*This just in*- you are getting ripped off on your internet cost

[underpants]

See how "competition" makes things slower and more expensive?...hold it that's not what they have been telling us :think:


Is U.S. stuck in Internet's slow lane?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071030/ap_on_hi_te/broadband_gap_10;_ylt=AnRwaaQfufwpZucjXnO62flsaMYA

NEW YORK - The United States is starting to look like a slowpoke on the Internet. Examples abound of countries that have faster and cheaper broadband connections, and more of their population connected to them.

In a move to get a clearer picture of where the U.S. stands, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would develop an annual inventory of existing broadband services — including the types, advertised speeds and actual number of subscribers — available to households and businesses across the nation.

The inventory wouldn't cover other countries, but a cursory look shows the U.S. lagging behind at least some of them. In South Korea, for instance, the average apartment can get an Internet connection that's 15 times faster than a typical U.S. connection. In Paris, a "triple play" of TV, phone and broadband service costs less than half of what it does in the U.S. <--Thomas Friedman actually pointed this out in an article a few weeks ago.

Dan Correa, research analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, believes the U.S. needs a more "proactive" broadband policy, and compares the lack of government involvement in the field with the situation in other utilities, which are mostly heavily regulated.

"In the 1930s, we recognized that electricity was essential. We're not quite at that level in broadband," Correa said.

[hobbit709]

1. Monopolies and deregulation is what did it to us.

[LakeSamish706]

2. Gee... Do you think that the getting ripped off part has something to do...

with American complacency? Just like many Americans are devoted to MSM and probably believe much of what they learn on TV, and just like the health care scam... Its about time that Americans woke up and say that they are not going to take it anymore.

[unpossibles]

4. partially

I also see it as us being sold the lie of the "Invisible Hand of the Free Market" combined with a fear of regulation/government. It's like when people cannot discuss national health care rationally because they balk at the "socialized" portion of it; even when it has been proven that we waste a ton of money on health care in our current system, people moan that "socialized medicine will raise our taxes!" when in fact it should cost us less.

[madokie]

3. Here's what I get for $39.95 a month

:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 450 Kbps about 0.5 Mbps (tested with 579 kB)
Download Speed is:: 55 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Main)
Test Time:: 2007/10/31 - 7:12am
Bottom Line:: 8X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 18.62 sec
Tested from a 579 kB file and took 10.547 seconds to complete
Download Diagnosis:: May need help : running at only 67.06 % of your hosts average (chouteautel.com)
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-0O47NFWAX
User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

[The Straight Story]

9. Here's mine

:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 6607 Kbps about 6.6 Mbps (tested with 5983 kB)
Download Speed is:: 807 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Main)
Test Time:: 2007/10/31 - 8:25am
Bottom Line:: 115X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 1.27 sec
Tested from a 5983 kB file and took 7.419 seconds to complete
Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 26.04 % faster than the average for host (rr.com)
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-07R2F9HKD
User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.8) Gecko/20071008 Firefox/2.0.0.8

[Ezlivin]

12. This is what I get for $49.95/month

Download Connection is:: 15351 Kbps about 15.35 Mbps (tested with 12160 kB)
Download Speed is:: 1874 kB/s
Upload Connection is:: 1726 Kbps about 1.7 Mbps (tested with 2992 kB)
Upload Speed is:: 211 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net (Main)
Test Time:: 2007/10/31 - 8:49am
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-L853PUR70
U-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-K4H7WGRFB
User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/419.3 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/419.3

[SoCalDem]

14. Mine seemed fast ..but I guess not

:::.. testmy.net test results ..:::
Download Connection is:: 2366 Kbps about 2.37 Mbps (tested with 2992 kB)
Download Speed is:: 289 kB/s
Upload Connection is:: 897 Kbps about 0.9 Mbps (tested with 1496 kB)
Upload Speed is:: 109 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net (Main)
Test Time:: 2007/10/31 - 9:03am
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-KY7S0NH8W
U-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-B270MIRTA
User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.12) Gecko/20070508 Firefox/1.5.0.12

[Ezlivin]

15. I've got FiOS from Verizon

It's fiber optic and they can eavesdrop on me much faster than with other connections.

[madokie]

18. In other words I'm getting screwed

fairpoint communications

[kysrsoze]

16. Depends where you are. Here's my $40/month speed:

:::.. Download Stats ..:::
Download Connection is:: 4345 Kbps about 4.3 Mbps (tested with 5983 kB)
Download Speed is:: 530 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Main)
Test Time:: 2007/10/31 - 9:17am
Bottom Line:: 76X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 1.93 sec
Tested from a 5983 kB file and took 11.281 seconds to complete
Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 73.52 % faster than the average for host (ameritech.net)
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-Z001VSNU2
User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)

[Romulox]

5. The US is a quite a bit bigger than South Korea. Our infrastructure is not comparable. nt

[Lance_Boyle]

6. This is a common refrain for ISP apologists

But compare the numbers between, say, NYC and Tokyo, or Chicago and Milan. Where "wide open spaces" are not an issue, the US still lags unacceptably far behind. Now why should that be, once we've accounted for the rural skew that makes nationwide numbers next to meaningless? Could it be... lack of regulation/competition?

[Romulox]

11. LOL. "ISP apologists"??? The fact is, I have no problem with my cable internet

nor am I willing to spend more money on it in order to engage in a bandwidth cock-measuring contest with South Korea.

And the issue is not just geographical breadth, but population density.

Finally, just how much porn does any one person need? Outside of pornography and piracy enthusiasts, there is little call from consumers for more bandwidth.

[Ezlivin]

13. "[J]ust how much porn does any one person need?"

A little bit more.

And it's always a little bit more.

[Lance_Boyle]

19. In the developed world, they pay LESS and get MORE

Think you've got all the bandwidth you need now? I'll put that shortsighted statement up there with "Nobody will ever need more than 640K RAM."

Yeah, you may not be an apologist, but you're spewing back their arguments bit for bit.

[Romulox]

20. You one issue zealots are a trip...

"spewing back their arguments"? :eyes:

I am satisfied with my internet service. Furthermore, I didn't "nobody will ever need" more bandwidth; I merely said neither I nor anyone I know has any pressing need for additional bandwidth at this time.

If I did, I would pay for more bandwidth. What I wouldn't do is post wild accusations at strangers on the internet. :silly:

[kysrsoze]

17. The article doesn't take into account all the rural areas and dial-up users

Any idea how expensive it is to get high-speed out into the boonies and rural areas? Unless you're willing to subsidize their access, you don't have a credible argument. In most relatively populated areas, you can get DSL and cable high-speed for $5 less than America Online. What more do you want?

[mmonk]

7. This just in

No sh*t.

[XemaSab]

8. You're right!

The neighbors should be PAYING ME to use their WiFi! :o

[stirlingsliver]

10. I Hate Comcast. And Verizon

Comcast and Verizon are the two options I have.

I hate -- HATE!! -- them both.