FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly agrees with the telecom industry that nobody actually needs ultra-high-speed internet access. They believe it so much they fight tooth and nail to stop anybody who wants to compete with them by providing it for cheaper than they say is possible. When Tom Wheeler tried to push through broadband speed classification at the very reasonable—and frankly conservative—25Mbs, O’Rielly said no way. Techdirt points out O’Rielly’s dissent showed all of the disdain he has for even the suggestion of high speed being classed faster.
"To justify setting the new benchmark at 25/3, as opposed to the current 4/1 or even 10/1 as several commenters suggested, the Report notes that 4K TV requires 25 Mbps. But 4K TV is still relatively new and is not expected to be widely adopted for years to come. While the statute directs us to look at “advanced” telecommunications capability, this stretches the concept to an untenable extreme. Some people, for example, believe, probably incorrectly, that we are on the path to interplanetary teleportation. Should we include the estimated bandwidth for that as well? "
Chortle! Guffaw! Of course 4K is here now, the streaming of which is already being hamstrung by ISP usage caps, even on ultra-fast connections.
Now Mr. O’Rielly, along with FCC Chairman and friend of the one percent Ajit Pai, is a part of the majority and is willing to just say openly how policy surrounding the internet shouldn’t have anything to do with pie-in-the-sky ideas like good quality or fairness or consumer protections.
“The outcry for things like ultrahigh-speed service in certain areas means longer waits for those who have no access or still rely on dialup service, as providers rush to serve the denser and more profitable areas that seek upgrades to this level,” O’Rielly said. “Today, ultrafast residential service is a novelty and good for marketing, but the tiny percentage of people using it cannot drive our policy decisions.”
O’Reilly added that the better method for broadband expansion is to focus on providing a range of speeds that can accommodate a larger group of consumers.
“We should strive to ensure that broadband of a realistic speed and quality is available for as many as possible, knowing it will be far exceeded in most circumstances,” O’Rielly said.
“Realistic speed” means “how much we can make you pay to be able to stream a show on your phone while your kid uses the internet to try to research homework?”