How big is the need for speed in the broadband market?

As competition of all kinds of technologies ramps in the broadband market, policy experts debated about how much speed should matter as a metric for quality service. Foermer Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Reilly argued the industry is overselling the idea that the public needs “some certain minimum level,” like 1-gig. Consumers don’t really care that fiber providers are duking it out with cable, wireless and satellite – they just want the tech to work when they need it to work. “We try to sell these rocket ships when most people really need a bicycle or maybe a moped,” he said. But the speeds consumers need and “what the country needs” are two different things, said Blair Levin, New Street Research policy analyst and non-resident senior fellow at Brookings. While he agreed with O’Reilly many consumers may be buying higher speeds than what they require for daily tasks, high speed access is still critical for the people designing applications that can “take advantage of that extra power.” “My basic perspective is that we should have a speed which [is] ahead of the applications,” Levin said. “We had exactly the opposite for the first, roughly speaking, 20 years of the internet.” It is important that providers are aware of what’s actually causing issues for customers, according to Shane Tews, nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. (AEI). What consumers might interpret as a speed problem could be an issue with how an operator configured its website, for example. “They’ll think it’s just speed and they are not getting enough speed from their provider. A lot of times it’s a matter of making sure the information is configured right,” she said.