DSL broadband...putting on the pressure

[Dr.Demento]

So, I've been harassing the local internet company for months now and it looks like they might actually cave-in. My position as a Census worker actually had some side benefits because since I have to go around my area anyways to interview households, I can inform them to spam the company's phone lines for DSL access. lol

Or actually it's called extended DSL, since the actual plan is to install a splitter from the main routing station. Now that they've got the demand and the means, they have no excuse. I'm fed up with using antiquated modem technology and since my next job after the Census depends on a fast, reliable connection, this will be good news for me. The recent bill that was passed that allows government funding to internet companies for under served communities also helps. It feels good to have some influence over matters doesn't it? Thoughts?

 

[hool10]

FiOS>Cable>DSL>Satelite>56k>20k. Most areas have cable but if your only hope is DSL then get it. I remember when I first started playing Counter Strike and my ping was like 500+ on 56k lol. Don't even get me started on downloading the HL2 trailer.

 

[Dr.Demento]

FiOS>Cable>DSL>Satelite>56k>20k. Most areas have cable but if your only hope is DSL then get it. I remember when I first started playing Counter Strike and my ping was like 500+ on 56k lol. Don't even get me started on downloading the HL2 trailer.

What's FiOS? Fiber optic?

 

[hool10]

What's FiOS? Fiber optic?

Yeah that's the stuff Verizon is advertising all the time.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Also, I've heard cable is only fast when your the only kid on the block who has it, otherwise you end up sharing bandwidth with everyone else, which sucks.

DSL really is the only way to go for me for the time being. Satellite sucks too.

 

[ríomhaire]

Good for you! I'm still having to deal with dial-up at home (everyone laughs) due to Ireland's dreadful broadband coverage. I'm constantly stealing my girlfriend's broadband. I hope I haven't driven her over her download limit at any point.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Good for you! I'm still having to deal with dial-up at home (everyone laughs) due to Ireland's dreadful broadband coverage. I'm constantly stealing my girlfriend's broadband. I hope I haven't driven her over her download limit at any point.

Yeah, Ireland seems to be more rural than urban, which would suck for broadband coverage.

If you can afford it I'd recommend going wireless, but it's expensive and like cable, I think your only alotted to so many MBs of downloads at a time.

 

[hool10]

I like the time in which there was a Pokemon game I wanted to play. So every time it would dial into a weird access thing and I had no clue why. The stupid thing would never play anything and sometimes I waited for it to do anything. So when we got the phone bill we would get insane charges to the phone company from overseas. Then I found out it was me, oops.

 

[Warped]

I wish I had T3 access. I get 3.5Mbps which isn't that bad for what I do, but its really expensive. I told my dad, once the Fiber Optic line is turned on (its literally right in front of my lawn underground now) I'll pay half of what the cost is. Its like 25Mbps which is more than enough. We can both stream Netflix at the same time which would be nicer than waiting

 

[Kinslayer]

Also, I've heard cable is only fast when your the only kid on the block who has it, otherwise you end up sharing bandwidth with everyone else, which sucks.

DSL really is the only way to go for me for the time being. Satellite sucks too.

Depends on whether or not you have asshole neighbors downloading huge files all the time.

FiOS, on the other hand (which I have), gives you a separate line to each house from a central box in each neighborhood, so you aren't sharing bandwidth.

 

[ríomhaire]

Yeah, Ireland seems to be more rural than urban, which would suck for broadband coverage.

If you can afford it I'd recommend going wireless, but it's expensive and like cable, I think your only alotted to so many MBs of downloads at a time.

Ireland has an unusually disperse population but I'm even worse off than most. I can't even get wireless where I am due to living in a valley (I barely get mobile phone reception at all). 3 are supposed to have a government contract to get the country 100% covered for wireless I believe, but they're doing it slowly.

 

[Sedako]

I've had FiOS for three weeks now and it's well worth it to me. My record so far for utorrent is 1.5m/sec down - 550k/sec up. I could never get above 1m/sec down - 50k/sec up with time warner.

 

[CyberPitz]

This is what's attempting to happen in my area.
http://www.broadbandbeyondborders.com/

 

[bam23]

Also, I've heard cable is only fast when your the only kid on the block who has it, otherwise you end up sharing bandwidth with everyone else, which sucks.

Yes. This happens to me every single day at 8pm-12am. The internet will go down to less than 1mb even though I'm paying for a 10mb plan and I can forget about doing anything in that period. Cable companies have the monopoly around here so I have nowhere else to go or the interwebs.

 

[Warped]

wow this new tech out of Japan sounds nice: 70MBps!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMAhkB5oqtk&playnext_from=TL&videos=v4wgoZGs6N8&feature=sub

 

[dfc05]

Good for you! I'm still having to deal with dial-up at home (everyone laughs) due to Ireland's dreadful broadband coverage. I'm constantly stealing my girlfriend's broadband. I hope I haven't driven her over her download limit at any point.

