FCC study: Many not getting advertised broadband speeds

The Federal Communications Commission didn’t miss the opportunity to try to elicit support for its 4 Mb/s downstream, 1 Mb/s upstream nationwide broadband speed target when it released a new report on Internet subscribership yesterday.

The study, based on data from mid-2009 that service providers are required to report, noted that only about 44% of residential fixed broadband users take service at advertised speeds equivalent to or greater than the proposed target.

According to previously released FCC data, however, most residential subscribers have higher broadband speeds available to them. A previous FCC report showed that more than 90% of U.S. households live in areas where broadband is available at advertised speeds of at least 4 Mb/s down, 1 MB/s up. 

The new report marks the first time service providers were asked to give detailed information about the specific data rates that customers purchase. According to the report, about one-third of residential broadband subscribers (33.2%) took service at rates below 3 Mb/s. This included 5.4% who took service at advertised download speeds of 200 kb/s to 768 kb/s, 14.1% who took service at advertised download speeds between 768 kb/s and 1.5 Mb/s, and 13.7% with advertised download speeds between 1.5 Mb/s and 3 Mb/s.

At the other end of the scale, nearly another third of residential users subscribed to service with advertised download speeds between 6 Mb/s and 10 MB/s. And 17.3% subscribed to service with advertised download speeds of 10 Mb/s or higher.

The new report, entitled “Internet Access Services: Status as of June 30, 2009,” is available on the FCC Web site.