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story category Your Broadband Is Fast Enough
And these are not the droids you are looking for...
02:24PM Friday Apr 11 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: competition · business · bandwidth · Verizon FIOS · AT&T U-Verse · RoadRunner Cable
"Time Warner Cable and AT&T argue that the money needed to upgrade their networks for higher speeds can be better utilized on other projects," proclaims the Wall Street Journal in a piece entitled "Is Faster Access To The Internet Needed?" While Comcast rushes to deploy 50Mbps to 20 million homes by 2010, and Verizon spends $24 billion to deploy fiber to the home, AT&T and Time Warner Cable are trying the less expensive route.

AT&T is sticking with VDSL service over last-mile copper, while Time Warner Cable is sitting back and taking a wait-and-see attitude with DOCSIS 3.0. Both carriers are trying to save money now, since both tell the Journal they don't think faster speeds are needed:
Time Warner Cable and AT&T argue that aside from a few niche applications like high-end videogaming, no real applications exist to allow users to take advantage of the higher speeds. "For the applications that are in the marketplace, current speeds are more than adequate for the vast majority of users," says Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley. AT&T spokesman Michael Coe says consumers may not even be able to benefit from the very high speeds since congestion in other parts of the Internet network can ultimately slow downloads.
We've noticed AT&T's PR response to DOCSIS 3.0 and FTTH has been to place an emphasis on the quality of their core network. Time Warner Cable continues to upgrade to speedier tiers only where competition (read:FiOS) warrants, and is supposed to begin trials of low monthly caps and overage charges sometime this year (assuming the bad press didn't scare them off).

Related:
  1. AT&T, Verizon Get Their GPON On
  2. Time Warner Cable Pretends Cable Is Fiber
  3. Time Warner Cable To Start Per-Gigabyte Fee Trial On Thursday
  4. Time Warner Cable Says They're Ready For FiOS Rumble
  5. Time Warner Cable Using Fine Print To Foist Caps On Customers
  6. Was FiOS a Good Idea?
  7. U-Verse Hitting Jacksonville This Week?
  8. Why Run FTTH When You Can Pretend You Do?
Forums » Your Broadband Is Fast Enough
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TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi

Not a bad strategy either...

Faster speeds will be useless if throttling and low download caps will become standard anyway, so from a certain point of view saying the current internet is fast enough isn't a lie.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
·DSL EXTREME

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

Exactly...
I'm happy with a solid/unthrottled/uncapped 3Mbps/512kbps fastpath DSL connection at $25 price range.

The problem that I will see in the near future...
Companies will 'sour' the basic/low end plans with low caps and/or throttling. Forcing users up to higher end plans.

What doesn't make sense from a technical standpoint is throttling/capping low (1.5Mbps) plans... they aren't consuming 'excessive' amounts or disrupting as 10-50Mbps users can. Its a pure cash grab by souring the basic plan to be unusable.
--
Canada = Hollywood North
RogerADSL

join:2004-12-10
Lawrenceville, GA

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

your goverment is subsidizing your connection! Silly socialists!

Mike
Premium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA
clubs:

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

Your troll-fu is strong, young padawan.
RogerADSL

join:2004-12-10
Lawrenceville, GA

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

sorry....
luckystreich

join:2005-11-05
West Hartford, CT
Uhhhh....

Do you mean $30? 3.0 mbps / 512 kbps. AT&T just raised the prices on that speed tier by 5 bucks.

If you are still under a contract, you won't see the change until your term ends.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

And when that happens...I'll deal with it then.
POTS fees are what kills me.
--
Canada = Hollywood North

FunkyMonk

@comcast.net
yeah what happened to LOW PRICES?

i'd love to have your $25/month package - i can't really get dsl that fast - that's what needs to be fixed, not more expensive and faster, but better service and cheaper.

root9

join:2005-04-08
Kitchener, ON
·Bell Sympatico


edit:
April 11th, @04:44PM

EXUSE ME? You trying to say that you agree with throttling = invasion of privacy = illegal actions by major ISP's, MONEY HUNGRY CORPORATINS and governments?

At present the major bulk of bandwidth is taken up by large corporations, next are Governments, then and only then we have users. In reality users must put up with slowed speed and be spied on at same time?

Do we have to flip the bill for Corporate use as we are doing now? Yes, that's right, our user prices are going up and corporate are going down, go figure.

