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Tom’s Hardware
Tom’s Hardware
Technology
Roshan Ashraf Shaikh

FCC quadruples requirements for basic broadband service — 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload are now the base standard

A network switch.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today announced that it has updated what it considers to be the benchmark for broadband speeds. The update sees 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload as the new standard. This is a four-fold increase compared to a 2015, which set the benchmark to 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. As our Internet dependence increases, changing the bare minimum speed to be called broadband needs to evolve. The FCC explains how it determines the speeds to qualify as a broadband connection

"The increase in the Commission’s fixed speed benchmark for advanced telecommunications capability is based on the standards now used in multiple federal and state programs (such as NTIA’s BEAD Program and multiple USF programs), consumer usage patterns, and what is actually available from and marketed by internet service providers." 

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