New minimum speed for US broadband connections

[Sean Donelan <sean () donelan com>]

What should be the new minimum speed for "broadband" in the U.S.?


This is the list of past minimum broadband speed definitions by year

year  speed

1999  200 kbps in both directions (this was chosen as faster than 
dialup/ISDN speeds)

2000  200 kbps in at least one direction (changed because too many service 
providers had 128 kbps upload)

2010   4 mbps down / 1 mbps up

2015   25 Mbps down / 3 Mbps up (wired)
        5 Mbps down / 1 Mbps up (wireless)

2021   ??? / ??? (some Senators propose 100/100 mbps)

Not only in major cities, but also rural areas

Note, the official broadband definition only means service providers can't 
advertise it as "broadband" or qualify for subsidies; not that they must 
deliver better service.