At present everyone can have 15 Mbps DWLDS and 3.5 Mbps UPLDS with no problems what-so-ever if we would fight for our rights! ... AND pay much less due to dropping prices of bandwidth as you use more.

Come on PPL .. fight for your rights or loose them!

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi
·Videotron
·Bell Sympatico

Host:
International Broa..
Videotron

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

What?

I said if they keep throttling and capping connections to justify the faster speeds, it makes no sense. I'd rather have slower speed and an uncapped, unthrottled connection, or at least, a reasonable cap hovering around 200GB.

AT&T's point of view makes sense, saying Internet is already fast enough. They should invest in maintaining a network capable of handling unthrolled connections with a higher cap.

root9

join:2005-04-08
Kitchener, ON
·Bell Sympatico

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

ahum, you said: "Faster speeds will be useless if throttling and low download caps will become standard anyway,"

If they become standard "anyway" then we lost the fight for our rights. The idea is to not let them get away with it in the first place or they sucker us later.

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

As it has been said here, I'm all for petitions and fighting, but we are a vocal minority at best and influence the big companies very little.

root9

join:2005-04-08
Kitchener, ON
·Bell Sympatico


edit:
April 11th, @06:08PM

Re: Not a bad strategy either...

oh you are are you? and you're not part of the biggest community on this planet? ... the internet users?

you have many advocacy groups, youtube, google video, slashdot, your senator and list goes on and on.

You ever think of starting your own website / blog / advocacy group and scream for help? Post a sign on your front lawn ,, let loose and fight for your rights!

Here is a perfect example fou you: »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology
These PPL [mostly kids, teens and young adults] started as few ... who grew into many. They are taking on a the cult of Scientology [the richest and most destructive idiots on this continent] and driving them back into the sea. Maybe slowly but they are doing it.

--
Fight for your rights or loose them!
nitzan

join:2008-02-27
·ViaTalk
·Comcast

said by TigerLord See Profile :

AT&T's point of view makes sense, saying Internet is already fast enough. They should invest in maintaining a network capable of handling unthrolled connections with a higher cap.
AT&T is saying today that there is no need to upgrade their network because it's already capable of handling the traffic users need.

Just wait and see- in a year they will come back and say they can't handle the traffic "due to file sharing activity" so they have to throttle everyone.

Instead of investing in development of their existing network to provide users with the speeds they WILL NEED for tomorrow's technologies, they decided to play grouch. The only ones who will pay for it are the customers. Those that aren't lucky enough to have another provider in their area, that is.

Current AT&T management is horrible. They treat both their employees AND their customers like crap. I'm stuck with AT&T and Comcrap where I live, but you know what- I'd take Comcast over AT&T these days. Sad.

Mchart
Tech Control

join:2004-01-21
Gurnee, IL
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T Yahoo

said by root9 See Profile :

EXUSE ME? You trying to say that you agree with throttling = invasion of privacy = illegal actions by major ISP's, MONEY HUNGRY CORPORATINS and governments?

At present the major bulk of bandwidth is taken up by large corporations, next are Governments, then and only then we have users. In reality users must put up with slowed speed and be spied on at same time?

Do we have to flip the bill for Corporate use as we are doing now? Yes, that's right, our user prices are going up and corporate are going down, go figure.

At present everyone can have 15 Mbps DWLDS and 3.5 Mbps UPLDS with no problems what-so-ever if we would fight for our rights! ... AND pay much less due to dropping prices of bandwidth as you use more.

Come on PPL .. fight for your rights or loose them!
Except you fail to realize that companies and the government are paying well over 100 times what we are paying.

I also like the comment that corporate prices are going down. Is this a joke? The prices of all the equipment keep going up and up.

Nothing is going down in price. Small business? Maybe. But not anything above your typical entry level for SONET, which at this point is no less then an OC12 for most business's for future-proofing.

root9

join:2005-04-08
Kitchener, ON
·Bell Sympatico


edit:
April 12th, @11:42AM

Re: Mchart ...

"Except you fail to realize that companies and the government are paying well over 100 times what we are paying."
=> What they are paying is a drop in the bucket in comparison of their profits filling their pockets. Same old story Mchart, the rich are getting much richer and most of us are getting poorer.

