A year after the Federal Communications Commission changed the definition of broadband Internet to include only faster speeds, Republicans in Congress are still mad about the decision.

Using the new broadband minimum speed of 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload, the FCC's annual review of deployment this month said that broadband isn't being offered to about 34 million Americans. ISPs immediately criticized that assessment; yesterday their friends in Congress piled on.

Six Republican Senators—Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.)—outlined their concerns in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler yesterday. (The Hill reported on the letter and posted a copy.) "We are concerned that this arbitrary 25/3 Mbps benchmark fails to accurately capture what most Americans consider broadband... Looking at the market for broadband applications, we are aware of few applications that require download speeds of 25Mbps," the senators wrote. "Netflix, for example, recommends a download speed of 5Mbps to receive high-definition streaming video, and Amazon recommends a speed of 3.5Mbps. In addition, according to the FCC's own data, the majority of Americans who can purchase 25Mbps service choose not to."

The Republicans' argument seems to assume a household with just one Internet-connected device running a single application. When the FCC increased the definition of broadband from 4Mbps/1Mbps to 25Mbps/3Mbps, it said that families are using multiple devices simultaneously and that the older broadband standard was "inadequate for evaluating whether broadband capable of supporting today’s high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video is being deployed to all Americans in a timely way.”

ISPs themselves admit as much in their marketing, Wheeler argued a year ago, pointing out that Verizon says 25Mbps speeds are "best for one to three devices at the same time, great for surfing, e-mail, online shopping and social networking, [and] streaming two HD videos simultaneously." Verizon's marketing pushed 50Mbps as the speeds families should get if they use three to five devices at the same time.

Republicans also argued that the FCC shouldn't define broadband differently in different contexts. Any Internet service faster than dial-up is subject to net neutrality rules, even if they're slower than 25Mbps/3Mbps, the letter said.

"If the Commission concluded that providers are providing a 'broadband' service worthy of increased regulatory protections, it seems inconsistent for the Commission to not count all such 'broadband' providers in the Commission's [annual deployment analysis]," they wrote.

GOP senators also pointed out that the FCC only requires Internet providers to supply 10Mbps/1Mbps speeds when they apply for government subsidies to boost Internet access in rural areas. The lower standard benefits ISPs, but Republican senators argued that the FCC shouldn't have a different definition of broadband for rural communities. "While we welcome any increase in broadband penetration in rural America, we would remind you that the FCC is tasked with implementing policies and procedures that advance universal service—ensuring that Americans have access to comparable service at comparable rates," the senators wrote.

On Thursday, the FCC is scheduled to vote on whether to issue the annual broadband deployment report as currently written. The commission is unlikely to change course on the 25Mbps/3Mbps definition under Wheeler's leadership. Because the Commission is required to encourage broadband deployment to all Americans, the report's conclusion that deployment isn't happening fast enough could be impetus for the FCC to take further regulatory action. After last year's report, the commission voted to preempt state laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that prevent municipal broadband providers from expanding outside their city limits.