Broadband stimulus hopefuls race to define 'broadband'

For that reason, the NRECA joined many in recommending different speeds for different technologies.

For example, while not offering any advice on defining broadband, Alaska Communications suggested defining an "underserved" market, for the purpose of stimulus awards, as one in which broadband speeds were not sustainably at least 1 Mb/s for mobile services and 10 Mb/s for wireline services.

Clearwire went even further, suggesting different speed standards for mobile and fixed wireless technologies: "At a minimum, an average actual speed of 3 Mb/s download and 768 kb/s upload per end user during peak hours should be required for applicants proposing mobile wireless broadband infrastructure."

Some, on the other hand, used the technologies themselves as the qualifiers. For example, the Rural Independent Competitive Alliance said, "'Broadband' should mean Internet access at a consistent speed no less than that available through DSL technology."

Part of the problem with picking speeds to define broadband, the FCC has acknowledged, is that broadband speeds are highly variable. T-Mobile, in its comments, suggested broadband be defined by its maximum speeds, while others suggest "average" or "sustainable" speeds.

Perhaps one of the most detailed and elaborate definitions of broadband offered in public comments came from HierComm Wireless, a young fixed wireless Internet service provider in rural Wisconsin. It suggested a definition of "true broadband" whose minimum average speed increases every few  years or so (though always symmetrically): from 3Mb/s symmetrical this year to 15 Mb/s next year, reaching 100 Mb/s by 2019.

But why should broadband only be defined by speed? Some commenters pointed out that latency and other characteristics had practical importance, too. And the Western Telecommunication Alliance, pointing out that speeds were ever and rapidly increasing anyway, wrote, "The definition of 'broadband' for [stimulus] purposes also needs to consider the substantial expense of broadband deployment…'Broadband' is an evolving service standard…define it at a reasonable and realistic level such as a 768 kb/s transmission speed at the present time."