Linked by Howard Fosdick on Fri 27th Jul 2012 02:57 UTC
A free, new report from the New America Foundation compares cost, speed, and availabilty of internet connectivity in 22 cities around the world. The report concludes that U.S.
consumers face comparatively high, rising connectivity costs, even while the majority have very limited choices -- often only one or two providers. The report argues that U.S. broadband policies need to change, otherwise consumer choice will continue to deteriorate.
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RE[2]: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?
by cpuobsessed on Fri 27th Jul 2012 14:24
in reply to "RE: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?"
Member since:2009-06-09
I'm not even two miles from the closest city (about 40 miles east of Lexington,KY) and have no options other than dialup or sattelite. ATT have said "oh we're expanding coverage all the time", yeah right, they've said since I moved here in 2003. Guess what, still no DSL for me; neighbor has it and the fastest speed he can have is 3Mbit. They have no plans to increase coverage or reliability because we're out here and not in a populated area like Lexington or even Winchester. It's really disgusting because as we move forward it will become more and more necessary to have internet access. Not just for entertainment but job searches, education, news, etc.
RE[2]: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?
by LighthouseJ on Fri 27th Jul 2012 17:50
in reply to "RE: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?"
Member since:2009-06-18
I have a teenage son is that usually watching Youtube videos, playing games, listening to music, etc... You know, stuff that does take up a bit of bandwidth. Meanwhile, if my wife and I want to watch a movie over Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. Now, if my son is hogging up even half of the small amount of bandwidth that is even offered to me, then my wife and I can't watch Netflix or Amazon Instant Video - the quality would be way too crappy. If we were living in a larger city, then that wouldn't be a problem, as we'd have much more options. But as it stands now, we have no options and it sucks. Our one and only ISP isn't going to change in the foreseeable future.
First of all, I think your embellishing what your family is actually doing at any one time, but somehow you think that is an adequate rebuttal. I think you're pretending everyone does every activity simultaneously.
Second, my reply was about the fastest observable speeds in an area like a near major city (that other people won't be able to benefit) as representative of the whole. I was saying who cares about that maximum speed in the nearest city? There are more interesting and alarming metrics like what I mentioned about what's going on in your neighborhood, and in your case of being in a remote area and having to pay more bucks for still slower speeds.
RE[3]: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?
by arpan on Sat 28th Jul 2012 01:07
in reply to "RE[2]: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?"
Member since:2006-07-30
RE[3]: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?
by OMRebel on Sat 28th Jul 2012 05:24
in reply to "RE[2]: Who cares about the fastest residential speeds?"
Member since:2005-11-14
"I have a teenage son is that usually watching Youtube videos, playing games, listening to music, etc... You know, stuff that does take up a bit of bandwidth. Meanwhile, if my wife and I want to watch a movie over Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. Now, if my son is hogging up even half of the small amount of bandwidth that is even offered to me, then my wife and I can't watch Netflix or Amazon Instant Video - the quality would be way too crappy. If we were living in a larger city, then that wouldn't be a problem, as we'd have much more options. But as it stands now, we have no options and it sucks. Our one and only ISP isn't going to change in the foreseeable future.
First of all, I think your embellishing what your family is actually doing at any one time, but somehow you think that is an adequate rebuttal. I think you're pretending everyone does every activity simultaneously.
Second, my reply was about the fastest observable speeds in an area like a near major city (that other people won't be able to benefit) as representative of the whole. I was saying who cares about that maximum speed in the nearest city? There are more interesting and alarming metrics like what I mentioned about what's going on in your neighborhood, and in your case of being in a remote area and having to pay more bucks for still slower speeds. "
Embellishing? You obviously don't have a teenage child.
Features
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Member since:
2005-11-14
It's like being obsessed with having the car with the most horsepower. When are you, the car owner, ever going to need all of that top speed? If you won't (and you're like most of us), then perhaps it would be better spending money on a car with more torque, if you like that, better handling, more features, etc...
.
Why are speeds important? That's easy. I have a teenage son is that usually watching Youtube videos, playing games, listening to music, etc... You know, stuff that does take up a bit of bandwidth. Meanwhile, if my wife and I want to watch a movie over Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. Now, if my son is hogging up even half of the small amount of bandwidth that is even offered to me, then my wife and I can't watch Netflix or Amazon Instant Video - the quality would be way too crappy. If we were living in a larger city, then that wouldn't be a problem, as we'd have much more options. But as it stands now, we have no options and it sucks. Our one and only ISP isn't going to change in the foreseeable future.