jons
Premium
join:2003-04-15
East Elmhurst, NY
clubs:  | unfortunately....
narrow minds are going to be around forever too!
oops  maybe i should read her interview first...  |
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platinumsun
Photographer For Life
join:2003-08-29
Houston, TX | Of course we're falling behind...
This will only get better once the companies realize the massive potential in fiber and greatly deploy it.. |
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tadmaz
join:2002-05-30
Mount Prospect, IL
| yea
If providers can get millions of subscribers to pay $50 for measley cable and dsl, they won't spend any more of their money to get people faster internet. It's quite simple actually, if you were in their shoes, you'd keep a product that millions would buy, right? |
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X
join:2003-05-27
Sacramento, CA | Yes, silly -_-
We are behind, and will stay behind, until more and more consumers take the buck away from greedy bastard companies. and as that's not gona happen - were screwed :/ |
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neftv
join:2000-10-01
Broomall, PA | People are blind.
Thank goodness for DSLReports and the articles.
Yes USA is falling behind in a lot of things but with broadband especially we got the blind leading the blind. |
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Flizesh
Premium
join:2003-08-16
Staten Island, NY
clubs: | reply to jons
Re: unfortunately....
narrowband will be around forever? riiight |
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Morac
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
 ·Comcast
| reply to tadmaz
Re: yea
Broadband should never have been defined as 256 kbps.
In all fairness though, The U.S. is much larger physically than Japan. To wire the entire country for fiber would be very very expensive.
That said, many cable companies and some phone companies have already run fiber nearly everywhere up to but not quite reaching homes. I guess they have no incentive to do so.
--
The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired. |
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dslwanter
Why would I want DSL? I have FTTH
Premium
join:2002-12-16
Lowellville, OH
·Armstrong Zoom In..
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Free Enterprise
Our problem is free enterprise, companies won't market in rural areas, and a good portion of the midwestern United States in particular is rural. The government can't force companies to offer broadband.
--
Broadband allows me to run my own internet radio station, »www.thebomb102.tk, something I could've only dreamed of. |
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Count Hogula3
John Forged Kerry
Premium
join:2004-07-10
Corona, CA
|  I don't get it
What can you do with 100Mbps that you can't do with 3-5Mb as the US providers now seem to be moving to? Some say streaming HDTV, but of course few actually have the HDTV sets themselves and new compression techniques have brought HDTV quality pictures to under 10Mb and DVD is already at 5-9Mb. Speed is nice 'n' all, but it comes down to spending BILLIONS to get 100Mbps deployed when there aren't saleable applications for it.
It's one thing when you're in a very dense city...like I can see a Cogent type operation going into bldg after bldg offering fiber and people getting high speeds for fairly cheap money...but that's one city. Perhaps Chicago is another. You certainly can't do that in L.A. You certainly won't be able to do that anywhere else.
Would I like multi-megabit speeds? Sure. But I ask myself after downloading a s-load of warez and illegal movies, what the hell am I going to do with 100Mbps that I can't do with the 4Mb I have now. As I see it, damn little. I would rather have $20 for 4Mb than $40 for 100Mb. |
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Count Hogula3
John Forged Kerry
Premium
join:2004-07-10
Corona, CA
| reply to dslwanter
Re: Free Enterprise
Then the Feds and the State should get the hell out of the way of muni's wanting to deploy but are continuously blocked by corrupt telcos like CenturyTel and cable giants like Cox who buy off the state and Federal politicians simply 'cause they don't like having to compete. |
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achuchma
join:2001-04-11
Tampa, FL
| reply to Morac
Re: yea
said by Morac  :
In all fairness though, The U.S. is much larger physically than Japan. To wire the entire country for fiber would be very very expensive.
I think that is the point that many Americans tend to miss. In Japan, buildings in major cities are so stacked, that running fiber is easy.
Here, in the US, we tend to deal with larger lots, more room between buildings, etc...
And, as you said, a far greater geographical area.
--
Playing the Tuba isn't an art, it's an adventure! http://www.lakesidepride.org |
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underscore
join:2004-04-20
Fairfax, VA
| reply to Count Hogula3
Re: I don't get it
This is very similar to what people said when 10mb hard drives were first introduced...
