Broadband Is Your Most Desired ServiceForget HDTV and digital phones; you want faster Internet speeds 01:31PM Saturday Jun 14 2008 by KathrynVtags: business · stats · consumersA not-so-shocking study has revealed that consumers prize fast Internet speeds above all other modern services. The study examined services provided by cable, Internet, phone and satellite companies and found that the number one service that people want is broadband. "This suggests to us that, while multichannel video providers may be spending a lot of their ad dollars promoting their high-def channels and their 'triple-play' bundles, they still rely on their broadband speeds to seal the deal with customers," Pike & Fischer Broadband Advisory Services Scott Sleek said in a statement. "Every one wants to claim that they offer the fastest Internet access, and believe that will be more important to customers than how many HD channels they offer."
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | And that's just what they don't want to give you... ... they want to force you to buy PayTV and POTS and other stuff to get "deals" and now they want to cap/limit/meter the internet....
Lack of competition is grand. | |
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Skeedatl
Ah, push it - push it real good
Premium
join:2007-12-26
The Cloud
edit:
June 14th, @01:53PM
| Which is why... Comcast's 30% "How dare you not want CATV" penalty only goes in 1 direction. The penalty is only applied to those who wanted HSI without CATV. Those who get CATV but don't want HSI have no such penalty (at least when I was their sub). | |
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badtrip
East Bay
Premium
join:2004-03-20
Albany, CA
 ·Comcast
| Re: Which is why... said by Skeedatl  :Comcast's 30% "How dare you not want CATV" penalty only goes in 1 direction. The penalty is only applied to those who wanted HSI without CATV. Those who get CATV but don't want HSI have no such penalty (at least when I was their sub). Still true. Comcast is pure scum IMO. I pay $65 for a service that my neighbor gets for $44. I wish I had a choice for decent broadband but I do not. | |
| | | jesseb_66
join:2002-12-06
Tucson, AZ | Re: Which is why... 1. Upload speed
2. HD content
I don't really care for much else. Perhaps more competitive prices... | |
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major marco
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Mission Viejo, CA
clubs:
edit:
June 14th, @01:59PM
| Bluntly Stated As the industry experiments with capping/throtting and otherwise locking down the "pipes" in order to stifle streaming multimedia competition, and, otherwise pulls an end run around any potential NN laws, I expect these studies to become a consumer call to arms sooner rather than later. | |
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major marco
Res Firma Mitescere Nescit
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Mission Viejo, CA
clubs:
| Re: Most desired in a "Hearsay" survey of execs & not consumers said by TK Junk Mail : It was a survey of exec's of tech companies on what THEY thought were consumer interests. Sort of a "hearsay" survey. I wouldn't call that hearsay. I'd call it for what it is: B U L L S H I T. | |
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DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
clubs:
| I dont care I dont watch TV, I dont use a house phone, all I need is internet at my place. They can take their overpriced HDTV and shove it. Thats the last thing we need is more TV in this world. People are soo lazy and fat, yet they keep pushing more crap to keep people at home. I still dont get why people pay thousands of dollars on TV sets and service for them. Idiots IMO.
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Have a Networking problem or question? Stop by the Networking Forum and let us help you. | |
| | markrubi
join:2004-08-11
Weatherford, OK
| Re: I dont care Let's not forget to throw in computers with the TV which is making people fat. There are those who don't move out of the chair sitting at the computer playing WOW, Warcraft 3 etc for hours on end. Oh and computers also run thousands of dollars as well. | |
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DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
clubs: | Re: I dont care True, But they do other stuff, unlike tv's. | |
| | crapmac
Good 'ol Cali.
join:2007-05-03
California
·Comcast
| said by DaMaGeINC :I dont watch TV, I dont use a house phone, all I need is internet at my place. They can take their overpriced HDTV and shove it. Thats the last thing we need is more TV in this world. People are soo lazy and fat, yet they keep pushing more crap to keep people at home. I still dont get why people pay thousands of dollars on TV sets and service for them. Idiots IMO. okay. and what do you say about internet? The lazy-and-fat people don't spend thousands upgrading their computers every two years to keep up with technology? Don't sit in front of their computers for hours doing mindless tasks?
New, hella sick super widescreen HDTV: $6000
New, super awesomelyness computer: $2000
The TV lasts for, say 10 years is the average life.
