Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 19:33:06 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Peter Bachman <peterb () cequs com> Date: September 2, 2009 5:17:42 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband Dear Dave, Having just listened to the FCC panel on proposed measurement and metrics of broadband, I could not help but thinking of Edward Whitehouse, and the dogged perseverance of the telegraph projectors to create global communications infrastructure after the first cable failure. Far more extravagant claims of social benefits were heard around the U.S. as to what would happen with high speed global communications and society as a result in the 1850s. Hubbell and Sherburne convinced only one senator that volcanic activity had created a shell paved path across the Atlantic, and did not get funded for their cable. (The Icelanders had already figured out the connection with the first legal distance measurement for round trips, the ping, or Pingvellir for their legislature at the site of meeting of the two tectonic plate in 930). Edward Whitehouse, electrician-projector Atlantic Cable, 1858 http://atlantic-cable.com/Books/Whitehouse/BJH/index.htm -pb peterb () cequs com David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: Bruce R Koball <bkoball () well com> Date: September 2, 2009 1:22:32 PM EDT To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband Dave, On the premise that there are no stupid questions, I'd like to ask the IP collective whether services that are not directly mediated by the internet, like digital cable TV, considered part of "broadband"...? -brk- On Wed, 2 Sep 2009, Dave Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message:From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com> Date: September 2, 2009 11:46:39 EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>, Stagg Newman <lsnewmanjr () yahoo com>, Rob Curtis <robert.curtis () fcc gov>, Tom Brown <thomas.brown () fcc gov>Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Request for input on the definition of BroadbandHere is a concise, precise, and I believe complete, definition that can serve as a good starting point. Readers may note that it is adefinition that has served the Internet well. It is 3 sentences long.Broadband is a low-latency and high-datarate access service that provides ability to send and receive IP datagrams to hosts on the worldwide public Internet, as defined by the full address space defined by the IP versions currently used. The broadband transport may use only the information placed into the IP header/envelope to manage delivery, does not use, record, or retain content information for any purpose other than law enforcement purposes. The public internet is defined as the reachable set of hosts on all autonomous systems that have agreed to exchange Internet traffic with one or more peer autonomous systems in the public Internet. Comments: this preserves technological evolvability, since it says nothing about the technology underlying the transport, nor does it say anything about the applications served. On 09/02/2009 04:55 AM, David Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message: From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com> Date: September 1, 2009 6:01:00 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] Request for input on the definition of Broadband Dave, Yes, surely "broadband" should be parsed out into bandwidth, latency, availability, and so on. More significantly, though, a useful definition will not be stated in terms of specific values for those properties but rather will adapt with changing technology and expectations. I would suggest this intuition for an adaptable definition: that a "broadband" connection supports the vast majority of the currently popular information resources on the internet with satisfactory response time. That is, "currently popular" at the time thedefinition is invoked. As new applications emerge, they up the ante.For example, as people are induced to put their information into "the cloud", broadband service should make that indistinguishable from local storage, which means that fast uploads will be required as well as fast downloads. Any form of offsite storage suffices for this point -- I keep the master copies of my files on a university server, so I really notice even brief service interruptions, and I need symmetrical service rather than the common fast down/slow up service because I need fast uploads for things like intermediate file saves. MaryOn Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 11:07 AM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:The other day I had a conversation with a friend at the Federal Communications Commission. He asked an interesting question. When people talk about broadband they tend to talk about numbers bits per second except for. Something seems wrong with this approach. First it is very sensitive to the advancement of technology any number will be obsolete in a few years. Second of all, and maybe most important it ignores other issues that would make any speed usable in many applications -- -- like latency chair etc. He asked if there was a "syntax" for broadband -- -- that is a deeper way of characterizing when a system supports broadband and when it does not. I offer to the IP community a chance to take a crack at this interesting and potentially profitable challenge. Dave ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com Archives------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Request for input on the definition of Broadband David Farber (Sep 01)
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- Request for input on the definition of Broadband David Farber (Sep 01)
- Request for input on the definition of Broadband David Farber (Sep 02)
- Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband David Farber (Sep 02)
- Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband Dave Farber (Sep 02)
- Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband David Farber (Sep 02)
- Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband David Farber (Sep 02)
- Re: Request for input on the definition of Broadband David Farber (Sep 02)