FCCs RFC for the Definition of Broadband

Thu Aug 27 02:52:56 UTC 2009

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009, Fred Baker wrote:
> If it's about stimulus money, I'm in favor of saying that broadband implies 
> fiber to the home. That would provide all sorts of stimuli to the economy - 
> infrastructure, equipment sales, jobs digging ditches, and so on. I could 
> pretty quickly argue myself into suggesting special favors for deployment of 
> DNSSEC, multicast, and IPv6. As in, use the stimulus money to propel a leap 
> forward, not just waste it.

Broadband stimulus money = $7,200,000,000

Housing units in USA (2000) = 115,904,641

Stimulus money per housing unit = $62.12 one-time

What definition of "broadband" can you achieve for that amount of money?

Or for rural housing units (2000) = 25,938,698

Stimulus money per rural housing unit = $277.58 one-time

What definition of "broadband" can you achieve for that amount of money 
in a rural build-out?

How much will fiber to the home cost in a rural area?