Google, ALLO, Ting ask FCC to upgrade speed requirements for broadband

The Federal Communications Commission is currently accepting comments in regard to the minimum speed requirements for broadband. The CEOs of Google Fiber, ALLO Fiber and Ting Internet sent a letter to the FCC, urging it to update its definition of broadband to symmetrical upload and download speeds of 100 Mbps. The FCC currently defines broadband as having download speeds of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps. And most people would agree those are really slow and outdated speed thresholds. Google Fiber, ALLO and Ting said that in today’s world, upload speeds are just as essential as download speeds, with many people working from home, and children doing their homework online, not to mention the demands of video conferencing and telehealth. “An asymmetrical standard implies that entertainment use cases for the internet are more important than productivity uses that consistently require more upload bandwidth,” they wrote. They noted that a video conference for telework, using 1080p video, requires 3.6 Mbps per participant. So, a call with 10 people requires 36 Mbps of upload speed. “Increasing the definition of broadband to 100/100 Mbps will help to close the digital divide by making certain low-income and rural America will not be getting internet that is already antiquated the day it is installed."