"I also like the comment that corporate prices are going down. Is this a joke? The prices of all the equipment keep going up and up."
=> They sure are ... again not enough to warrant price hikes for users. Not even close .. please read your bottom lines of each company and how much the investors are racking in too. Keep in mind that most are spending major part of this cash on frivolous projects as tax havens. The rich have great ways to manipulate and hide their cash.

It's small biz that's coming up with new ideas and or using them ... that's where future is.

It's amazing how the PPL have been duped, right in front of their own faces yet. I make an educated guess many big corporations are about to fall before 2011 due to being exposed for their abuses. And they are about to cause the worst havoc known while doing so.
--
Fight for your rights or loose them!

Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
02101

They aren't incorrect.

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
--
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast

Re: They aren't incorrect.

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
Ten years ago, 56k was more than adequate for the vast majority of users.

Moving to higher tiers of speed is a little bit of a chicken-and-egg problem at first, but if the barriers to adoption are low enough, applications that take advantage of the higher speeds will quickly appear. The more applications that appear that require a faster connection, the more people will upgrade.

It eventually becomes a virtuous circle, with the companies that fail to jump on the bandwagon (glaring example is AOL) getting left in the dust.
--
My opinions are my own. No-one else would want them!
bogey780

join:2004-03-19
Covington, LA

Re: They aren't incorrect.

Actually, I'd venture to say it was "acceptable" but not adequate.

At the point you could stream audio it became adequate since most people don't pull down more than low rez video.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
clubs:
·Site5.com
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast

said by Corydon See Profile :

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
Ten years ago, 56k was more than adequate for the vast majority of users.

Moving to higher tiers of speed is a little bit of a chicken-and-egg problem at first, but if the barriers to adoption are low enough, applications that take advantage of the higher speeds will quickly appear. The more applications that appear that require a faster connection, the more people will upgrade.

It eventually becomes a virtuous circle, with the companies that fail to jump on the bandwagon (glaring example is AOL) getting left in the dust.
Actually, 10 years ago 56k wasn't adequate at all. Which is why companies like @Home were expanding fast. Consumers were just starting to get used to the idea of a always on broadband connection back then. Back in 1996-1997, people were questioning the need. But I digress....

These applications are just now starting to come around. Look at Slingbox for instance. I could think of more devices that are on the horizon that could benefit from increased upstream bandwidth.

However, as a whole, right now a majority of users are indeed happy with their connections. A vast majority of them don't need high speed low latency connections. The people here on BBR are a different breed however.
Gogo1

join:2004-05-27
Brooklyn, NY

Exactly. Not sure why that passage of the quote is bolded like it is some ludicrous statement.

Are TWC and ATT doing enough to be able to adapt if, say, there is a sharp increase in bandwidth demand over the next five years? If legit movie downloads or other stuff becomes more popular?
espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·Comcast
·Embarq

I believe that to be a very accurate statement. With most ISPs there is at least 3-4 options for service plans. Many ISPs are seeing subscriptions hover around the bottom 2 tiers for the vast majority of their customer base, which gives them less incentive to expand offerings at the top.

Service providers will develop their network to follow the money.
defaultPlay

join:2007-11-30
Collegeville, PA
·Comcast
·Verizon FIOS

So I also take it that the Japanese don't need their 100+mbps of internet speed either. I mean, how could an average Japanese citizen possibly use that much bandwidth right?

I sure don't see it that way and neither do they obviously. It looks like certain companies listed above are taking the "el cheapo" way out of dishing out money to upgrade their networks.

Comcast and Verizon are doing the right thing and actually listening to their customers and providing us with faster speeds(yes, I know it's a rare thing).
openbox9

join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
·AT&T Southeast
·Mediacom

Re: They aren't incorrect.

said by defaultPlay See Profile :

So I also take it that the Japanese don't need their 100+mbps of internet speed either. I mean, how could an average Japanese citizen possibly use that much bandwidth right?
What do the Japanese utilization rates look like? The answer to your question depends on the answer to my question.

MattE
Obama '08
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
·Corporate Colocation

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
I get complaints all the time from people who hate how long it takes to send pictures via email. They don't know WHY it's taking so long and once I explain that it's because Time Warner cable or AT&T don't give them much in the way of upstream speeds, they understand ... and usually aren't very happy. The majority of people just accept it as "How things are". They don't understand that it doesn't HAVE to be that way.

