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

Tue May 24 12:33:58 UTC 2022

Michael Thomas <mike at mtcc.com> writes:
> On 5/23/22 11:49 AM, Aaron Wendel wrote:
>> The Fiber Broadband Association estimates that the average US
>> household will need more than a gig within 5 years.  Why not just
>> jump it to a gig or more?
>
> Really? What is the average household doing to use up a gig worth of
> bandwidth?

I don't think this "need" is based on using up all the available
bandwitdh, but about speed expectations.  Customers want to download the
same amount of data as before, only faster.  Increasing the subscriber
port bandwidth allows the ISP to oversubscribe their access network even
more, so the cost doesn't necessarily increase much.  You get faster
downloads for "free".  Customers will want that.

Don't know how many of you on the wrong side of the pond followed
RIPE84? There was an interesting talk there from Init7 in Switzerland on
their experiences delivering 25 gig FTTH:
https://ripe84.ripe.net/archives/video/797/

I noticed in particular the "Monthly volume won't change" on one of the
slides..

Dealing with extreme syncronized peaks, like a popular game launch for
example, will be harder with higher bandwidths.  But we do have CDNs for
efficient distribution of the same content to many ports. You'll just
have to move those further out in the access network.

Bjørn