What Broadband?
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Obviously I am unable to speak for everyone out there, but I for one find the following to be just sad. Countries such as Romania and Bulgaria beat out the US in download speeds while they also beat us silly in upload speeds. How could this be and is it all that accurate? Regarding accuracy, yes, I think it is and without the spin. As to why, I guess that is a combination of the ISP industry stranglehold along with the overall size of the US.
But when I see countries that would generally be considered post-Soviet states blowing the doors off of ISPs here in the US, one has to wonder if these same ISPs can seriously consider themselves competitive. Sure, they might be competitive with each other with cutesy terms like “powerboost” or “faster than dial-up.” Yet at the end the day, on a global scale, this whole situation remains completely pathetic.
Socialize the ISPs, people say? Honestly, I do not think this is the answer to ANYTHING, much less to ISPs getting with the program. No, I feel that more competition is needed and speaking for myself, I am hopeful it will be fiber from companies such as Verizon. Yes cable providers, I am speaking directly to you and your “we use fiber” half truth. There is no fiber to my door, except for what Verizon provided before I moved in here. Your technology is old, tired, and frustrating. I remain hopeful that the phone companies kick the heck out of your bottom line enough to get you to invest into something besides “powerboosting” for a few seconds.
How about consistent speeds? Just a thought…
- Cisco 1801 Integrated Services Router - Router + 8-port switch - DSL - EN, Fast EN - Cisco IOS IP Broadband - 1U
- Netgear WGR614L Open Source Wireless-G Router (Compatible with Linux)
- Linksys Wireless-G Router for ATT&T/Cingular 3G/UMTS Broadband WRT54G3G - Wireless router + 4-port switch - EN, Fast EN, 802.11b, 802.11g
- Linksys Wireless-G Router for Sprint Mobile Broadband WRT54G3G - Wireless router + 4-port switch - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, 802.11b, 802.11g external
- TRENDnet USB to 10/100Mbps Adapter
- TRENDnet USB to 10/100Mbps Adapter
- Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router WRT54G2 - Wireless router + 4-port switch - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, 802.11b, 802.11g external
- Enterprise Networking With Fast Ethernet and Atm
- MUSHROOM NETWORKS UNVEILS PORTABELLA FAST CELLULAR BROADBAND.: An article from: Tele-Service News
- Nokia to Deliver Broadband DSL Solution for Fast Internet Access to China.(Brief Article): An article from: European Telecom
- Airlink 8 Port 10/100 4 POE Power Over Fast Ethernet Switch
4 Comments
allen
April 22nd, 2009
at 8:03am
i can tell you why greed if they have to upgrade there infrastructure it will cost them money so investor wont be happy also upper management will get smaller bonus as the company’s profits drop
Howard
April 22nd, 2009
at 11:57am
Network installation costs in the US are ridiculous. Are we so inefficient compared to the Japanese where costs are one tenth ours? -Or- Is it all a game were the costs are inflated to justify high rates? Call me a skeptic when I come to believe that the numbers never were and never will be accurate as long as the ‘game’ can be kept up. We’ve been ’serviced’ all right.
GiM
April 22nd, 2009
at 4:41pm
Five years ago I migrate from Romania to North America by personal reasons. My first surprise was that in 24 hours, in Montreal and with a car available, I was unable to find a preferment power supply to update my hardware from 220v to 110v, no matter the price… They were available in Bucharest, but I was sure that in America will find better and cheaper. Yes, maybe in internet, but it was needed a power supply to get in internet…
Romania is better than US+CA in almost all technical aspects.
And Romania is better also in corruption and disorganization.
This is why many technical people migrates in other European countries, also in North America.
The price of “pure” internet is 10 times higher. The solution, small businesses - with thousands of clients on a radius of half square mile (they live in blocks of flats with 1000 apartments with around 500 square feet each) - subcontracts from the ISP and create and manage a “Local Area Network” with few blocks, thus the price falls to about same one in North America.
mailsavr
April 22nd, 2009
at 7:04pm
I live in a major metro area and the town I live in has a municipal electric company that started offering broadband and cable TV over ten years ago. They added phone service about two years ago.
There are advantages:
1) The internet/TV/phone package has the same features as the better known providers but at a much lower cost. Tthey have no stockholders to pay off and any extra money they get goes to the town to lower property tax.
2) The help desk answers the phone and are knowlegeable enough to give you actual solutions to your problems.
3) You don’t have to wait three weeks for them to show up to give you a new cable box since you can just drive down to their office and they’ll give you a new one.
4) There’s no $80 a visit service charge like fios has.
5) There’s no cap on bandwidth and they still offer unlimited access to usenet. Comcast and many others discontinued this long ago.
6) If you want to buy your cable modem to save on the rental fee, they recommend a model based on their experience, give you the specs in case you want to buy another brand, and tell you where to buy it locally and who has the best price.
Socialized ISP or good public planning? In my opinion, it’s good public planning. It provides a level of competition that the “big boys” don’t provide. If this happened in other places, I think you’d see a better service from all providers.