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NYTimes: "Why the U.S. Has Fallen Behind in Internet Speed and Affordability"
- Thread starter Dalek
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The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
The fucking ridiculous part is that the tier below that is $30 a month....for 3 mbps
Its bullshit but I don't want to pay $50
I pay $65 for 20Mbps from Comcast which is the lowest speed offered. I could get gigabit service from Century Link (amazing how when your city builds a municipal broadband network telcos find the money to build this stuff) but it's $114 a month for the first year and goes to $151 a month. Ha, ha, fuck you.
When the city finishes the roll out I should be getting gigabit for $50 a month.
When the city finishes the roll out I should be getting gigabit for $50 a month.
The doublespeak in these corporate bill titles is infuriating. They always mean the opposite of what they're called but they sure sound good to those unfamiliar with the details.
Level Playing Field indeed.
Shake Appeal
Member
...which is, in itself, a scary prospect.
NekoFever
Member
You're talking like you win something for getting there purely through the free market and they cheated by the government getting involved.
Holy shit what? Prices in germany are pretty good. A lot of competition (espescially DSL vs Cable provider)
You can get 100mbit/s down / 10mbit up cable for 19.99 per month in the first year then 39.99 second year (so rather 29.90 for 2 year contract)
We have 50mbit down / 10mbit up VDSL for 29 per month for 2 years and we are satisfied.
Second thing is we don't have volume caps. Biggest provider Telekom recently aunnounced that they are thinking about introducing caps and that brought a big shitstorm over them so they backpedaled.
Article is interesting. Never thought that this would happen in the big cities in the US.
KillerMan91
Member
I get 40Mb (4.5MB/s) and it costs me £20 a month on top of my typical satellite/phone subscriptionUnlimited usage. I could double that for an extra £10 a month.
Sorry =/
Worst thing is there are other countries with even better deals.
100mb that costs 10 a month (Finland)
Sorry =D
7DollarHagane
Banned
It'll never change in the us because time warner and Comcast have their money in the pockets of those who make the decisions in government.
Unless we get a president that takes a hard nosed stance on improving the us internet infrastructure but right now most voters don't give a shit or understand why it would be important.
Unless we get a president that takes a hard nosed stance on improving the us internet infrastructure but right now most voters don't give a shit or understand why it would be important.
Exactly. Capital requirements for entry are so gigantic at this stage only other monopoly providers in different segments can hope to enter the market ie, Google, to somewhat disrupt things; but replacing one monopoly provider with another is not a long term solution. Without access to to the existing infrastructure though some sort of FCC mandated cable(ptsn might be unbundled in the US, I'm not sure. It is however a technical dead end at this point) unbundling there is zero possibility of real competition. Couple that with total regulatory capture and a political class with a fetishistic belief in completely unhindered capital is equivalent to free market functionality things are not going to get better.
WeAreStarStuff
Member
The power of lobbying. I wish something would be done about the terrible state of the telecommunication industry here in the US, but I don’t see anything positive happening anytime soon. Internet should be a regulated utility.
I heard somewhere that Google and Facebook are trying to experiment with using unused wireless spectrums to deliver their internet service essentially bypassing the wired infrastructure by not having to build any and using low level satellites like balloons or drones.
Is that still true? Personally, I believe that's the only way to break the monopolies other than heavy government intervention.
Is that still true? Personally, I believe that's the only way to break the monopolies other than heavy government intervention.
Here is how the government works. First you create a bill with a name no one wants to vote against, like level playing field or "stop the perverts from molesting our children". Then you cram that thing full of malicious shit no intelligent citizen should support. Now even if the bill somehow fails to pass, at the next election you can advertise that your competition "voted against stopping perverts from molesting our children". Win!
This could have something to do with the the size of the US.
I live in Germany and it blows my mind that Texas would be easily the biggest country in Europe.
I know there could be more competition in the States but it's pretty hard to bring high speed internet to every corner in such a huge country.
I live in Germany and it blows my mind that Texas would be easily the biggest country in Europe.
I know there could be more competition in the States but it's pretty hard to bring high speed internet to every corner in such a huge country.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I live in Germany too, and the high speed options are hit or miss here, too. I had a much better, much cheaper connection in some parts of the States than I have now.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
You can make the argument that overall bandwidth is less import now than it has been in the last 20 or so years. Even a lowly 5 Mbps connection is enough to stream Netflix HD, view Facebook quickly, etc. Large file downloads are more uncommon now than ever in recent times. Even if you have a house filled with these types of users, 10-20 Mbps is going to be sufficient. The main issues are congestion to the back-end of a lot of a lot of these services, which unfortunately is independent of the speed you have to your ISP.
ActStriker
Member
AEI is clownshoes.
Just because you suck even worse than we do doesn't mean we still can't complain about it.
Just because you suck even worse than we do doesn't mean we still can't complain about it.
Nikodemos
Member
Yeah, gargantuan infrastructure cost is the biggest obstacle for new entry. But protectionist lobbying from large companies like Comcast and TimeWarner also plays a heavy role, particularly in high-profit areas (populous cities).