1. Videoconferencing (replace simple voice communication)
2. Multi-user environments (some people have more than one computer in their house)
3. HDTV Streams  (you can also forget having to rent dvds anymore)
Clearly 100mbps is not a necessity yet, but to meet the criteria above your gonna need more than a shoddy 3000/256 connection. |
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neftv
join:2000-10-01
Broomall, PA
 ·Broadvox Direct
| reply to dslwanter
Re: Free Enterprise
Actually if you look how HDTV here in the USA came into being it was the cooperation of the FCC and multiple companies coming together to use the best of everyone's technology to make some standards and now the HDTV sets can do all the standards. You know our HDTV is digital and much better than the analog HDTV in Japan. SO why can't the same thing be done in broadband? TO make broadband all it can be for the low price or even lower then Japan and perhaps even a better system. |
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keyboard5684
join:2001-08-01
Youngsville, PA | reply to platinumsun
Re: Of course we're falling behind...
And that potential is? What justifies such a high expense?
Enlighten the masses? |
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coffaro
Moonie
Premium
join:2003-07-05
Arlington, TX
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to Morac
Re: yea
I'm sick of hearing about the cost (US vs Japan). All cable has to do is a software upgrade (DOCSIS 1.0 or 1.1 to 2.0). Yes that will cost money. But it seams from what I read here at Broadband reports that we do have people willing to pay for it. Most company's paid a big chunk of it running all the fiber that still is dark (not being used). Fiber is much cheaper now because every one has it already so there is not much of a demand. Telcos have a little more work to do but it seams they are happy with what they have. They are still making money why upgrade. Cable is my only line for me and I live in a good size city. All the test markets I read about for faster internet is no where close to me. So if the test today, maybe for 6 mon. to see if it works it still will be about 2 years before most people can get it. That's slow progress. Just my 2 cents.... |
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fundamentalz
The Basics
Premium
join:2004-04-30
Moorpark, CA | Envy
So we as the United States, have the technological equivilant of penis envy |
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| the author needs to get a clue
quote:
We shouldn't mess with the free market...
somebody needs to tell Mikey (Mike L, author of the article) to get a clue - what the h3ll does he think the FCC, congress and the incumbents have been messing with the last several years? If it's not congress mandating something they've been lobbied to do by the incumbents, it's the FCC mucking things up with rules that keep being overturned by the courts.
In my opinion, the free market for broadband hasn't yet been allowed to work and at the rate we're going, won't be for a while. |
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Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
·Qwest.net
| The real problem at AOL
"hoo hoo hee haa haa Hoo ooh!"
Tranlation: What do you do if a 400 pound Gorilla
likes dialup.
--
»www.gobpl.com |
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lxAstrosxl
Premium
join:2000-10-13
Carol Stream, IL
clubs:
| reply to Count Hogula3
Re: I don't get it
said by Count Hogula3 :
What can you do with 100Mbps that you can't do with 3-5Mb as the US providers now seem to be moving to? Some say streaming HDTV, but of course few actually have the HDTV sets themselves and new compression techniques have brought HDTV quality pictures to under 10Mb and DVD is already at 5-9Mb. Speed is nice 'n' all, but it comes down to spending BILLIONS to get 100Mbps deployed when there aren't saleable applications for it.
It's one thing when you're in a very dense city...like I can see a Cogent type operation going into bldg after bldg offering fiber and people getting high speeds for fairly cheap money...but that's one city. Perhaps Chicago is another. You certainly can't do that in L.A. You certainly won't be able to do that anywhere else.
Would I like multi-megabit speeds? Sure. But I ask myself after downloading a s-load of warez and illegal movies, what the hell am I going to do with 100Mbps that I can't do with the 4Mb I have now. As I see it, damn little. I would rather have $20 for 4Mb than $40 for 100Mb.
the point your missing is, not everyone can even get broadband nor get 3-5mb speeds.....some people are still at 768/1.5mbps ........we'd love to get those kinda speeds.....and we'd stop whining. =P |
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keyboard5684
join:2001-08-01
Youngsville, PA
·Teliax VOIP
 ·WestPAnet Inc.
·WestPAnet Inc. CA..
| reply to Count Hogula3
Re: Free Enterprise
Even is "munis" pop up they are still municipal deployments, not really rural.
Rural to me is all the farm houses that there closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away. Rural areas make up a large percentage of places not server by broadband. No broadband is far worse than the 1.5x256 that people here whine about.
I personally would rather have 1.5x256 and have a back yard than have 100megs to my 3rd floor "dwelling". |
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