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What is broadband?<\/b> Don\u2019t be so quick to answer. After all, we use the term regularly without ever stopping to think about its precise meaning.<\/p>\n
Is broadband high-speed Internet, advanced telecommunications services or just speeds higher than 200 kilobits per second (kbps)? Realizing the confusion, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has embarked on a mission to redefine the term. <\/p>\n
When in doubt, consult the dictionary. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines broadband as \u201coperating at a wide band of frequencies\u201d and \u201cbeing a high-speed communications network.\u201d In contrast, the American Heritage dictionary defines broadband as \u201chaving a wide band of electromagnetic frequencies.\u201d Perhaps if we turn to Wikipedia we can find a more relevant definition. Wikipedia refers to broadband as \u201ca signaling method that includes or handles a relatively wide band of frequencies which may be divided into channels.\u201d While all these definitions are technically correct, they are too general to be of any real use to regulators.<\/p>\n
Certainly, there is no better place to turn for a definition than the U.S. Communications Act itself, which defines broadband as \u201cservices and facilities with at least 200 kbps in both directions.\u201d A term coined in 1992, the days of dial-up Internet, mind you. In addition, the FCC has used several terms to refer to the same thing. In a recent notice of inquiry, the FCC acknowledged its use the terms \u201cbroadband,\u201d \u201cadvanced telecommunications capability\u201d and \u201cadvanced services\u201d interchangeably. Furthermore, according to the FCC, there is a slight difference between \u201cbroadband\u201d and \u201chigh speed.\u201d \u201cHigh speed\u201d is described as \u201cservices with more than 200 kbps capability in at least one direction (but not necessarily both).\u201d<\/p>\n
The FCC defines \u201cfirst-generation data\u201d as those services with data rates greater than 200 kbps but less than 768 kbps in the faster direction.\u201d The FCC also defines \u201cbasic broadband tier 1\u201d to mean \u201cservices equal to or greater than 768 kbps but less than 1.5 megabits per second in the faster direction.\u201d There are also definitions for \u201cbroadband tier 2,\u201d \u201cbroadband tier 3\u201d \u2026 and \u201cbroadband tier 7.\u201d Shall we keep going? <\/p>\n
At the end of the day, even with all these \u201cclarifications,\u201d we still cannot get our hands around the term broadband. For instance, if broadband indeed refers to a throughput of 200 kbps, where is that throughput supposed to be measured? Should it be measured end-to-end or within the network. If measurement takes place within the network, then where in the network? What is to be said about the verifiability of throughput measurements? How do performance indicators, such as latency, come into the equation? The same is to be said for jitter, reliability and mobility. Since throughput reacts differently over dissimilar technologies or protocols, should this factor also be part of the definition?<\/p>\n
The current definition, being vague at best, lends itself for mischief. For instance, broadband providers must comply with certain regulations, CALEA (wire tapping) and E911 (for voice) being some of them. So it is not unusual to find providers making conflicting statements, such as certifying to the FCC that they do not provide broadband (as defined) in order not to be subject to certain regulations that govern it, while at the same time widely advertising broadband services on their web sites. <\/p>\n
The U.S. Communications Act requires the FCC to conduct inquiries to ensure that broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely manner. Over the years, the FCC has conducted five such inquiries to comply with this provision. We are in the midst of another inquiry now. Congress has ordered the FCC, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus package), to present the result of this last inquiry in a report due Feb. 17. This report is likely to contain a new definition of broadband. Let\u2019s hope this one is definitive.<\/p>\n
\nRaul Magallanes runs a Houston-based law firm focusing on telecommunications law. He may be reached at +1 (281) 317-1397 or by email at raul@ rmtelecomlaw.com.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is broadband? Don\u2019t be so quick to answer. After all, we use the term regularly without ever stopping to think about its precise meaning. Is broadband high-speed Internet, advanced telecommunications services or just speeds higher than 200 kilobits per second (kbps)? Realizing the confusion, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has embarked on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87897,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87706\/revisions\/87897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}