Altice's throttling back of upload speeds on its hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network puts it in line with other ISPs and the industry, a spokesperson emailed us on Monday. Altice said new customers and customers who change, upgrade or downgrade their service, effective July 12, will get upload speeds 15 to 30 Mbps slower than existing customers. For example, incumbent subscribers to the Optimum Online service have upload speeds of 35 Mbps, while new subscribers will have 5 Mbps. Upload speeds for its 1 Gig service will be 50 Mbps and remain unchanged for incumbent customers but drop to 35 Mbps for new customers. Download speeds will be unchanged. Altice said it offers symmetrical speeds on its fiber network. It said its network "continues to perform very well despite the significant data usage increases during the pandemic, and the speed tiers we offer, ranging from 100Mbps to 1 Gig on HFC and fiber, provide customers with flexibility to choose the best package for their needs." It said it's "hyper focused" on fiber expansion.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and 171 other groups urged House and Senate leaders on Monday to “provide full funding to universally build networks that will deliver capacity that will meet local needs for decades and to ensure rigorous scrutiny of recipients of federal dollars so that the program achieves a proposed bill's future-proof goals.” President Joe Biden backed a bipartisan infrastructure spending package last week that includes $65 billion for broadband (see 2106240070). Biden attempted to preserve GOP support for the deal Saturday by walking back earlier statements that Republicans claimed (see 2106250066) constituted a threat to veto the package if Congress didn’t also pass an additional package of items favored by Democrats via the budget reconciliation process. “Our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat” the additional reconciliation package, Biden said. Modern broadband “far above the 2015 FCC standard of 25/3 Mbps” minimum service speeds “is a necessity for all communities demanding modern services to help overcome the challenge of distance, attract new businesses, and provide young workers good paying jobs,” the groups wrote Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and their GOP counterparts. “Any new federal program must fund broadband infrastructure capable of enabling businesses to meet the needs of consumers, empower businesses to relocate to any community, provide opportunities for teleworkers and students at the same level regardless of geography, enable anchor institutions to fully provide for their entire communities, and make possible precision agriculture capabilities for agriculture producers to improve efficiencies.” A “federal program by Congress that emphasizes delivering future-proof infrastructure can enable not just ubiquitous fiber wireline access, but also make possible ubiquitous wireless services that rely on fiber optics,” including “5G, next generation Wi-Fi, and their future iterations,” the groups said.

The FCC, NTIA and the Department of Agriculture agreed to "share information about and coordinate the distribution of federal broadband deployment funds," said the FCC Friday. They will consult and share information about funding distribution from FCC high-cost programs, Rural Utilities Services programs and NTIA-administered programs. The agencies will share information about areas served, speeds and technology, and whether an area gets funds through a program. "We’ll be better able to meet our shared goal of getting 100% of Americans connected," said FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said this "lays important groundwork for collaboration between agencies to ensure the federal government’s efforts to expand broadband access are as effective and efficient as possible."

Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wants to increase FCC broadband speed thresholds, she told reporters Thursday. "I hope in time that I can convince my colleagues that that is where we need to head." She believes "it's absolutely time" to raise the current threshold of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps up, she said a few minutes later. She didn't say if she believes speeds should be symmetrical or detail what higher speeds she would like to have define broadband. Spokespeople didn't answer our questions.

House Small Business Rural Development Subcommittee members eyed connectivity hurdles that small businesses face, during a Wednesday hearing. “Factors like low population densities, rugged terrain and fewer subscribers to spread deployment costs among have contributed to a lack of investment in broadband networks by private companies,” said Chairman Jared Golden, D-Maine. Ranking member Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn., backed Agriculture Committee GOP leaders’ Broadband for Rural America Act (HR-3369) and criticized President Joe Biden’s broadband infrastructure spending proposal (see 2103310064). HR-3369 would codify USDA’s ReConnect broadband program and set annual funding for its rural connectivity programs at $3.7 billion (see 2105210059). The administration’s plan “to prioritize investments in municipal broadband is concerning,” Hagedorn said. “I worry that, given over one-third of our country has" municipal broadband network "restrictions in place, this will lead to implementation issues and put rural America further behind.” If “broadband infrastructure is going to achieve its promise, we need to make sure federal funds flow to the solutions these communities want, including making it much easier to fund a community-owned network,” said ConnectMaine Authority Executive Director Peggy Schaffer. It’s “critical that the vast majority of future funding should go toward providing a minimum of” 100 Mbps symmetrical “and networks capable of scaling to a gigabit or more,” said Center on Rural Innovation Executive Director Matt Dunne. “To do otherwise is only setting ourselves up for a rural-urban divide five years from now even after a massive infrastructure investment.”

Apple representatives urged FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff to consider bufferbloat excess buffering of packets as it considers how to measure broadband performance. “Considering both throughput and bufferbloat when measuring broadband performance would improve understanding of consumers’ real-world experiences,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-264.

Charter Communications should end or modify some comparative speed claims for its Spectrum internet service in its "Welcome Back Party" and "Great Offers" TV ads, BBB 's National Advertising Division said Tuesday. AT&T challenged the ads, it said. NAD said Charter indicated it will comply with the decision and clarify the basis for its "fastest download speeds" claim in any future advertising. NAD said that alternatively, Spectrum, as Charter's brand is called, can modify the claim to clarify that it's based on having the fastest download speeds at the introductory and intermediate levels and the equivalent download speed at the top tier. Charter didn't comment.

The FCC should conduct an "actual market power and pricing power analysis" with granular data on broadband prices, Free Press told staff to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Friday in docket 10-90. Free Press asked the commission to "publish granular data on actual prices paid" because researchers have to rely on "second-best" data. It has slammed some industry figures (see 2105280053).

There is "no credible rationale for the need for price regulation" to expand access to broadband for low-income communities, blogged AT&T Executive Vice President-Federal Regulatory Relations Joan Marsh Friday. Broadband prices are "comparable with those charged abroad and by municipal networks," Marsh said, and debate about pricing has "largely ignored the specific low-income products that the industry has made available." Marsh cited AT&T's Access from AT&T, which provides up to 25 Mbps for $10 monthly; $5 for lower speeds. Lifeline should be "revamped and revitalized," Marsh said. Adoption remains an obstacle to bridging the digital divide, Marsh said: Cost is becoming less of a barrier than the rise in smartphone use or another option for internet.

Verizon defended its emergency broadband benefit program offerings, in a letter posted Monday in docket 20-445 at the FCC. Claims that Verizon was selling higher-priced plans to subscribers were "unfounded," the company said (see 2105200058). Verizon said it "significantly expanded" its EBB offerings, and customers can switch back to their existing plan if they contact Verizon "within 14 days of moving to a Mix & Match plan."