My GF thought her 5Mbps/384Kbps Road Runner was just fine until she moved in with me and saw how much faster and easier it was to do things with 2Mbps upstream.
benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
·Charter Pipeline
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Callcentric
·AT&T Midwest

Re: They aren't incorrect.

said by MattE See Profile :

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
I get complaints all the time from people who hate how long it takes to send pictures via email. They don't know WHY it's taking so long and once I explain that it's because Time Warner cable or AT&T don't give them much in the way of upstream speeds, they understand ... and usually aren't very happy. The majority of people just accept it as "How things are". They don't understand that it doesn't HAVE to be that way.

My GF thought her 5Mbps/384Kbps Road Runner was just fine until she moved in with me and saw how much faster and easier it was to do things with 2Mbps upstream.
Agreed.

A few months back I was selling a truck. A woman called, and asked about pictures, because at the time I didn't have pictures in my ad (I know, I know).

The pictures were originally 1,280 x 1,024. I asked if she used dial-up, since her area code suggested she lived in rural Missouri. She said that she did.

Because I took pity on her, I decided that I would manually scale down each picture to 320 x 256. I didn't like doing so, but I did so because I knew how extremely slow dial-up is.



As far as my own experience, I could use more than 256k upload, but Charter Business HSI is EXPENSIVE.

Hopefully I can switch to AT&T Static IP DSL soon. The monthly cost is slightly higher, but at least I can get much faster speeds with them.

Charter Business HSI:
1.5M/256k, Static IP, 1yr. - $67/mo.

Note: This was the price in May 2007, the price has just got to be better now. If not then Charter can expect to die. The reason I signed up with them is because this part of town can't get DSL.

AT&T Static IP DSL:
6.0M/768k, Static IP, 1yr. - $80/mo.
luckystreich

join:2005-11-05
West Hartford, CT

Re: They aren't incorrect.

AT&T's price for that tier of Business DSL is still 80.00.

If you've been doing 1.5 mbps for so long, you could probably get away with 3.0 / 512 from AT&T for about 59.99.

bobjohnson

join:2007-02-03
Titusville, FL
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·Vonage

said by MattE See Profile :

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
I get complaints all the time from people who hate how long it takes to send pictures via email. They don't know WHY it's taking so long and once I explain that it's because Time Warner cable or AT&T don't give them much in the way of upstream speeds, they understand ... and usually aren't very happy. The majority of people just accept it as "How things are". They don't understand that it doesn't HAVE to be that way.

My GF thought her 5Mbps/384Kbps Road Runner was just fine until she moved in with me and saw how much faster and easier it was to do things with 2Mbps upstream.
I agree with this statement... I have 10/1 right now but I would be happy with like 3/3 or something like that... Wouldn't it be cheaper for the companies to balance the tiers and lower the total bandwidth, wouldn't that end up being less strain on the network...

kerriskandie

join:2001-10-09
Coram, NY
My GF thought her 5Mbps/384Kbps Road Runner was just fine until she moved in with me and saw how much faster and easier it was to do things with 2Mbps upstream.

"You smooth talker, you"....................!!!

RARPSL

join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
You have to distinguish between instant speed needs and sustained speed needs. A faster instant speed gets you on and off so others can use the network while you do stuff that does not need access to the net. Once you have downloaded a page, you can sit there looking at it. Getting the page in 5 seconds as opposed to 50 seconds (for example on a Dial-Up line) makes you more productive.

Sustained speeds are those that you have a need for to get the data as you use it (Streaming Video, VoIP, etc.). P2P is a middle ground in that getting the data gets you off the network but in most cases how long you take to get you file is of lesser importance so long as the total time needed is not that speed sensitive.

The ISPs are talking Sustained Speed needs while giving the impression they are talking about Instant Speed needs.
SilverSurfer

join:2007-08-19

said by Cabal See Profile :

We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.

I'd argue that this site is one of many of a tech savvy "minority." Case in point: Slashdot, Ars Technica et al. Members of this site are small potatoes compared to the others.

MattE
Obama '08
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
·Corporate Colocation

Re: They aren't incorrect.

said by SilverSurfer See Profile :

said by Cabal See Profile :

We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.

