The US Has A Broadband Policy, Really?

So this week the Bush Administration published a report on US Broadband Policy and extolled how well its working. Curious given that members of the FCC have reported that they don’t think we actually have one. Ars Technica has the coverage.

As I’ve written before, my broadband options have not changed a bit in over ten years. Oh, the price goes up for decent service, and there’s dirt cheap DSL for marginal service. The providers are arrogant, lazy companies milking consumers while trying to minimize what we actually use so that they can avoid infrastructure investment and maximize their profits du jour.

Time-Warner is trying a new pricing scheme involving bandwidth caps in Beaumont, TX. Comcast is traffic shaping p2p activity. AT&T believes in spending to buy other telcos, but built U-Verse on the principle of not spending on infrastructure if at all possible. (The exploding DSLAMs in neighborhoods are really neat though!)

Verizon may have their problems too, but at least they made the investment in technology to deliver real fiber-to-the-home. It’s a longer term view that will serve them, and the country, well over time.

The administration is deluded. But that’s not exactly news…is it?

Something needs to change, and change BIG! We need a federal regulator with some backbone to ensure that the general public good is served as well as the corporate shareholders.