We’ve been complaining about the way the FCC tracks broadband penetration in this country for years. The agency has long considered 200kbps to be a broadband connection, and believes that if one person in a zip code has broadband, that entire zip-code is wired for service. That’s a fairly big deal, given they’ve made massive, sweeping changes to the industry over the last decade based on completely inaccurate data.

Given that more accurate data would highlight a lack of competition and coverage in many markets, the largest broadband providers have fought tooth and nail to prevent any change in this fairly convenient political scenario. While the FCC did release another rose-colored-glasses analysis (pdf) of the nation’s broadband infrastructure today, they also voted to finally change the way they track broadband after a decade of criticism.

The FCC has finally shifted the definition of broadband from 200kbps to 768kbps, probably not as high as it should be, but a vast improvement. The agency says they’ll also start tracking both downstream and upstream speeds and will scrap the zip code tracking methodology for more substantive census-track level reporting. Carriers still won’t be required to release data on the prices they charge for different speeds.

Consumer Group Public Knowledge says the FCC is sending a “mixed message” to the public. “It is a mystery why the Commission chose to issue this report when, mere moments later, the Commission admitted the inadequacy of the information by starting the process to update the data collection on broadband,” says PK founder Gigi B. Sohn.

While the change actually arrived, it arrived after industry lobbyists convinced the Congress and the FCC to engage in sweeping deregulation of the industry, using flawed FCC data as a cornerstone. Perhaps the next time the FCC makes a decision on the market, they might actually know something about it.
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