Sean - 

As others have alluded to, it likely would heavily depend how such a definition 
of “broadband Internet" gets used…

As a recommendation, it’s a wonderful thing to have a reference target for 
service providers to aim for in their offerings. 

As a mandated requirement (e.g. when used for purposes of approving government 
licensing or funding), then it’s very important to recognize that there will 
always be unintended consequences of such mandates; i.e. it’s very easy to 
argue that “everyone deserves N times faster Internet”, but implementation 
reality is always that funding doesn’t exist to provide that service to 
everyone, so such mandates can result in those who would very much appreciate 
an “inferior” government-approved or subsidized service getting no service at 
all…

The above is not a statement in favor or against any particular definition, but 
rather observation that the question is hard to consider absent more detail 
about circumstances (and some of the potential consequences) of how the 
definition will be applied back in the real-world. 

Thanks,
/John

> On 27 May 2021, at 8:29 PM, Sean Donelan <s...@donelan.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> What should be the new minimum speed for "broadband" in the U.S.?
> 
> 
> This is the list of past minimum broadband speed definitions by year
> 
> year  speed
> 
> 1999  200 kbps in both directions (this was chosen as faster than dialup/ISDN 
> speeds)
> 
> 2000  200 kbps in at least one direction (changed because too many service 
> providers had 128 kbps upload)
> 
> 2010   4 mbps down / 1 mbps up
> 
> 2015   25 Mbps down / 3 Mbps up (wired)
>        5 Mbps down / 1 Mbps up (wireless)
> 
> 2021   ??? / ??? (some Senators propose 100/100 mbps)
> 
> Not only in major cities, but also rural areas
> 
> Note, the official broadband definition only means service providers can't 
> advertise it as "broadband" or qualify for subsidies; not that they must 
> deliver better service.
> 

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