Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kosh on August 19, 2005, 12:01:46 am
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http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/broadband.html
The United States remains 16th in the world in broadband penetration per capita. The United States also ranks 16th in terms of broadband growth rates, suggesting our world ranking won't improve any time soon. On a per megabit basis, U.S. consumers pay 10 to 25 times more than broadband users in Japan.
That was just one piece of it, but that is sad. Isn't this supposed to be the richest country in the world?
I had a friend from South Korea who was always complaining that the T3 connection at our university was "slow". I would say there is definately truth to that report.
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Teh US iz teh nubz0r.
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You realize that most of the telecom/data infrastructure in this country dates from the late 40's and early 50's right?
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Originally posted by Liberator
You realize that most of the telecom/data infrastructure in this country dates from the late 40's and early 50's right?
Isn't that just supporting the article's point? :p
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Originally posted by Liberator
You realize that most of the telecom/data infrastructure in this country dates from the late 40's and early 50's right?
That's even more embarasing.
Comcast has a total monopoly where I live. Cable internet costs well over $40 per month.
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Tallinn is gonna have free wireless access all over the city soon :p
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Originally posted by Kosh
Comcast has a total monopoly where I live. Cable internet costs well over $40 per month.
Same here. The terrible thing is that they always state that "well it's your modem" when there is an outage.
A day or so later, then they admit to actually having a problem. A few days later they might actually fix it.
Of course you have to have internet access to find out info on their outages...
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well from what I understand is that there is a move to make everything digital using Optical Cable. This includes telephone, TV, and Internet access. Atleast that is what the FCC is promoting.
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The Fiber Optics movement has been going on for years.
But don't trust what the FCC says. It is obviously untrustworthy.
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Do not speak derisively of the Fascist Communications Commission. They will sew your lips shut and monitor your brain activity for any thoughts of sex, violence, drug use, or profanity.
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We can thank this to the oligopolies that are the cable and phone companies sleeping with the FCC, and the FCC just being a bunch of pricks. Open access was the only hope for the little guy. The US doesn't want everyone online. The government likes the digital divide. Otherwise people might learn something, spark independent thought. Then what would happen?
I am a bit suspicious when towns try to set up their own networks though. Something just doesn't sound right when your local government wants to set up a wifi network for everyone out of the goodness of their heart. What's their real motive? Media has always been ruled by the few and it must end, and the internet is vital to the rebellion.
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they give the fcc way too much power. we also tend to allocate all the usefull frequencys to military applications, giving us access to the worst ones. and then theres the overacceptance of dial-up. excessive cell phone propagation probibly allso has something to do with it. then you get bogged down by meaningless traffic, spam and whatnot. then you have communications monopolies. how much controll does he fcc have over wired communication? i dont know. but the major thing wrong with us' communications if the fact that the usa is oversaturated with bull****.
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and then theres the overacceptance of dial-up.
Some of us can't afford the inflated broadband prices.
excessive cell phone propagation probibly allso has something to do with it
Actually, the US is behind the developed world in that area too. Cell phones are also catching on in developing countries like China too.
but the major thing wrong with us' communications if the fact that the usa is oversaturated with bull****.
:nod:
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Originally posted by Kosh
Some of us can't afford the inflated broadband prices.
If you pay $20 or $25 per month for Dial Up, #1 you are a nutcase, #2 most cable companies(I have Charter) have a plan that lowers the overall cost for both if you have TV and Broadband. For instance, I pay $55 for Broadband and Basic Cable.
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I pay ~$20 for 10mbit, + ~$10 for phone. landlord pays basic cable for me.
well, I did. I'm moving. so I won't pay anything for it now, cuz I won't have it.
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i think we pay $170 for phone/digital cable with all movie chanels/and really slow broadband (<1megabit)
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It costs me about $65/month together for 6m/768k cable internet and cable TV service. I'm not quite happy with Comcast though, since momentary outages have become far too common during the last few months.
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the then there are some unlucky people (like me) who can't get DSL or cable broadband because Bell and Rogers are lazy f*cks!
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our system is hellishly outdatedthey upgraded to newer cable modems, the old ones were rather large and clunky. but i dont think new cable modems will improve their system any. they need to start laying fiber.
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Upgrading to fiber optic lines is a start, but it won't make the companies charge less, for that you need competition.
I don't see how anyone can access the net today on dialup, what with all the pop-ups, flash ads, graphically intensive websites. You'd be lucky to even get to your email, and that's just about the only thing you can do with a 56K connection. Basically, companies don't care. They're not worth going after anymore. It's social Darwinism: pay for broadband or lag behind. (No pun intended.) That's not right or fair to the less fortunate. Everyone should have broadband by now.
What's that, go to the library? Who the **** is going to go to the library just to use the ****ing internet? That excuse is completely asinine for the digital divide. That kind of ruins the convenience of the internet if I have to go to the public library to use it and run on their time.
