It used to be that broadband was defined as a connection that was at least 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. Now, at least in the United States, that definition has been questioned. In January 2015, The Federal Communications Commission voted to change the definition of broadband to at least 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream. Why did that happen? Because the number of connected devices has increased dramatically and the amount of connectivity required by those devices to run applications has risen massively. The old “broadband” speed of 4 Mbps downstream is inadequate for many apps, including streaming video services. Plus, as people move to using more cloud applications, better upstream speeds are needed too, since people are sending more personal data, such as photos, to online storage. Additionally, most families are discovering that a 10 or even 20 Mbps home broadband connection is completely inadequate if four or more people in a household are attempting to use connected devices at the same time – since the overall connection will be shared. Please note too, that if your home broadband is a 20 Mbps connection, most likely that's not what you'll be getting. I have a 20 Mbps connection at home and Saudi Telecom told me recently that they are perfectly within their rights to charge fees for a 20 Mbps connection but provide only 14 Mbps. Why? Because the 20 Mbps rate tier is for any Internet speed from 11 Mbps to 20 Mbps and the technology in place across the Kingdom to enable the connection varies. Why does Internet speed matter? According to Google, “When everyone can access super-fast Internet there are so many possibilities.” How's the Kingdom doing on Internet Speed? According to Ookla, the Household Download Index for Broadband in Saudi Arabia was 10.3 Mbps – so Saudi consumers definitely have a right to be concerned that the “possibilities” of what they can do with an Internet connection are clearly limited. Akami's latest “State of the Internet Report,” did point out that Saudi Arabia, along with Venezuela, Denmark and Sweden - had 97 percent of unique IP addresses from mobile providers connect to Akamai at speeds above the 4 Mbps “broadband” threshold. Akami's report is sober reading on the state of the Internet world wide. Some countries are providing incredible connectivity for their populations. South Korea offers the world's highest average connection speed at 22.2 Mbps and 79 percent of the South Korean population has a broadband connection greater than 10 Mbps. But in the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, connectivity is abysmal. Just 4.6 percent of people there have at least a 4 Mbps broadband connection. In Q4 2014, Indonesia's average broadband speed dropped 50 percent to just 1.9 Mbps. And in India, a country that is so associated with high technology, Internet connectivity continues to be a challenge. More than a billion Indians don't have an Internet connection at all. For those who are able to connect to the Internet, speeds are getting better but they are well below the competitive level globally. Average mobile connectivity in India was just 1.9 Mbps and just 7.8 percent of the population had a connection above 4 Mbps. Having a fast connection is necessary, but a fast connection with a crippling data limit creates new issues. Saudi Arabia has been rolling out high speed Internet quickly by going the mobile route and many families rely on a mobile modem for their home connection. However, nearly all mobile plans place a limit on the amount of data that can be downloaded. A 5 GB monthly connection doesn't last very long when it's shared - especially if teenagers are part of the sharing. Additionally, Saudi telecom providers limit how much of the data can be used per week, for monthly plans. For instance with a Mobily “Infinity” subscription, subscribers can't download more than 16 GB of data weekly – although there's a 60 GB monthly limit for the subscription. A fast connection is useless when it has been choked off by the provider.
