ExtremeLabs, Inc

So what is it, this broadband stuff?

Once upon a time there was baseband and broadband. They were electrical characteristics of network data transmission. Now, the term is whatever anyone wants to make it.

My sense of broadband is something faster than a megabit per second in data transmission payload. This means that a lot of connectivity posing as broadband today is actually just slow data. This means you, DSL, UMTS, EV-DO, 1xRTT, and all forms of ISDN. It also likely means that the venerable T1 is slower in payload than what should be minimum broadband speed.

But marketing twits across the planet will disagree. Fancy that.

I listened on the local public radio affiliate, about how we’re a third world country when it comes to broadband deployment. People are just now realizing this?

There were representatives from current providers that say we have choice.

Bullshit.

The telcos have merged together and narrowed the playing fields down to themselves, quashing all competition. Their vendors let them do this, too. The choices are somewhere between bad and awful, and the pricing makes telcos/cable companies drool. Competition is bad. The FCC won’t change things, and wireless isn’t the answer at all.

What will happen? Lots of handwringing, then life goes on as normal. Normal is not excellence, normal isn’t progressive, normal isn’t world-leading. Normal is ‘shareholder maximized return’.

I worry for the newly elected president. Many differing needs will tug at him. Years of awful leadership at the FCC loom large over the future of broadband and ‘telecom’ policy in the near future, and the steps taken (or not) will have impact that will be felt for generations to come.

The broadband layout is undoubtedly the largest difficulty to face, along with incumbent media evolution. The long term pressure applied by the telcos and service providers has bent the communications infrastructure of the USA in directions that don’t benefit its citizenry any more.

The fronts are many. There’s the madness of IP law to deal with. There’s tech investment. Alternative energy. Energy distribution. Communications infrastructure. Broadcast media difficulties. The madness of media that lies. Spectrum distribution. Security. Defense from international systems attacks, botnets. Financial systems infrastructure security. Privacy.

It’s not an easy job for a new president, no matter how popular. I wish him and his government the best.