| Title Page and Notice |
i |
| National Academies Statement |
iii |
| Committee |
v |
| Preface |
vii |
| Acknowledgment of Reviewers |
xi |
|
| ABSTRACT |
1 |
|
| SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS |
5 |
|
| 1 |
SETTING THE STAGE |
43 |
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The Broadband Challenge |
43 |
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Perspectives on Broadband |
45 |
| |
A Brief History of the Communications Infrastructure |
47 |
| |
From Promise to Broad Deployment: What Has Changed Since the Mid-1990s? |
50 |
| |
Broadband Deployment Trends |
52 |
| |
Reaching All Americans |
54 |
| |
Access Economics and Evolving Applications |
57 |
| |
Scope of This Report |
60 |
|
| 2 |
WHAT IS BROADBAND? |
62 |
| |
Why Define "Broadband"? |
62 |
| |
Overview of the Technical Characteristics of Broadband |
65 |
| |
|
Speed |
65 |
| |
|
Latency and Jitter |
67 |
| |
|
Symmetry Between Upstream and Downstream Capacity |
67 |
| |
|
Always-On |
69 |
| |
|
Connectivity Sharing and Home Networks |
71 |
| |
|
Addressability |
74 |
| |
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Controls on Applications and Content |
75 |
| |
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Implications of Network Design/Architecture |
77 |
| |
Approaches to Defining Broadband |
78 |
|
| 3 |
BROADBAND APPLICATIONS AND CONTENT |
82 |
| |
Broadband Applications: Promise and Reality |
82 |
| |
Classes of Broadband Applications |
83 |
| |
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Faster General Internet Access and General Internet Applications |
84 |
| |
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Browsing and Related Activities |
84 |
| |
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Messaging |
85 |
| |
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Fast File Downloading |
85 |
| |
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|
Games |
87 |
| |
|
|
Speed and Response-Time-Sensitive Internet Applications |
87 |
| |
|
|
Application Rental |
87 |
| |
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Network Storage |
88 |
| |
|
|
Static Image Delivery |
88 |
| |
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Audio |
89 |
| |
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Audio Delivery |
89 |
| |
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Compression-Quality Trade-offs |
91 |
| |
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Specific Audio Applications |
93 |
| |
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Video |
98 |
| |
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The Mechanics of Video Delivery |
102 |
| |
|
|
Telepresence |
103 |
| |
|
Telemetry |
105 |
| |
|
New Kinds of Publishing |
105 |
| |
|
|
Peer-to-Peer Applications |
105 |
| |
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|
"Local Interest" Content, Including Video |
107 |
| |
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Home Content Hosting |
107 |
| |
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|
Push Content |
109 |
| |
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Multiplexing Applications Demand in Homes |
109 |
| |
|
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Internet Appliances |
111 |
| |
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Distributed Work and Education |
112 |
| |
|
|
"Tele-webbing," |
113 |
| |
|
Communities and Community Networks |
113 |
| |
Social Factors and Impacts of Broadband |
114 |
| |
|
Availability of Content |
114 |
| |
|
Broadband Impacts |
116 |
|
| 4 |
TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS AND ECONOMIC FACTORS |
120 |
| |
Local Access Technologies in Context |
120 |
| |
Essential Features of the Local Access Technology Options |
121 |
| |
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Wireline Options |
122 |
| |
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Hybrid Fiber Coax |
123 |
| |
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Digital Subscriber Line |
125 |
| |
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Advanced Wireline Offerings--Fiber Optics in the Loop |
129 |
| |
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Powerline |
135 |
| |
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Wireline Roadmap |
136 |
| |
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Wireless Options |
139 |
| |
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Fixed Terrestrial Wireless |
139 |
| |
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Mobile Wireless |
142 |
| |
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Satellite |
144 |
| |
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Wireless Roadmap |
146 |
| |
|
The Diverse Technology Landscape |
148 |
| |
Layering and Unbundling |
149 |
| |
Economics of Infrastructure Investment |
152 |
| |
|
Understanding Costs |
152 |
| |
|
Take-Rate Tyranny |
153 |
| |
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Paying for Broadband |
155 |
| |
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Focus on the Consumer |
156 |
| |
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The Pace of Investment |
158 |
| |
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Investment, Risk Taking, and Timelines |
160 |
| |
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Uncertain Investment Prospects in the Private Sector |
161 |
| |
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Investment Options for the Public Sector |
162 |
| |
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Moore's Law and Broadband |
163 |
| |
Economics of Scaling Up Capacity: Congestion and Traffic Management |
163 |
|
| 5 |
BROADBAND POLICY AND REGULATION |
167 |
| |
The Context for Broadband Policy |
167 |
| |
Policy Implications of Technological Change |
171 |
| |
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Regulation in the Face of Rapid Change |
171 |
| |
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Asymmetrical Regulation and Achieving Technology Neutrality |
174 |
| |
Competition |
177 |
| |
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Unbundling and Resale Mandates |
180 |
| |
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When Unbundling Works |
182 |
| |
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Implications for Investments by Incumbents |
184 |
| |
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Facilities-Based Competition |
184 |
| |
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Structural Separation |
185 |
| |
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How Much Competition Is Enough? |
186 |
| |
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Assessing the Degree of Competition |
188 |
| |
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Open Access and Evolving Complements to Facilities-Based Competition |
189 |
| |
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Access Issues in Multidwelling Units |
192 |
| |
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Access to Poles, Conduit, and Rights-of-Way |
193 |
| |
Expanding Access and Universal Service Policies |
194 |
| |
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Rationales for Intervention |
194 |
| |
|
Implicit Transfer Mechanisms Used for Universal Telephone Service |
197 |
| |
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Other Mechanisms for Increasing Access to Broadband |
200 |
| |
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Loans and Grants |
200 |
| |
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Tax Incentives |
202 |
| |
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Vouchers |
203 |
| |
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Research to Develop Technology Alternatives |
204 |
| |
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Looking Forward |
205 |
| |
The Local Role in Broadband |
206 |
|
| BIBLIOGRAPHY |
216 |
|
| APPENDIXES |
|
| A |
Broadband Technologies |
245 |
|
| B |
A Brief History of Telecommunications Regulation |
296 |
|
| C |
List of White Papers Received |
307 |
|
| D |
Biographies of Committee Members |
309 |
|
| E |
List of Acronyms |
318 |