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If you pay $20 or $25 per month for Dial Up
My parents pay about $10 for Dial-up thank you very much.
But $55+ per month is way overpriced.
Upgrading to fiber optic lines is a start, but it won't make the companies charge less, for that you need competition.
Actually, upgrading to fiber optic lines just gives those greedy bastards another excuse to charge more.
The reasoning for the high prices simply comes down to corperate greed.
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Originally posted by Liberator
For instance, I pay $55 for Broadband and Basic Cable.
In Japan $55 is the cost of a 100mbps fiber optic connection.
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I pay 40 bucks for DSL and some other number around there for satellite. I live on a US owned island that's almost 3rd world tho, so it's an exception.
Anyway, sorry Ether, but
The US doesn't want everyone online. The government likes the digital divide. Otherwise people might learn something, spark independent thought. Then what would happen?
That is freaking paranoid. Not everything is a conspiracy.
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It does sound paranoid, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.
People who said the CIA was behind the coup in Iran that installed the Shah were labelled as being paranoid. Then 40 years or so after it happened we find out that the CIA was in fact behind installing the Shah. That is just one example, but there are probably others.
I pay 40 bucks for DSL and some other number around there for satellite.
That's what D$L costs around here too.
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It's just that I don't trust the government.
Originally posted by Kosh
The reasoning for the high prices simply comes down to corperate greed.
And also lack of competition, they kind of go hand-in-hand.
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It's just that I don't trust the government.
It is loaded with lawyers, why should anyone trust the government? :D
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I don't know, but people do.
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
That is freaking paranoid. Not everything is a conspiracy.
I wouldn't say it was myself, although from a purely abstract perspective it would be a good way to go about it. Partially because it would require both foresight and co-operation across multiple governments of different political ideologies.
Bit like how Mugabe is trying to prevent a cohesive or solid opposition in Zimbabwe by forcing people (from slum towns; i.e. those most likely to form a vocal discontented group) to move from one place to another.
But it's far, far, far more likely it's simply due to the size of the Us telecomms infrastructure and the cost of upgrading the whole thing.
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
That is freaking paranoid. Not everything is a conspiracy.
*Makes note to use sarcasm tags often*
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You do that :p But notice how others that replied to my post thought that it wasn't inconcievable? :p
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Iv'e got DSL with 512 dl and 256 up for $34 a month, although the freakin constant disconnects and the fact that whenever someone calls the house it runs the risk of cutting me off kind of evens it out to the $55 a month thing IMO.
But It is good to see they ran fiber optic cable to my house and stopped there because now I get to laugh at the people that live above me :p
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But it's far, far, far more likely it's simply due to the size of the Us telecomms infrastructure and the cost of upgrading the whole thing.
It probably costs a lot more to occupy a foreign country than it does to upgrade the infrastucture.
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
You do that :p But notice how others that replied to my post thought that it wasn't inconcievable? :p
Oh it's easy to turn anything into a conspiracy. They're quite entertaining. I could say that hot dogs coming in a 10 pack and buns coming in packs of 8 is a conspiracy to make you endlessy buy hot dogs to use up the rolls as well. ^_^ I think I found a site once where you could create a conspiracy theory. Anyway, I learned my lesson how dangerous my frivolous rants can be.
The truth is no one wants to pay to upgrade the lines, and there are still rural areas where dial up is the only option. It's really sad. Wireless is OK if you need a connection somewhere on the go, but everyone should be wired. You can buy a value computer now, but can't afford to connect to the net at reasonable speeds? I stress competition is the key to end the divide. It's just really hard to break down the wall. We need another trust buster, even though these aren't textbook monopolies. It starts with reinstating open access lines.
Btw, when the FCC considers something, you can post on their message board. I forget what this move is actually called, but supposedly, they actually take these posts into account when making decisions. Mostly industry pros voice their opinions, I believe, wouldn't hurt to have America speak out. Then we could at least test to see if they actually take this stuff into account.
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this means that tasmania doesn't suck in terms of internet access.. woo! :p
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there's a difference between "not sucking" and "sucking less" though.
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Originally posted by kode
there's a difference between "not sucking" and "sucking less" though.
tasmania's considered a regional area, save for hobart, which is metropolitan.. and has broadband access as such...
*hugs his adsl modem and gets third degree burns from it*:p
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Originally posted by Kosh
It probably costs a lot more to occupy a foreign country than it does to upgrade the infrastucture.
Probably, but you also get pretty explosions, land and large amounts of natural resources for your money.
Er, if one were to use a theoretical model of course.
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This is worth a shot.
The FCC main site (http://www.fcc.gov) - like you really needed the link to this. :rolleyes: Scroll down to file a public comment.
The alt link to the comment page (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/ecfs/Upload)
I should probably start getting involved in this, since I am going into media. I hate the FCC. :no: