FCC faces backlash for saying Americans might not need fast home Internet

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American Internet users are telling the Federal Communications Commission that mobile broadband is not a full replacement for fast home Internet service. This week, the FCC kicked off its annual analysis of broadband deployment and signaled that it might determine that smartphone access is a proper substitute for cable or fiber Internet. In doing so, the FCC could conclude that broadband is already being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, and thus the commission could take fewer steps to promote deployment and competition.

There have been over 300 new comments filed since we wrote about this two days ago, almost universally lambasting the FCC's suggestion that Americans might not need fast home Internet service and could make do with mobile broadband only. Mobile is hindered by data caps, limits on tethering, and reliability problems that make it fall short of a wired Internet connection, people told the FCC.

The FCC's own analysis acknowledged that mobile broadband needs to be judged differently. The commission proposed a mobile broadband speed standard of 10Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream, less than half as fast as the FCC's home broadband speed standard of 25Mbps/3Mbps.

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