My parents kept dial-up until the very end, when there was nobody left offering dial-up in the area and they were forced to switch. I remember when I was in high school trying to download huge files off the Internet Archive's live music section, back when it only allowed flac & shn files. Took something like half an hour per song. I remember one time I sent a link for a song to one of my friends who'd just gotten cable and downloaded it in 30 seconds. sigh.

 

[Dr.Demento]

My parents kept dial-up until the very end, when there was nobody left offering dial-up in the area and they were forced to switch. I remember when I was in high school trying to download huge files off the Internet Archive's live music section, back when it only allowed flac & shn files. Took something like half an hour per song. I remember one time I sent a link for a song to one of my friends who'd just gotten cable and downloaded it in 30 seconds. sigh.

You talk like dial-up doesn't exist anymore. I hate you.

I also hate broadband ISPs. I still struggle to understand why they are having so much trouble rolling that shit out in rural areas if phone companies could do it back when phones were first invented. Will that barrier ever succumb to demand in the same fashion?

 

[OmegaX]

I love my cable connection. I've had it over a year and it hasn't stopped working once. I'll be moving into an apartment starting in September and I have a feeling it won't be as good as I have now. I'm not sure how fast Fios is but I don't imagine it's a big difference, plus it probably costs quite a bit more. I only pay $39.99 right now. I must have had a good dialup connection back in the day. I remember playing old HL related games online with a ping of around 200.

 

[dfc05]

This is what I'm getting with cable at my apartment:


I used to pay $30.05 for the cable internet + basic television. Comcast had this weird thing where you pay three times as much if you get only the internet by itself, but can get internet for $20 and TV for $10 if you get both of them (which I still don't understand -- seriously, it makes no sense). But after six months the special deal expired so now I pay $58.23/month. This fee increase happened to coincide with winter when I had to pay heating bills three times higher than what I typically pay. Yikes.

 

[Warped]

This is what I'm getting with cable at my apartment:


I used to pay $30.05 for the cable internet + basic television. Comcast had this weird thing where you pay three times as much if you get only the internet by itself, but can get internet for $20 and TV for $10 if you get both of them (which I still don't understand -- seriously, it makes no sense). But after six months the special deal expired so now I pay $58.23/month. This fee increase happened to coincide with winter when I had to pay heating bills three times higher than what I typically pay. Yikes.

your in a contract right?? quit after the cheap rate expires, go to a competitor then switch back in a years time. easiest scam ever and my neighbors did it for decades. also i'm not a big fan of cable tv. i hate commercials and netflix is really all i need. $8 is $8

 

[15357]

.....You cavemen still use DSL and modems?


I got LPFO (laser pulse fiber optic - seems strange considering that all fiber optics are basically laser) 5 years ago.

 

[OmegaX]

I think they would have to re-do the entire infrastructure here for us to get the really high speed stuff. Considering the size of the US that would be pretty expensive. It will eventually happen though. It's hard enough to max out my connection anyways, it's tough to find a server that will give you that much upload.

 

[15357]

Also I pay $10 a month. For true download speeds in excess of 10 ~ 15MB/s. MegaBYTES per second.

That's why I find Steam so annoying, btw.



Anyway, if we can do it, so can the US. I mean, you guys built your transcontinental telegraph network 150 years ago. With your resources, I'd imagine putting up some fiber optic cables would be real easy compared to building the first transcontinental railroad + telegraph line.

 

[Remus]

so now I pay $58.23/month

I pay $9/month.

 

[dfc05]

I pay $9/month.

When I moved here, I searched extensively for two days and determined that only two options exist for my neighborhood: Dial-up, or Comcast cable. And dial-up would require getting landline phone service, which would make it like $25/month in total. FOR DIALUP.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Also I pay $10 a month. For true download speeds in excess of 10 ~ 15MB/s. MegaBYTES per second.

That's why I find Steam so annoying, btw.



Anyway, if we can do it, so can the US. I mean, you guys built your transcontinental telegraph network 150 years ago. With your resources, I'd imagine putting up some fiber optic cables would be real easy compared to building the first transcontinental railroad + telegraph line.

The problem is that the ISP companies have district and local offices located in different parts of the US who work with our area, so the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing half of the time when the district offices say that we can get hi-speed in our area, but yet when the local technicians come out to investigate, they say it's not going to happen due to being out of range.

It's complete and utter BS imo. Why not just add a few repeaters or so, or add a new station? It's not like I live in complete wilderness, and I have neighbors a mere walking distance of 15 minutes away who have it. We've got about 20 households in the area who use the internet in some way within a 3 mile radius. That's well within the 18,000 ft range.

Personally, I just think the techs here are lazy and just want to ride the clock without having to do any actual work. That's means they'll have to install 20+ households just to get to my place. Just give me the damn spool of cabling and I'll do it myself. :angry:

UPDATE: BTW, I got turned down again. :angry:

 

[arch5]

My only other option is Comcast Cable...