The Federal Communications Commission today voted 3-2 along party lines to change the definition of broadband to at least 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream. The vote was no surprise given Chairman Tom Wheeler’s Democratic majority. But Wheeler put on a show just before the vote by contrasting Internet service providers’ marketing claims with their statements to the government.

Internet providers and industry lobbyists argued that the FCC should stick with the previous definition of broadband, a minimum of 4Mbps down and 1Mbps up, or at least not go as high as 25Mbps/3Mbps. But what Internet providers tell the government is in stark contrast to what Internet providers tell their own customers, Wheeler explained in great detail.

“Let’s parse out what they say in their lobbying with us and what they say when they’re talking to consumers,” said Wheeler, a former cable and wireless industry lobbyist himself. While Verizon told the FCC that consumers are satisfied with 4Mbps/1Mbps and that "a higher benchmark would serve no purpose,” they push customers to buy much faster speeds, which cost more, Wheeler pointed out.

“In their marketing materials Verizon says, ‘while FiOS provides a lot of speed for bandwidth hungry devices, you’d be surprised how fast it goes. You can think of your household’s Internet connection like a pizza to be shared with your whole family. Some people are hungrier than others and if too many friends show up no one will get enough to be satisfied.’

This is what their website says,” Wheeler continued. “’25/25 is best for one to three devices at the same time, great for surfing, e-mail, online shopping and social networking, streaming two HD videos simultaneously. 50/50 is best for three to five devices at the same time, more speed for families or individuals with multiple Internet devices, stream up to five HD videos simultaneously.’

“Somebody is telling us one thing and telling consumers another."

It’s not just Verizon. “Consider what AT&T told us in this proceeding,” Wheeler said. “Quote: ‘the notice presents no basis for a conclusion at this time that a service less than 10Mbps is no longer advanced.' But what they say to their customers is, ‘with downstream speeds up to 45Mbps, AT&T’s U-verse high-speed Internet lets you enjoy life in the fast lane, download music, movies and more in record time.’”

(Although Verizon and AT&T have speeds of at least 25Mbps in much of their territory, they still have a lot of customers who can only buy slower DSL service that won't qualify as broadband anymore.)

Next up in Wheeler's list was Comcast, which told the commission that a “4Mbps connection has been found to be sufficient to handle streaming HD video,” he said. But the Comcast website tells customers that with 150Mbps, they can “game in real time, and stream HD movies,” Wheeler noted.

Wheeler finished with Time Warner Cable, “who says, ‘between laptop, tablets, and smartphones you’ll need all the bandwidth you can get. 15Mbps works for two adults with two smartphones. 20Mbps: one person with a smartphone, a TV and a video streaming device. 30Mbps: a family, two adults, two kids, two TVs, one tablet, two computers, and one on-demand device.'"

TWC also "provides a convenient link on their website where you enter the characteristics of your household and they tell you the bandwidth you need, which is far more than 4 and far more than 10," Wheeler said.

“The facts speak for themselves,” he concluded, adding that subscriptions to 25Mbps/3Mbps service have quadrupled in the past three years.

Getting advanced Internet to all Americans

The FCC was having this debate because Congress requires it to determine whether broadband is being deployed to Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. The first step is determining what speeds allow for broadband access. Congress made it clear in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that broadband isn’t the bare minimum needed to use the Internet. Instead, it is “advanced telecommunications capability” that “enable[s] users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology.”

Advanced telecommunications capability today should enable homes with multiple people and multiple devices, FCC staff told commissioners before the vote. The decision excludes mobile and satellite from counting as broadband because of concerns about reliability, data caps, and latency, even if they can meet the bandwidth requirements. Fixed wireless from WISPs (wireless Internet service providers) can count as broadband, however.

Democratic Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel joined Wheeler in arguing for a faster minimum broadband speed. The commission should adopt a “forward looking, aspirational speed to make sure America leads the world and meets the needs of consumers,” Clyburn said.

Noting that the US put a man on the Moon and invented the Internet, Rosenworcel said, “I think our new threshold should be 100Mbps. I think anything short of that shortchanges our children, our future, and our new digital economy.” Despite wanting a higher standard, she did vote in favor of the 25Mbps/3Mbps definition.

Republicans Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly dissented. O'Rielly said the FCC is continually moving the goalposts so that the standard can never be met.

"[T]he Report narrowly holds that if some Americans do not have access to 25/3, then the standard isn’t met," O'Rielly said. "This inflexible test constructed by the majority, which ignores the significant time and costs required to expand and upgrade networks, simply does not comport with the statute or with reality. It also ensures that any standard the Commission sets will never be met, which seems to be the purpose."

Pai said that 71 percent of consumers who can buy at least 25Mbps service today choose not to do so. He pointed to two facts to prove that broadband is being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion: 98.5 percent of Americans live in areas covered by 4G LTE, and Google is expanding fiber service to 18 new cities, he noted.

Pai also pointed out that the FCC recently required just 10Mbps/1Mbps for rural broadband projects that use government funding.

“Why are we spending over $10 billion to deploy something that isn’t broadband?” Pai said. “Don't those in rural America deserve broadband access? Taken together, our decisions last month and today are incoherent.”

Wheeler disagreed, saying the rural funding supports more than just 10Mbps/1Mbps. “10/1 is the minimum that we said we would support,” he said. “We expect there to be more and we have programs in place to deliver more.”

The fact that 80 percent of Americans can access 25Mbps/3Mbps demonstrates that the speed is a “standard” and that the FCC should help the other 20 percent catch up, Wheeler said. (Statistics provided by the commission say that 17 percent of Americans lack access to 25Mbps/3Mbps service. The commission has also used stats that show 19.4 percent lack such access, but that higher number excludes fixed wireless services.)

The next step is figuring out what to do about the parts of America that don't have fast Internet service. The FCC is seeking comment on how it can accelerate deployment, and next month it's expected to vote on whether to preempt state laws that prevent cities and towns from expanding community broadband networks.