FCC officially decides gigabit speeds are too good for you
The FCC, under Chairman Brendan Carr, has officially abandoned long-term goals for achieving gigabit broadband speeds across the United States. The author criticizes this move as a regression in national infrastructure policy, arguing that the agency is ignoring clear technological trends.
Why it matters
The decision impacts national digital infrastructure development and the future of internet accessibility and speed standards in the US.
Another day, another sad thing to report about our compromised Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Brendan Carr has followed through on his 2025 threat to kill long-term broadband speed goals established during the Biden administration, which aimed for eventually getting us to gigabit download and half-gigabit upload speeds. How dare we dream of spreading great download and upload speeds across the country!
It’s wild that 13 years after Comcast said Americans don’t need gigabit internet we’re somehow back in this conversation. Especially since the private sector has delivered, albeit unevenly, on super high speeds in certain areas; For example, the apartment I’m about to move into offers 5 gigabit synchronous internet speed which will require a new PCIe network card to handle. Those speeds are ludicrous, but why are we not aiming for the moon across the country?
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