The Federal Communications Commission has officially revised the way that it measures broadband penetration, a system that was formerly the laughing stock of some observers in Europe. The agency will no longer define either upload or download speed at 200 Kbps as "high speed broadband." Rather, it will diplomatically classify this and all connections up to 768K with the gentle phrase "First Generation data."

"I am pleased that the Commission finally moved away from its antiquated definition of broadband as 200 kilobits per second, which had become something of a running joke," declared one Commissioner after Thursday's Order.

Here are the FCC's new classifications for tiers of Internet service:

"First Generation data:" 200 Kbps up to 768 Kbps

"Basic Broadband:" 768 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps

1.5 Mbps to < 3.0 Mbps

3.0 Mbps to < 6.0 Mbps

6.0 Mbps to < 10.0 Mbps

10.0 Mbps to < 25.0 Mbps

25.0 Mbps but < 100.0 Mbps

100.0 Mbps and beyond

The Commission has also revised its Form 477, which Internet service providers fill out to provide the agency with a snapshot of the state of national broadband penetration. At present, ISPs must report all five digit zip codes in which they have at least one customer. This distorted method created the broadband equivalent of "rotten boroughs" in pre-Victorian England—rural districts that were home to only a handful of farmers but still enjoyed full representation in Parliament. Now the agency will collect actual subscribership numbers in Census Tract areas rather than zip codes. The data will be further broken down by the new broadband categories and types of technology used.

The agency will also apply this new system of measurement to mobile wireless device users, and it will count VoIP subscribers more rigorously. VoIP providers must report the number of end users and resale subscribers they have in each state. They will also have to report data on whether they provide a broadband connection in tandem with their service, and whether the service must be used over a particular high speed connection.

Since I joined . . .

The agency's latest assessment (through June 2007) of high speed deployment in the United States uses the old "running joke" system of measurement, to borrow Commissioner Tate's phrase: a high speed connection defined at 200 Kbps or more in at least one direction. But that did not stop FCC Chair Kevin Martin from proudly reporting and even taking a little credit for it. "During the first half of 2007, high speed lines increased by 22 percent, from over 82 million to over 100 million lines," Martin said on Thursday. "Since I joined the Commission, these lines have grown 950% from just over 9 million lines to over 100 million lines."

But a closer look at the data indicates that a much smaller number of Americans have lines at higher speeds than 2.5 Mbps: 37.7 million lines provide access at speeds greater than or equal to 2.5 Mbps but less than 10 Mbps.

While the public interest group Free Press applauded the FCC's new data collection tools, it called Martin's assessment of the latest broadband numbers "divorced from reality."

"The FCC has declared 'mission accomplished' on broadband despite the mountain of evidence of America's broadband market woes," S. Derek Turner, Free Press's research director said on Friday.