[Macworld]

Post your comments for Get Ready for a crackdown on broadband use here

[haim_vital]

Double talk.
"We have enough bandwidth" - "We see no problem"
"There will be a problem" - "We dont want to update".
Hmmm...maybe they see all the different activities and merely see this as a way to create more and more and more money. They admit they dont have an issue and wont...well then they later change their mind.
Its about $$$ and control and lazy...but really about control. Thats why they dont update their systems, why shouldnt they? Its not like the CEOs and other suits are the ones who have to do any actual work.
What a joke, seriously. They dont like bittorrent, yet businesses want to use that to share large legal files...so how will that work? They got bored of the old business model and dont want to be progressive. How am I not surprised.
O.k. Rant over, doesnt matter what my say in this is anyway. lol
peace

[TowerTone]

oNe wOrd: Karl Rove

[deatherm]

The problem is we've become a for-profit nation with company logos all but draped from the White House.

What started out as a network built on a common framework is now largely browser specific. And now that we've been sold on unlimited broadband access, cariers want to throttle usage and establish tiers. However, trademarks lose their value if not protected. It's hard to take something back once you've given it away in other words. Government should reject such control.

[tbailey]

Quote

the article said
It?s like a postal worker opening every letter and scanning the contents to see whether it?s junk mail, a bill, a love letter, or something else.

No, it's like the postal worker scanning each piece of mail and seeing if it is stamped standard, priority or express mail, and handling it accordingly. Oh wait, this is what they are doing . . .

Tom

[deatherm]

But not telling you which until after they've looked!

[akira34]

SOOOOO glad I have the Verizon FiOS service... 20MB down, 5MB up, <$50/month... No sharing of my bandwidth with the rest of the leg, unlike cable service... My only speed limit these days is on the server I'm pulling from. I'm even faster than the internet connection at work, and the remote sites that connect to us.

[zeroblizzard]

Companies that control broadband access are pigs. I listen to what they charge you for, and its rediculous that they should cut you off. They are trying to make more money and are charging you for stuff you would do normally, just for more money.
And Comcast, I use your service, and you suck for restricting my access to services. I will pay more for these services. It is none of your business what I do with my internet. I hope you get hung by the broadband cables that you are so attached to.
Oh, and by the way, nice customer service and speed.

[DominikHoffmann]

We did you guys learn economics? (all neo-Marxist flames willingly accepted)

It is only in a free market that the solutions customers need or want that they'll be made available. Verizon FiOS is in a great position to compete against Comcast. Comcast's limitations as early as in 2004 were the reason I switched to FiOS.

I can see already see the commercials lampooning the likes of Comcast for not keeping up with bandwidth demand.

Dominik Hoffmann

[akira34]

FiOS was finally made available, with all three aspects, where my sister, brother-in-law, and mother live (two family house)... I've been telling them to move from earthstink to Verizon for years. It finally hit them at how poor their service was when they tried to download some shows via the iTunes store for my niece's new iPod... Knowing my [cheap] sister, they probably went to the cheapest FiOS service, which is still several times faster than what they had. They provide my mother with her internet connection (via wireless) so all she had to get was the FiOS tv an phone (she already had Verizon for phone, so she gets it bundled for cheap money).

I'm eyeballing the new 20MB up and 20MB down service from FiOS... It's a few dollars more, but it could be useful to me. Especially since I have a web site, ftp server, and LDMS Gateway server hosted here at home. I'm even thinking about setting up an email server too... Right now 5MB up does ok, most of the time doing even better than that, but that 20MB up would make thinks sick. Especially since the digital images on my site are not getting any smaller.

Oh, and I did call the Verizon support people a few weeks back to try and see where an issue was. Turns out it was my third party router that was the problem. The tech from Verizon was VERY helpful and we were able to eliminate the router from the mix and confirm that it was the issue (plugged directly into the wall outlet, everything worked properly). I've since received a new router, which is working properly... Alas, Belkin's phone support sucks donkey parts when it comes to actually helping you out. I could smell the curry through the phone, and barely understand the person. The Verizon guy WAS in the US, there was no language barrier to overcome, and he was more than happy to work with me. The Belkin guy had to pass me along to tier 2, which was a call back (not the case when I've needed that from Verizon) and tier 3 was a joke (the message on my machine when I got home was they were only there until 4PM PST, I'm on the east coast, and rarely get home that early).

I've been with Verizon for years (since 2001 for phone, internet since about 2002) and have no issues with their service or support. I jumped onto the FiOS service as soon as I knew about it for my area, and can't go back to either regular DSL or downgrade to cable. When they were able to offer tv in my town, I dumped Comcast (or Con-Cast) so fast it made their heads spin. I actually called them up the day Verizon did the install, so that I didn't have to worry about a gap in service. Of course they want me back, but I'm spending less for better services now...

[pcharles]

This is pretty much the way my parents get their service through Global Internet in the UK. They can choose up to 5GB per month for #10, upto 20GB per month for #20, or upto 50GB per month for #25, and if they go over that there is a per MB or per GB charge. I think they went with the 5GB option and do not use all that, except when I visit and start downloading podcasts and movies.

I remember thinking it was odd that they pay by the GB when we have pretty much unlimited capacity, but it makes sense that people using more bandwidth should pay more money than those using less.

[DogHouseDub]

My ISP (Astound Broadband in Northern California) throttles peer-to-peer downloads after you've exceeded 500Mb per day. They include the iTunes Music Store as a "peer-to-peer" service. So while I'm paying for 8Mbps speeds, that applies only to the first 500Mb I download each day. A major hassle if you're trying to quickly download something to watch on the train. Astounding indeed.

[akira34]

What happens if you decide to try out a Linux distro? All the major ones are either multiple cd's or on dvd these days (Centos 4 and 5, Fedora 7 or 8, etc.)... I can [typically] download the latest distro in ~18-20 minutes (dvd) provided the hosting server can feed me what I can pull down for bandwidth. The longest I've seen it take, from a good server, is about 30 minutes.

I think that the US needs to keep the throttling of speeds either to a minimum, or make the limits high enough that people are not hamstrung by it. I do hope that Verizon doesn't go down that road too. Especially with the speed I'm getting. There are weeks that I hit more than 500MB (let alone 500Mb) in a single day. New version of one of the applications I'm the admin of: 800MB download. ISO for another aspect of it: ~400MB download. There are even days that the Windows updates for the systems I have easily exceed 500Mb.

If they're going to cut down on what we can download for amount, then they better increase the speeds to what's available for places in Europe and Asia. Globally speaking, we're on the slower side of the pipe (on average). Or at least for cable ISP's...

[TowerTone]

Dominik
Thank you. I hope the free market naysayers can learn to appreciate that. Keep the government out, and someone will offer a better deal.
And please, Leftinistos, don't flame with extremes. Internet service is not medical care or air flight. It will be OK.
Of course, maybe HillaryCare or the ObamaNation will provide it to everyone for FREE!!! I mean, why should only the rich have FIOS?.......