The FCC’s Connect America Fund distributes money to ISPs in exchange for new broadband developments in underserved areas. The previous speed requirements for the CAF were a 10Mbps downstream and a 1Mbps upstream.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai led a vote in December of 2018 to raise the standard for new CAF projects to 25Mbps and 3Mbps down. After making bogus claims about advancements made by the FCC, this decision by Pai actually will have an impact on broadband speeds in rural areas.
However, these speeds aren’t all that fast by today’s standards. The eventual goal of the Connect America Fund is to offer gigabit speeds across the United States.