FCC Report: 68% Of U.S. Broadband Connections Aren’t Really Broadband

The term “broadband” according to the FCC isn’t a solid definition, thanks to ever increasing internet speeds and changes in other technologies the term can change more quickly then we can memorize it, however under the current definition the FCC claims that 68 percent of US connections are not in-fact broadband connections.

Under current FCC rules, broadband is defined as 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. Interestingly enough, there are no plans to warn or fine company’s who claim to have broadband connections, when in fact there connections do not meet federal criteria as there is no specific law in place to govern such naming criteria.

Another interesting finding in the FCC study comes in the form of mobile usage. The FCC found that mobile users with “data plans for full internet access” has increased to 48% of the market or approximately 52 million users (second half of 2009 numbers), while connections over 200 kbps made up 39.4 percent of the market, that’s more than cable modems at 32.4% and ADSL connections at 23.2%. If connections over 3 Mbps are considered, cable modems gobble up a huge 70 percent share.

You can find more order from the study at the FCC