AT&T is trying to get government approval to fund slower internet to replace fiber. Experts say this move will ultimately only hurt consumers.
How Fiber Optic Will Speed Up America's Internet
Recent lobbying by AT&T has opposed recent proposals to subsidize the deployment of fiber-to-the-home in the United States. In a blog post published on the company's website, Joan Marsh, executive vice president of federal regulatory relations, argues that pushing fiber would only lead to "overbuilding" and that service options of 50 Mbps down/10 Mbps up, or even 100/20 Mbps, are more than sufficient. Marsh further argues that it is impractical to assume that fiber can or even should be deployed to serve every home in rural America. Experts disagree.
“For the foreseeable future, fiber connections will remain the most robust, future-proof form of connectivity we can invest in, which is why every provider in the U.S. should ideally be pushing for it,” Tyler Cooper, editor in chief of BroadbandNow, wrote in an email to Lifewire.
One of the oldest arguments made in favor of expanding broadband in America is the concern that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will “overbuild” in a given area. Regulation of such issues often falls to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), although it is still an issue that many ISPs use to slow the expansion of faster broadband, particularly into rural areas.
