s not being rolled out quickly enough.”
More than that, the report lays out long-term goals for “broadband,” eventually reaching download speeds of 1 Gbps and upload speeds of 500 Mbps. No timeline has been given for this goal, but based on when the broadband report was last provided, it could be years before another update is provided.
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