Hillicon Valley: FCC eyes broadband tax

[Winehole23]

The Federal Communications Commission is eyeing a proposal to tax broadband Internet service.


The move would funnel money to the Connect America Fund, a subsidy the agency created last year to expand Internet access.
The FCC issued a request (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-12-46A1.pdf) for comments on the proposal in April. Dozens of companies and trade associations have weighed in, but the issue has largely flown under the public's radar.





"If members of Congress understood that the FCC is contemplating a broadband tax, they'd sit up and take notice," said Derek Turner, research director for Free Press, a consumer advocacy group that opposes the tax.






Numerous companies, including AT&T, Sprint and even Google have expressed support for the idea.


Consumers already pay a fee on their landline and cellular phone bills to support the FCC's Universal Service Fund. The fund was created to ensure that everyone in the country has access to telephone service, even if they live in remote areas.


Last year, the FCC overhauled a $4.5 billion portion of the Universal Service Fund and converted it into a broadband Internet subsidy, called the Connect America Fund. The new fund aims to subsidize the construction of high-speed Internet networks to the estimated 19 million Americans who currently lack access.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/245479-fcc-eyes-tax-on-internet-service

[boutons_deux]

If mega-corps are FOR a tax, it's ONLY because they will be profiting, in the many $Bs, from the tax.

They'll pocket the tax to Connect America but they won't Connect America seriously, and the govt won't penalize them for not connecting. iow, no accountability.

btw, DSL is NOT broadband, it's baseband.

[leemajors]

lol, as if the general shitty service isn't expensive enough already?

[TeyshaBlue]

DSL is broadband delivered over a phone line. :facepalm

"Federal Communications Commission has the following definition for Broadband Internet:

“…broadband service [is the] data transmission speeds exceeding 200 kilobits per second (Kbps), or 200,000 bits per second, in at least one direction: downstream (from the Internet to the user’s computer) or upstream (from the user’s computer to the Internet)”
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/12230.aspx?cid=parsely_rec

Also, why is there another tax needed for this? The USF fund is sufficient.

[boutons_deux]

DSL is broadband delivered over a phone line. :facepalm

"Federal Communications Commission has the following definition for Broadband Internet:

“…broadband service [is the] data transmission speeds exceeding 200 kilobits per second (Kbps), or 200,000 bits per second, in at least one direction: downstream (from the Internet to the user’s computer) or upstream (from the user’s computer to the Internet)”
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/12230.aspx?cid=parsely_rec

Also, why is there another tax needed for this? The USF fund is sufficient.

DSL is analog baseband, not broadband. DSL is faster than audio-frequency modems, but it's not broadband.

[TeyshaBlue]

The FCC seems to disagree with your assessment.

[Slomo]

Not to split hairs, but the way I remember it is that DSL is concidered a broadband data connection, because it uses/creates a high (higher?) bandwidth channel that is higher in frequency above (and separated from) the 4 kHz baseband channel of the phone line that is basically the part used for voice/phone communications.

I believe that any data communication above 256kbps is considered broadband.

The definition may not be 100% accurate, but that's how we were taught and how I've always understood the term broadband in data comms.

As for the tax itself, it seems like a good idea if the money is in fact used for the creation of better networks. From experience I am however quite a bit sceptical about these sorts of projects (money disappears way too often).

[ElNono]

The FCC definitely counts DSL as broadband as far as surveying goes... IIRC, not all countries do.

[boutons_deux]

The FCC seems to disagree with your assessment.

the FCC are politicians, not engineers

broadband is misused widely. the terms were originally broadband vs baseband.

Misuse doesn't make it right, only common parlance.

and FCC is really talking about mainly DSL, since true broadband in underserved (rural) areas would be WiMax or cable, not twisted pair copper.

[Wild Cobra]

If mega-corps are FOR a tax, it's ONLY because they will be profiting, in the many $Bs, from the tax.

They'll pocket the tax to Connect America but they won't Connect America seriously, and the govt won't penalize them for not connecting. iow, no accountability.

btw, DSL is NOT broadband, it's baseband.
No.

DSL is most of the baseband.

[Wild Cobra]

DSL is analog baseband, not broadband. DSL is faster than audio-frequency modems, but it's not broadband.
It is still considered broadband.