I'd argue that this site is one of many of a tech savvy "minority." Case in point: Slashdot, Ars Technica et al. Members of this site are small potatoes compared to the others.
Also, don't discount the fact that we directly influence the purchasing decisions of a lot of people. How many people ask your opinion on things and then directly act based upon your recommendations?
NYC Girl
Premium
join:2007-02-04
New York, NY
·RoadRunner Cable
·Time Warner VOIP

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
I can always use more internet speed, always, lol

MattE
Obama '08
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
·Corporate Colocation

Re: They aren't incorrect.

said by NYC Girl See Profile :

said by Cabal See Profile :

Current speeds ARE more than adequate for the vast majority of users. Remember, hobbyists reading BBR are far from a majority of users, or even common at that. We are a very small, overly vocal, minority.
I can always use more internet speed, always, lol
Holy Thread Resurrection Batman!
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast

I think Comcast and Verizon have this one right...

The last big jump in broadband speeds (from dialup to DOCSIS and DSL) led to a quantum leap in online services which we are still digesting today.

With faster speeds, one can already envision streaming HD video content. No doubt there will be plenty of other services no-one's even thought of yet.

I think TW and other cable companies sitting on their hands aren't in quite as bad a situation, since they could probably rush out some kind of DOCSIS 3 product in reasonably short order.

AT&T may have more of a problem, since they're already wringing out as much as they possibly can from twisted pair. They risk getting left behind as the next AOL.
--
My opinions are my own. No-one else would want them!

Packeteers
Premium
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
·Verizon Online DSL


edit:
April 11th, @02:21PM

No Need for Speed

I agree, TWC should distinguish itself by Not investing in faster speeds, they can even throttle connections of Torrent users, but only WHILE CARRYING THE SAVINGS ON TO THEIR CONSUMERS. but since they are not only lazy, but continue to be greedy as well, then they will ultimately fail in the long run.
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast

Re: No Need for Speed

Not going to happen. I doubt we'll see price increases for flagship HSI products, but all players in the industry seem to have an unspoken agreement to generally avoid competing on price.
--
My opinions are my own. No-one else would want them!

Packeteers
Premium
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
·Verizon Online DSL


edit:
April 11th, @02:30PM

Re: No Need for Speed

I would not be so certain.
just take a look at the price wars
going on with unlimited minute cell phone plans.

my whole company just switched over to Sprint phones
because of their $99 everything unlimited plans with
$250 per phone in sign up credits.
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast

Re: No Need for Speed

I suppose it's possible, but if it happens anywhere, it will happen in the bargain basement "granny plan" tiers of service. Those are the plans that are designed to appeal to cost conscious customers.

Of course, upgrading the network would probably change things for the better in this segment too. I think Comcast's idea of a granny plan is something like 4 Mbps, which would have been a high-end offering 5 or 6 years ago. So if Comcast's "speed tier" moves to 50/5 or some such, everyone else may get at least a little extra love.
--
My opinions are my own. No-one else would want them!

root9

join:2005-04-08
Kitchener, ON
·Bell Sympatico


edit:
April 11th, @05:03PM

Re: No Need for Speed

Hmmm ,, do you understand the fact that it's the small guy and user that has the say on anything?

It' ALL small companies that built any country.

Example: One or few companies / against millions of users
Which do you think is going to win if even 10% or users band together to fight back?

tad2020

join:2007-07-17
Orange, CA

edit:
April 11th, @02:25PM

Don't need more than one tier too

TWC doesn't even think tiered services are needed in Orange or Villa Park California. The only option we have is the 5M/386K @ $49.99 tier.

See 7 replies to this post

sirwoogie
Blah
Premium
join:2002-01-02
Carleton, MI
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

All a matter of perspective

AT&T and TW are speaking like someone that doesn't want to be a "big, dumb pipe" provider, but rather a content provider. The other vendors are slowly seeing that they can be both a content provider and pipe provider if they just enhance their network to the end user. This in turn allows them to turn up the marketing machine of "best in class speed" as well as "we have the most HD" blah blah. Win Win situation.

The unfortunately catch-22 is that most people in this country don't have the choice of competition between these vendors, thus the market is defined by who is the incumbent provider for the territory. Thus, that circles back to the whole crux of the argument we all have had for the past 10 years on this site.

wifi4milez
In Need Of Garbage Pail Kids 1st Series

join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

Speeds are more than adequate...

