FCC Abolishes Gigabit Speed Goal

Friday, August 21, 2026

The Federal Communications Commission last week eliminated the gigabit speed goal established during the Biden administration ...

Posted by qcp at 04:31 PM | 14 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Why is the government lowering the nation's ambition? www.theverge.com/policy/98286 ...

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-- The Verge (@theverge.com) 1:41 PM Â· Aug 20, 2026

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This asinine move seems 100% meant to protect Starlink.

#1 | Posted by qcp at 2026-08-20 09:58 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

---- these --------

#2 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-08-20 10:12 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Why keep a goal you aren't going to reach?

Biden's administration spent billions and laid little to know fiber. Sure its good goal, but not for the government to decide.

In 2021, the Biden Administration passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included a provision to give $42.5 billion to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to provide under-served and rural areas with internet access. To date, it has connected nobody.

The plan required U.S. states and territories to submit plans for investment and deployment by the end of 2023, which all have done. Expected roll out won't occur until 2026 by most optimistic deadlines. It's better than nothing, right? Maybe not.
www.washingtonpolicy.org

Almost as bad as the California HSR ... almost.

This asinine move seems 100% meant to protect Starlink.

Only 30% of its customers are in the US. Your myopic view is noted.

#3 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-08-20 11:02 AM | Reply

@#3 ... Only 30% of its customers are in the US. ...

Currently.

But, from the Starlink website, there appear to be ambitions. ...

starlink.com

... Starlink V5, built for reliable home internet

The next generation Starlink Kit is designed to deliver reliable, high-speed home internet. Starlink V5 has a smaller form factor and lightweight design with greater power efficiency than the Starlink V4 Kit.

With speeds up to 375+ Mbps, Starlink V5 delivers seamless connectivity for streaming, video calling, gaming and more.

Currently available in select areas. As production ramps, Starlink V5 will be available in additional areas. ...

#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-21 06:10 PM | Reply

So curious, the FCC abolishes the giga byte speed requirement just as Starlink is making a push into US residential areas with up to ~375mbps max speed.

OK, probably not so curious.

#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-21 06:14 PM | Reply

All this talk of gigabit and stuff...

When I first went online on a public data network (Telenet's X.25 network in 1979), my dial-up modem communicated at the breath-taking speed of 300bps.

Yes, 300bps. (that's not a typo)

Telenet
en.wikipedia.org

... Telenet was an American commercial packet-switched network which went into service in August 16, 1975.[1][2] It was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States.[3]

Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines connecting their computers and local networks to this backbone network.

Free public dialup access to Telenet, for those who wished to access these systems, was provided in hundreds of cities throughout the United States. ...

#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-21 06:20 PM | Reply

We had an acoustically coupled modem, good for about 130 baud. en.wikipedia.org

#7 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-08-21 06:43 PM | Reply

#3. --------

I live in a rural area (trumplanda to boot).
2 years ago we had fibre optic in our entire county because of that program. I signed up to Spectrum internet and wanted 100 meg. They pushed for 1 gig, I said don't need it as I was doing fine with 10 meg. I now have 100 meg with phone all in for $55 a month.

#8 | Posted by bat4255 at 2026-08-21 06:57 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

@#7

Yeah, I remember those modems. Unfortunately I could not use them with the "non-standard" phones I had. So I had to purchase a stand-alone modem.

At the time I was working a lot from home, evenings and weekends (yeah, in 1979, working from home over a 300bps computer connection). To the point that my company actually paid for a second phone line into my house, and paid that bill every month until DSL arrived.

#9 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-21 06:58 PM | Reply

@#5 ... So curious, the FCC abolishes the [gigabit] speed requirement just as Starlink is making a push into US residential areas with up to ~375mbps max speed.

OK, probably not so curious....

More likely, Pres Trump's decision on this is related to ...

Elon Musk Is Expected to Point His Money Machine at Texas Politics
www.wired.com

... Sources tell WIRED that Elon Musk is expected to spend up to $200 million in the midterms. It could be a big boost for GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who's struggled to raise cash. ...

#10 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-21 07:03 PM | Reply

All I know is that for the first time in my long life, Comcast offered me near gigabit speeds, and I indulged and it is quite wonderful. If it is possible to offer over cable wires, the great majority of Americans are able to have it, and the feds are just being...wrong.

#11 | Posted by Hughmass at 2026-08-22 06:29 AM | Reply

Here at home in SoCal on my COX network server, my download speed was 266 Mbps and my upload was 11.5 Mbps. I could probably get slightly higher speeds as COX claims that my modem is out-of-date, but they no longer allow you to use any modems other than their own, which they charge for. Since I was grandfathered in using my own modem, I've stuck with it because those speeds are more then adequate, since we don't have fiber in our neighborhood, the difference wouldn't be that much anyway. So until it dies, I'll stick my current, albeit, out-of-date modem.

And yes, I can remember the days of dail-up internet service back when we got our first AOL account.

OCU

#12 | Posted by OCUser at 2026-08-22 11:53 AM | Reply

"Elon Musk is expected to spend up to $200 million in the midterms"

His taxes are too high! If his taxes were lower, he could spend $500 million. Maybe even a billion.
--Republicans

#13 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-08-22 11:55 AM | Reply

#12

They can't legally do that. You can get a new modem if you want.

#14 | Posted by DarkVader at 2026-08-22 02:51 PM | Reply