Re: FCC proposes higher speed goals (100/20 Mbps) for USF providers

[Kord Martin <kord () firstnationscable com>]

   I don’t think game manufacturers expand their games based on
   available download bandwidth. I think that games have gotten richer
   and the graphics environments and capabilities have improved and
   content more expansive to a point where yes, games are several
   BluRays worth of download now instead of being shipped on multiple
   discs.

When I was a rural DSL customer, my problem wasn't necessarily with the 
size of the games, but rather that you'd have to re-download the entire 
game every week. It would take almost an entire week to download a game, 
then by time it's finally updated they've updated a tree texture and you 
need to download the whole game again. I understand why this happens but 
customers who didn't have access to broadband just got the shaft.

I still have a lot of friends who don't have access to broadband and 
simply can't play modern games because of the always-online requirement 
and constant, huge updates.

   If the target is a non-fiber service, then 100/20 might make sense.
   If Fiber is being installed, then it’s hard to find a rationale for
   1Gbps being more expensive than any lower capacity.

The question I have for other operators: if you have a group of 
customers that subscribe to a 100Mb service, and all of them suddenly 
switched to a 1Gb service, would you expect an increase in overall 
bandwidth usage?

I've been looking around for some other comments on bandwidth trends but 
I don't know how much of that would/should be confidential based on 
privacy or trade secret.