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FCC will also look at the state of the wireless industry

The FCC is responsible for many tasks in the U.S. from ensuring that devices don't interfere with other devices on wireless spectrums to taking major companies to task over some of their practices.

The latest company to feel the ire of the FCC is Apple. Apple is reportedly the subject of an FCC inquiry on how exactly the company decides what apps to approve and which apps to disapprove for its massively popular App Store. The FCC is set to begin its first meeting with all five commissioners under the Obama administration next week.

Among the topics of the meeting will be defining exactly what broadband means in America. Reuters reports that the FCC has issued a notice for public comment on its website seeking input from the public to assist it in drafting the national broadband plan. The national broadband plan is expected to be delivered to Congress in February 2010.

The FCC will reportedly issue a second fact-finding notice on its website as well to study how more competition and innovation can be encouraged in the broadband market in America. The FCC meeting is set for next Thursday reports Reuters and the commissioners will discuss the state of the wireless industry and fees on monthly bills of subscribers as well.

The goal of the inquiry on broadband is to see if consumers in America can get better service, and more speed at a lower cost that we pay today. The U.S. is a broadband backwater compared to other parts of Europe and Asia where broadband speeds are vastly faster than what most Americans enjoy. To get funds from the broadband stimulus package speeds have to be at least 768kbps in America.

A study found that the advertised rate of most American broadband plans is 9.6Mbps. At the same time, the fastest speeds in Japan are 92.8Mbps, Korea has 80.8 Mbps, and France has 51Mbps speeds. A series of FCC workshops will also look at the issue with advertised speeds and actual speeds that customers get.

FCC chairman Carols Kirjner said, "In most cases the 'advertised' throughput speed has a tenuous relation with the actually delivered speed."

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Bogus comparison?
By astralsolace on 8/21/2009 4:28:55 PM , Rating: 2
Why is the -average- advertised broadband speed in the US being compared with the -fastest- available speed in the listed countries?

You can get 100Mbps+ service in the US, as well, if you're willing to pay the price for it, in many areas. It seems odd to compare the average of US connections with the outlier, fastest speeds in Europe/Asia.




RE: Bogus comparison?
By Trisped on 8/21/2009 6:23:05 PM , Rating: 2
I think it is a typo. The US speed of 9.6 Mbps sounds like an average of max download speeds available to home users.

The comparison is trying to show that US home users can't get internet anywhere near as fast as those in Europe, Japan, or Korea.


RE: Bogus comparison?
By HaZaRd2K6 on 8/21/2009 7:44:17 PM , Rating: 1
That's the OP's point. The article seems to state that average speeds in the US will be compared with the absolute fastest speeds throughout the world. The fastest available speeds in the US would probably match up quite well with the fastest speeds throughout the rest of the world.

Average speed, however, would probably not.


RE: Bogus comparison?
By LordanSS on 8/22/2009 9:15:21 PM , Rating: 2
Considering the "absolute max" speeds in Japan and South Korea nowadays are in the 1Gbps range...


RE: Bogus comparison?
By the goat on 8/24/2009 8:10:05 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Considering the "absolute max" speeds in Japan and South Korea nowadays are in the 1Gbps range...

Same to you pal. My parents have had gigabit speed fiber (GPON http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_optical_netwo... to their home for almost two years. They have super fast Internet, HDTV and POTS phone service all over the same fiber.

-the Goat


RE: Bogus comparison?
By amanojaku on 8/24/2009 6:18:49 AM , Rating: 3
I wish I could get KRS One to play my theme song. (It makes sense if you've seen "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!")

"In about 4 seconds the teacher will begin to speak..."

First, terminology. Kinda off topic, but this has been abused too much and I want to set the record straight. Broadband does not imply fast speed. Broadband is a method of data transmission, and has a counterpart, baseband. Broadband transmission sends information over wires using multiple radio frequencies so that nodes can share the line. This requires each frequency to be separated far enough from each other to avoid interference, and each frequency is actually a range which needs to be wide enough to transport a decent amount of data. If this sounds familiar it should; one of the first broadband systems is the TV network, both OTA and cable. Each frequency range is a channel, with divisions for picture, audio and modulation. The telephone system was like this at one point, but moved to a time division system.

Which leads me to baseband. Nodes share the same frequency, so they cannot communicate simultaneously as they do in broadband networks. They must split the access time across each node so that all communicate somewhat fairly, usually through a wasteful fixed interval or a collision-prone combination of listening and transmitting. You guessed it: Ethernet is a baseband system. So is a T1.

Wireless is a weird combination of both. Each antenna uses multiple frequencies to achieve high bandwidth to the station, but accesses the station in a time-shared fashion. Some devices are beefed up to support multiple devices over multiple frequencies, eliminating or reducing time sharing.

Which one is "better" is a matter of debate. Suffice it to say that some are more suited for certain applications than others and it seems the industry has standardized on broadband for public internet access to the home. Broadband, while not necessarily as fast as switched p2p Ethernet, is fairly easy to improve upon, as seen in Europe and Japan. We've been chugging along with aging 7-10Mbits cable and 7Mbit DSL, both around $50 a month. Sure, you can get FIOS and other services, but they are limited in availability, and pricing is usually higher. 50MBit FIOS is $145 a month with a 1 year contract.

Oh, and these guys want to cap us.

Now look at Japan. 50MBit ADSL for $35. 100Mbit Fibre for $100. And reports of a shared 1Gbit service for $100. Mobile Internet up to 5Mbit. No caps.

Look at France. 28Mbit ADSL average at $30. Fibre to the home. 2.5Gbit down. 1.25Gbit up. $70 a month. They do have that anti-piracy thing, though...

The point is the average Asian or European country has 3-5 times the bandwidth to homes, and at prices nearly half of ours. Abroad high speed offerings and unlimited use are encouraged, while in the U.S. providers want to meter. You can easily get 100Mbit at $100 a month or less. And a Korean cell phone can download porn almost as fast as your American PC can.


Upload speed?
By japlha on 8/21/2009 4:47:08 PM , Rating: 2
What's the point of a increased download bandwidth when the upload is order of magnitudes slower.
I'd prefer a 25Mbps download/25Mbps upload over a 50Mbps download/1Mbps upload.




RE: Upload speed?
By OUits on 8/22/2009 10:45:13 AM , Rating: 2
Well, I think the obvious answer to that is so "they" can keep the group who has the ability to offer significant amounts of content to a minimum.

If you could sign up with Time Warner or Cox or w/e and get gobs of upload speed, you could theoretically become both a competitor and a subscriber to a cable company.


By lukasbradley on 8/21/2009 4:28:24 PM , Rating: 2
Does anyone remember the huge debates in the late 1990s between telecoms and ISPs regarding which technology they sold was more important? I used to get so bent out of shape about their misuse of the terms broadband and baseband... my nerd gaskets really got steamed about it.

Now, they are so bastardized, I'm pretty numb to it.




9.6 seems a bit high
By ElFenix on 8/22/2009 10:25:26 AM , Rating: 2
who is advertising a consumer broadband plan over 9.6? a couple places with fios? maybe cable when you count that powerboost crud?




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Real Broadband
By rrburton on 8/24/2009 12:52:21 PM , Rating: 2
As viewed by telecom engineering broadband starts at 45Mbps/DS3 equivalent. Anything less labled as broadband is telecom marketing at work...




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