Overview[]
FCC Form 477 collects information about Internet access connections in service to end-user locations that are advertised to deliver information to and/or from the end user — that is, in at least one direction — at transfer rates ("speeds") above 200 kbps.
Information is collected about connections in several sub-groupings ("speed tiers") defined by ranges of upstream speeds and downstream speeds. Connections are further categorized by the technology employed by the part of the connection that terminates at the end-user location.
In the Form 477 data collection, "end users" are residential, business, institutional, or government entities who use services for their own purposes and who do not resell such services to other entities. The "facilities-based" provider of a connection is the entity that owns the portion of the physical facility that terminates at the end-user location, obtains an unbundled network element (UNE), special access line, or other leased facility that terminates at the end-user location and provisions/equips it as a connection that transfers information at rates over 200 kbps in at least one direction, or provisions/equips a wireless channel that transfers information at rates over 200 kbps in at least one direction to the end-user location over licensed spectrum or over spectrum that the provider uses on an unlicensed basis.
The facilities-based providers report information about connections they provide directly to their own end-user customers and also connections that they provide to Internet service providers (ISPs) for resale to end users, and ISPs who are not themselves facilities-based providers do not report. These requirements avoid double-counting of end user connections. When the service retailer is such a reseller ISP, connections must be reported as residential or business connections based on the status of the end user of the ISP's retail Internet access service.