The Computer lasts for, say 3 years before parts begin to die.
You replace the computer - $2000
3 Years later, the computer is dying again. You buy a new one to replace it - $2000
Total Costs:
Computer, over a period of 9 years - $6000
TV, over a period of 9 years - $6000
See a difference? There is no study (or, one that i would never care to see) that shows that morons that sit in front of their tv's are more overweight than the morons who sit infront of their computers all day long.
Your comment made me think that you're not looking at both sides of the story. 
--
Out with the old, in with the Antique! 
***********
"Hey, have you heard the song... 'Bomb Iran?' *bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Ir...* n - never mind..." - John McCain | |
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DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
clubs:
| Re: I dont care I dont think that everyone that sits in front of the tv is fat and I know it can go both ways, but this country does have an obesity problem and pushing more tv in front of these people is not going to help. Especially with all the food commercials now-a-days. But thats off topic. | |
| et1212
join:2005-10-23
Mableton, GA
 ·AT&T Southeast
·Charter Pipeline
edit:
June 14th, @02:40PM
| My apologies - why is digital phone service even mentioned? Are we talking about VOIP (in that case you need a good broadband to have it work well)? If not, isn't all PSTN digitally already? What else can we improve upon it? Or did I miss another important evolution in telephone technology entirely?
Broadband is extremely important. And I envy the speed some other countries have.
However, HDTV is equally important in my book. Anyone without eyesight problem would want to have HDTV. Unless some Internet TV service can provide equal quality, same or more channels with cheaper price. In that case, broadband will definitely play an even more significant role. I don't see that day coming any time soon. | |
| | benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Charter Pipeline
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: My apologies - why is digital phone service even mentioned? said by et1212 :Are we talking about VOIP (in that case you need a good broadband to have it work well)? If not, isn't all PSTN digitally already? What else can we improve upon it? Or did I miss another important evolution in telephone technology entirely? When they said digital phone, I think they were talking about the special VOIP that cable companies sell, that goes over cable and doesn't consume your bandwidth at all. Cable-phone is different from other VOIP, in that broadband isn't necessary for it to work. Theoretically, you could buy just cable-phone from the cable company.
It lacks line power, making POTS superior. Also I'm not sure but cable-phone might not support pulse-dial either.
As for improvement, I can think of one feature that's universal in Europe but we don't have here: Fixed line SMS, or landline SMS.
Because there's no landline SMS here, I refuse to use it at all. That and it costs every time someone sends you one, whether you want it or not. | |
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idlewillkill
Wags Himself
Premium
join:2005-09-28
North York, ON
| PSTN is mostly digital. Once the call is going from one CO to another, it gets digitized.
Cableco digital phone did not support pulse dialling, but now does. Part of the PacketCable standard that goes along with it. (Think Cable Labs and DOCSIS) | |
| | | robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL
·Cox VOIP
·Cox HSI
| Re: My apologies - why is digital phone service even mentioned? WRONG
it's VOIP but using their local INTRA NET. Thus, not touching your bandwdith. Vonage and Magicjack both use the internet.
By not calling it VOIP is bullshit and misleading. Your sending data over a local network to your cable's headend.
Yes, pots is supioror and cheaper. Cox's VOIP plan wants $35 bucks for a basic line and caller id.. Embarq is $18
and, let's not forget, most of the savings do not start unless you get their most expensive plan!!!
-Rob
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| pabster
join:2001-12-09
Waterloo, IA
·Mediacom
| Sorry, I just don't buy this study Joe Blow doesn't have a clue about Internet speeds. That's how the ISPs continue to get away with selling 20Mbit service but delivering only 3 to 5 megabits on it. I don't believe for a second that 95% give a rat's ass about "faster internet speeds". Sure, the geeks here on DSLR do, but we're not the average consumers. | |
| | voipdabbler
join:2006-04-27
Kalispell, MT
| I agree to some extent. I agree that the average Internet user won't delve in to the nitty gritty details about download times, unlike broadband report readers. I do believe most prefer faster page loads and the ability to look at family photos or videos posted to sites like photobucket. However, should the big ISPs (telco & cable) point to this as justification for raising their prices through various schemes,there's one very important caveat they need to consider, especially given the economic straits that we're in at present. Internet service isn't an essential service, unlike food and energy, and it needs to be affordable. Given the current inflationary trend, the average consumer cannot continue to sustain increased prices on all goods and services---they're to the point of having to make decisions about which non-essential services to drop (or at least choose a more cost-effective alternative). We're almost to double digit inflation when looking at the real figures that factor in energy and food costs--the term the government likes to brandish, "core inflation," is simply a term of art developed under the Nixon administration to keep the calculation of the CPI artificially low for purposes of keeping annual increases to government entitlement programs low. | |
| | crapmac
Good 'ol Cali.
