Paradox of the Worse Network – AT&T: “15Mbps Internet Connections Irrelevant”

Nate Anderson:

At this week’s Media, Entertainment and Telecommunications conference, AT&T COO Randall Stephenson told his listeners that increased bandwidth was no longer of great importance to consumers.

“In the foreseeable future, having a 15 Mbps Internet capability is irrelevant because the backbone doesn’t transport at those speeds,” he told the conference attendees. Stephenson said that AT&T’s field tests have shown “no discernable difference” between AT&T’s 1.5 Mbps service and Comcast’s 6 Mbps because the problem is not in the last mile but in the backbone.

AT&T, formerly SBC is the dominant internet provider in Wisconsin…… Stephenson completely misses the point that bidirectional fast networks to the home will open up many, many small business opportunities.