~Devil Trigger~
In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
Verizon is too busy over charging me out here in NYC to give a shit
Aztechnology
Member
Well here's another issue, over twenty states have had legislation passed to stop municipalities from building and owning interent infastructure. Chattanooga, Tennessee for instance has local government owned infastructure that's 1gbps for $70 a month. I pay almost that much for my comcast bill where I live for 30-50mbps depending on the time of day.
I'll also leave this here for those who haven't seen it.
John Oliver on net neutrality
I'll also leave this here for those who haven't seen it.
John Oliver on net neutrality
Amentallica
Unconfirmed Member
A commodity such as the internet certainly requires competition. We're not talking about consoles here. Internet in the United States is a joke.
crooked spin
Member
TWC recently rolled out their speed boost here in NYC and now I get 100/10 pretty consistently for ~$55/mo. I hate to NOT criticize TWC but I'm happy with this.
For the people talking about size - you realize they're comparing American cities with other European/Asian cities right? The size of the country or state as a whole shouldn't affect the broadband capability in cities. The whole problem stems from having private companies hold local monopolies. Internet should be a utility.
So is the reality that the entire open Internet has been exploited by the NSA, hackers, no doubt numerous unknown entities, and yes, even Google.
They're just another cog in the wheel in that regard.
If you want Texas you can fucking have it. Take a bunch of other southern states with you so the US can finally progress.This could have something to do with the the size of the US.
I live in Germany and it blows my mind that Texas would be easily the biggest country in Europe.
I know there could be more competition in the States but it's pretty hard to bring high speed internet to every corner in such a huge country.
Shake Appeal
Member
FWIW, I have written a letter (an actual printed-out letter) to the FCC about my immigrant's experience of America's terrible Internet and the dangers of undercutting net neutrality.
Wrote another one about the hideous practices of telcos here (T-Mobile being the least worst of the motley bunch).
It's kinda fun to do. I can't wait to be a surly old dude writing letters to my Congressperson.
This argument is made a lot, but it's kind of misleading when you can't even get fast/cheap broadband in large urban areas which by the same argument should be easier to cover...
ape2man
Member
holy shit, that is the lowest speed i can get in the netherlands and i pay 20 a month
Aztechnology
Member
theignoramus
Member
ISPs in Canada are even worse. Live in a mid sized city, fibre optic internet is limited to certain areas, so whole sections of the city gets denied it. Paying 80 dollars a month for a 25 mb/s "high speed" access.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Sucks even more because the companies that sell broadband sell other services too, and they jack your internet rate if you don't try and "bundle" all of their bullshit. No AT&T I don't need your home phone. Ditto Comcast, and I am not so sure I really need your TV anymore either.
Don't want TV and phone? Comcast be like pay out the ass for good speed then. Of course they have a cheap tier of only 3 megs then it jumps to like 25 down. Fucking racket it is as I rednrtly looked into all of this since a move.
Don't want TV and phone? Comcast be like pay out the ass for good speed then. Of course they have a cheap tier of only 3 megs then it jumps to like 25 down. Fucking racket it is as I rednrtly looked into all of this since a move.
Aztechnology
Member
It's rough being a democratic socialist in America.
Ban Puncher
Member
America is like a fat kid screaming at their parents because their Big Mac meal wasn't super-sized whilst Australia stands outside of the McDonalds, nose pressed against the glass and drooling because they haven't eaten in a week.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Looks like Holly Springs, NC has built a fiber network but isn't permitted (by state law) to offer it to their residents.
So basically there's a state law on the books denying competition.
This is probably McCrory's fault.
Australia has larger problems to deal with, often with teeth.
Ban Puncher
Member
Faster internet sure would help when you're trying to find a 'What To Do When A Big Fucking Poisonous Spider-Snake-Shark Hybrid Bites You' video on YouTube.
PhantomHound
Banned
I think telecom companies need to be broken up again. Lack of competition creates high prices and non innovative services.
Every time Google Fiber moves into an area, all of sudden, everyone starts offering gigabit speeds at lower prices :/
It's such BS.
Every time Google Fiber moves into an area, all of sudden, everyone starts offering gigabit speeds at lower prices :/
It's such BS.
Simply Sarah
Member
Breaking up wouldn't help. Fun fact: AT&T being broken up, despite ostensibly being a pro-consumer move, was actually anti-consumer. See, it basically just changed things from one massive, highly regulated phone company into several regional monopolies with far less regulation.
It's really sad.
I'm also amazed at how my area (Buffalo) is so far ahead more popular cities in the nation when it comes to internet speed.
The area is dull in many ways (especially in terms of jobs; hard for 20-somethings since they are competing against people in their 30s and up for the same jobs) but I would be lying if I said that internet speed isn't one of the main reasons why I would prefer to stay here.
I'm also amazed at how my area (Buffalo) is so far ahead more popular cities in the nation when it comes to internet speed.
The area is dull in many ways (especially in terms of jobs; hard for 20-somethings since they are competing against people in their 30s and up for the same jobs) but I would be lying if I said that internet speed isn't one of the main reasons why I would prefer to stay here.
Aztechnology
Member
Mines frontier internet, I have no idea what that is. Something like century link?
I have time Warner and I'm getting 300/20 for 70.
I would definitely call them.
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