The current speeds available to most users are more than adequate. In fact, they are well above what 99% of users even need, hence the huge push into the low bandwidth tiers. Sure, having more bandwidth would be great for the 100 or so people who visit this site and bitch about it all the time (myself included from time to time!), but thats just not reality.
--
Весна прибыла

Old_Grouch
If you don't want to know...don't ask
Premium
join:2004-05-26
Greenwood, IN
clubs:
·AT&T Midwest

Speed Costs!

Long ago, I had a hobby of driving fast in a straight line...the person who sold me parts told me that speed costs then asked how fast I wanted to go.

Same applies here. People who want faster and faster should have a means for getting it if they are willing to pay the price. Might mean they buy from a different vendor (or multiple) and might mean that the price is a move if what they want isn't available locally.

Doesn't mean they have a right or expectation that any vendor will want to satisfy their cravings.
--
At Team Discovery we know how to get more outta that danged 'puter of yours!
If you paid taxes it's a rebate. If you didn't, it's welfare.

danza_
Premium
join:2002-08-23
San Jose, CA

Re: Speed Costs!

That's just not the same.

There will only be more data in the future to fill the pipes, not less.

Daddy

join:2007-12-07
Bronx, NY

Times....

Times is changing, they all need to get with the program

rit56

join:2000-12-01
New York, NY

TWC in NYC

FIOS is coming and they will bleed customers. I know a ton of people eager to switch.

T1 Rocky

join:2002-11-15
Dallas, TX
·Time Warner Telecom
·ygnitionnet

Verizon land grab?

Someone just posted in the Dallas forums that they are in AT&T territory and Verizon just put a flyer on their door that said FIOS will be there soon and they see flags throguh the neighborhood indicating fiber is going in. That would be awesome if Verizon and AT&T started competing. If nothing else, Verizon is giving AT&T a reason to stop procrastinating and get the fiber network installed. This is the first time I've heard of Verizon invading AT&T territory and I'd like to know if this is an isolated incident but how could you find that out? Also, what is the agreement between the ILEC's regarding territories? Is it a hand shake deal or is a legal document that defines who's territory is who's and what are the repercussions of stepping on the other's turf?
Serves AT&T right for continuing this charade of "dsl is sufficient and fber is something for your diet." Hell in 1995, everyone thought that 28.8kbps was sufficient. Don't they realize they are intentionally stunting the technological growth of the country?!!?
EPS

join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

Re: Verizon land grab?

There's no formal agreement among the Baby Bells- its mostly about right-of-way agreements. Verizon, as the legal descendant of Ma Bell and General Telephone in their areas, has the right to string up wires anywhere- they don't need new agreements with the town to put up FiOS (they do for television, but that's irrelevant to putting up the wires). To deploy FiOS elsewhere, they'd have to get all new right-of-way in addition to cable franchise agreements, which would be costly.

The area in Texas, as I recall reading, was a town that was partially served by Verizon and partially by at&t. It may be that when GTE's predecessor in the area got permission to wire, they got a town-wide agreement, or perhaps Verizon is thinking of moving from the old RBOC limits and is using it as a test ground, since they're already right there.

JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs:
·LINGO
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·surpasshosting
·Verizon FIOS

Re: Verizon land grab?

said by EPS See Profile :

...Verizon, as the legal descendant of Ma Bell and General Telephone in their areas, has the right to string up wires anywhere...
Well, almost anywhere. In Rockville MD, the city took the stance that fiber isn't for just "telephone and telegraph", so they feel they have to right to keep Verizon out. So far, the city's been successful. Talk about a black hole!

Fortunately for me, I'm outside the city limits, where's there's plenty of light, thanks to Verizon's fiber.
whiteybulger

join:2003-03-11
Belmont, MA

Hilarious accompanying picture!

Nice job!

Millenniumle

join:2007-11-11
Erie, PA

Re: Hilarious accompanying picture!

Ther aint no 'mericans here.

That is funny.

capecoddah

join:2005-03-18
Yarmouth Port, MA
Good to see Baghdad Bob is working...
I was surprised he wasn't bought by some "More bux than brains" ad-man. Joe Izuzu had nothing on the man.

Millenniumle

join:2007-11-11
Erie, PA

...

I've had as fast as a 6Mb line and I'm now at 1Mb. I have no interest in paying 60 to $100 per month for internet so I d