join:2007-05-03
California | Re: Sorry, I just don't buy this study that's because Joe Blow doesn't care about internet speeds. He just wants his facebook and his netflix and he's good to go. | |
| markrubi
join:2004-08-11
Weatherford, OK | WFT? where in the hell do all my posts goto? | |
| | | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| Re: Duh... Line power isn't as useful if you have overhead wires- if something takes out the power lines they'll probably also take out the phone lines, which are lower.
Even telcos are giving up on powered lines- Verizon's FiOS works on the same principles as digital POTS systems rather than VoIP, but still requires power company power. at&t's "U-Verse Voice" upgrade is a VoIP based system that also doesn't use line power... | |
| | | benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Charter Pipeline
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Duh... said by EPS :Line power isn't as useful if you have overhead wires- if something takes out the power lines they'll probably also take out the phone lines, which are lower. Wouldn't digital phone have the same shortcoming?
In my experience, the power sometimes goes out, but POTS doesn't. I'm sure I might have experienced POTS going out, but that hasn't happened to me for so long, that I can't remember it.
said by EPS :Even telcos are giving up on powered lines- Verizon's FiOS works on the same principles as digital POTS systems rather than VoIP, but still requires power company power. at&t's "U-Verse Voice" upgrade is a VoIP based system that also doesn't use line power... I've heard that, and they're even cheaper than POTS. But, if I had a choice I'd always choose POTS.
As far as whether U-Verse Voice or FIOS-phone is an "upgrade" is debatable. To me, it's a step backwards.
Without line power, how am I supposed to complain to the power company if the power goes out? | |
| | Pictor Guy
join:2004-06-21
Sammamish, WA
| said by benc :Of course people want faster and faster, or at least I do. If money were no object I'd get a DS3 line. Think big, little man. If money was no object would you really want yesterdays DS3? At least think OC-48's or OC-192's. 
DS3 makes you sound like an MSO that wants to cry foul and implement usage caps.  | |
| | | | theDUDE
vote with your wallet
join:2008-05-10
Wytheville, VA | embarq hasn't figured it out yet they think we want a landline and then as an extra we want dsl, no! all i want is my hsi. | |
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pende_tim
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Andover, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
·ViaTalk
| True I have to believe faster speeds are very important to consumers and they have a great interest in them.
How can I say this?
There is a thread on the Verizon DSL forum that has 33,000 views, by far the most viewed of any thread in a long time.
What is the title of this thread? "So Where Is 7mbit Avaiable?"
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The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. | |
| 
NappyD
| well It's easy to make the claim of having the fastest internet access in America when a company only has 1 competitor to compare itself to.
Sure some of the tv advancements like digital recording have been pretty impressive, but stopping internet growth and speeds to lag behind the world then make excuses is pretty crappy. | |
|
comcast_customer
@raf.com
| telcos, cablecos, and wirelesscos = data pipes Wireless, cable, telcos = datapipes.
The switch to IP-based networks is inevitable.
In the IP world, the choice over what service is available on an IP-based network rests not in the hands of ISPs, but in the hands of consumers.
If ISPs want to make money, they need to empower the consumers by drowning the consumer in choices available for VOIP handsets, IPTV media extenders, wireless handsets w/powerful capabilities (e.g. iPhone), rather than pretend to be the be-all/end-all type of providers that they are right now.
Do what you do best - be a "dumb" data pipe. Leave the choice of what gets transferred over the data pipe to others. Charge us all a fair amount to enable yourselves to survive/expand by making profit. And everyone will be happy. | |
| theDUDE
vote with your wallet
join:2008-05-10
Wytheville, VA | i agree it all comes back to supply and demand.
where did these guys go to business school? | |
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Most desired in a "Hearsay" survey of execs & not consumers