Listening to a legislative session the other day, I heard a few legislators ask about what a person can do with different broadband speeds. Can I do e-learning on DSL? Can I upload a video on satellite? So I was delighted to hear Stacey Stockdil (at the East Central MN Broadband Conference – full notes later) about her life with a DSL connection that clock in at 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps up (4/1). She has been logging how long it takes to do various tasks online.

Listening to her I am reminded that there’s a difference between broadband and Internet access, which I think was also an underlying question in the legislative session. A legislator had asked if there were areas where there was no broadband or the Internet. Really anyone with a phone can access the Internet – at dialup speeds but that’s so slow we don’t really count it anymore. It might require a long distance phone call. Access to broadband is different because there’s not one official definition of broadband. The State defined their broadband goal at 10-20 Mbps down and 5-10 Mbps up. A federal definition, however, tracks broadband at 4/1.

It’s a geeky distinction, but essential difference as we look at state and federal funding to reach unserved areas. I hope it helps to hear about life at 4/1…