FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal

(arstechnica.com)

33 points | by jonbaer a day ago ago

11 comments

  • _bent 21 hours ago

    after years of German political culture just being US culture wars 10 years delayed, it's great to see the Exportweltmeister contributing back by bringing "Technologieoffenheit" to the states

  • m463 10 hours ago

    So I guess this means starlink and wisp kinds of technologies are being "discriminated against"

  • Larrikin 21 hours ago

    I don't really care if the rural areas that voted for this are now stuck with slower speeds, but the bit about it being unfair to satellite Internet providers is obviously just naked corruption.

    • 0xy 19 hours ago

      Biden's broadband bill was designed to connect those rural areas for $50bn but nobody was connected because it was a scam designed to enrich ISPs and driven by ISP lobbyists.

      I like how people pretend that history never happened. We're supposed to forget that this happened merely 4 years ago and taxpayer money was not shoveled into the fire pit.

      We'll definitely trust you to do another $100bn plan next time you're in power and NOT shovel cash into the fire pit this time.

      This scam was covered extensively. 2021 it was law and nothing done by 2024. Absolutely embarrassing. [1]

      [1] https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/04/biden-broadband-pro...

      • iAMkenough 11 hours ago

        I remember this happening during the Bush Jr. years too. The ISPs keep getting away with not being held accountable by government of both parties.

        All I know is the current administration prefers satellite, ever since I heard about that Starlink terminal installed to help DOGE exfiltrate information on Americans without going through established secure infrastructure.

  • heyitsmedotjayb 21 hours ago

    Better things aren't possible!

  • 20 hours ago
    [deleted]
  • leoedin 21 hours ago

    I've got fibre to my house. I could pay more for 1Gbps, but I'm currently on 500Mbps and it's good enough. Unless I worked in video editing or did AI training at home or something I don't think I'll upgrade. There's just not that many benefits to being faster.

    I'd say even 100Mbps would be good enough for most uses. It's nice to be faster, but I'm not certain it improves my life very much.

    • sixothree 19 hours ago

      If gigabit was the baseline, you wouldn't have to pay extra. You're not saving money.

      • dlcarrier 17 hours ago

        If gigabit was the baseline, I wouldn't be able to get my $20/mo plan wouldn't be available, and I'd have to pay more for service I don't use.

    • testing22321 21 hours ago

      This is one of the things in life I consciously don’t “go big” to save money. Because it’s a fixed monthly payment, the savings rack up over the years by just getting the slowest speed possible that has unlimited usage.

      Everything I’ve ever wanted to do is near enough to instant on 80Mbps. When I torrent something big I just grab a glass of water and do 3 minutes of stretching and it’s done.