Your Internet Speed Sucks

[BoredSysAdmin]

And mine too, I shouldn't really complain give I get (promised) 15/2 mbps actual speed typical is closer to 12/1.5 which is still much faster than typical rural connection at about same price about $50/month as rural user would pay.

However, I was looking over some global stats stats on http://www.speedtest.net/global.php#0,3

Well, everyone already knew Japan/S.Korea and Sweden rock the broadband speeds, but I was really surprised by several countries in top like: Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria....

Most of these only very recently were ex-communist government controlled and in mediocre or simply bad economical stage... How come Slovenia has average upload speed of 5Mbps is simply beyond me.

Ok understand, it is very expensive, complicated and hard to bring fast broadband to rural areas as like mile cost are simply astronomical, but WTH - I live less than 15 miles from World Financial Center and I can't get my $50 stretched to at-least 30/10 mps speeds???
Or the fact my only option for broadband (other than ridiculously slow DSL) is cable, which basically makes it a monopoly.

Verizon's FIOS coverage DOES exists in the big apple and some surroundings , however it's still very spotty and they start their deployments from high income neighborhoods...

What was said in Top 10 AH Commandments ? I think #11 should be unless you have 100 Mbs fiber STRAIGHT to your Apartment/House - Your internet connection is too slow !!

 

[majorloser]

What was said in Top 10 AH Commandments ? I think #11 should be unless you have 100 Mbs fiber STRAIGHT to your Apartment/House - Your internet connection is too slow !!

Actually, I was thinking we deserve Gbit/s speeds

http://gigaom.com/2010/02/19/in-netherlands-1-gbps-broadband-will-soon-be-everywhere/

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I love the fios internet compared to comcast (at work) and the verizon DSL I had previously...

 

[MidnightSensi]

I get 21.7 Mbps down and only 2 Mbps up. AT&T U-Verse.

Up is so-so, but my download speed never leaves me waiting. Any website on a decent server, loads basically instantly. mp3s are seconds.

Pretty dope.

 

[Shock]

I have a 5 mbit connection, and I really don't need anything more.

I was on an OC3 backbone at my university and it was nice and all, but it's not like I miss it.

 

[tbergman]

I've accepted the fact that my internets will forever be slow here in Iowa. I checked for FIOS, Verizon seems to have no plans to start anything in Iowa. Still not at bad as it is out at my parents house, their only options are dial-up and mobile broadband, they finally have the latter at 1-2 Mbps on a good day.

 

[just-some-guy]

 

[pzaur]

Yeah, my connection rocks! 3mbps download...hang on...I'm on a 5 year old laptop with a 5 year old wireless router and a 7 year old cable modem...
My desktop faired slightly better with a 10mbps download. Same modem and router, but hard-lined in.

-pat

 

[dapack69]

My speed sucks.

 

[lsiberian]

You guys are spoiled internet newbs back in my day pages loaded a picture at a time and pings were over 500 ms.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I love the fios internet compared to comcast (at work) and the verizon DSL I had previously...

Seems slow today...


Laptop with wireless router.

 

[tbergman]

It works.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Not too shabby here.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This is from my work pc.... and I've permanent vpn to work from home...


and this is from home:

 

[njedpx3]

Slow is relative

Not if you remember 110 baud, with one start bit and two stop bits ...and 300 baud acoustic couplers.

Definition baud = sampling period , data transmission rate in bits/second 110 baud = 10 character per second and newer high speed 300 baud was 30 characters per second into GE Timesharing.

Peace, Speed, and Good Sound,

Forest Man

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Not if you remember 110 baud, with one start bit and two stop bits ...and 300 baud acoustic couplers.

Definition baud = sampling period , data transmission rate in bits/second 110 baud = 10 character per second and newer high speed 300 baud was 30 characters per second into GE Timesharing.

Peace, Speed, and Good Sound,

Forest Man

I'm not quite that old , my first modem experience was at blazing 2400 Baud

 

[Ito]

This thread is making me sad...

 

[Nugu]

Like he said, you don't know bad till you go rural. I live ~3-4 miles from a town of 5-8k and DIAL UP wasn't available till 1999.

Finally in 2006 the first broadband (other than sat) became available. It's a wireless system owned by a private company that rents 3 mbps lines from the phone company. You pay a hefty 200$ equipment fee + 1 year contract (45$/mo for the 1.5m/512kbs plan). When they installed I specifically asked "Is there a bandwidth limit/quota so I don't go over?" and was told "No".

Well 1 week later they drop my service and I call (they put me through to the head tech/owner) and find out I was cut off for downloading 10 GB in a week. (Remember when you first discovered streaming video?) They tried to tell me I was using "excessive bandwidth" so they had to cut me off, that they'd turn it back on but I need to use it less. At that point I told them I was told there was no limit on my bandwidth and was told by the man there wasn't. At this point I'm irate and distraught and tell him to give me a amount per month so I don't go over unwilling to set a number I keep pressuring him till he decides on 40gb a month. During our conversation I found out he leases 3 mbps lines from the local phone Co for ~220$ a month and puts anywhere from 20-40 or so people on each line. He also told me I was his largest user, out of ~520 people he services until me the most any one user ever used was 7 gb a month and 1-2gb being the norm.

It gets better, after a year of that I was fairly happy, I mean I had/have no choice. This or dial up. Well he gets the wise idea to start throttling bandwidth (I make sure I get my 40 GB EVERY MONTH because I feel jipped) after watching him experiment (and working his system for part of it) he gets it right and now I've been stuck with 1.5m/512kbs connection which is now basically a 512kbs/512kbs connection for 45$ a month. What happens is it check if I downloaded Xmb in Xtime and limits me to 512kbs. (Essentially I can download 32.6mb then get throttled to 512kbps until I stop downloading for ~10-15 mins.) Which makes internet streaming worthless.



Want salt on that wound? Nebraska lays FIBER CABLE whenever they run lines but they can't sell internet service thanks to our broken political system.
From 2005:

LB645, first proposed by Speaker Kermit Brashear in one of his myriad conflicts of interest (Cox Communications - a company sure to benefit - is a client of his law firm), was passed in the legislature and subsequently signed into law by Gov. Heineman last week. It blankly prohibits public power suppliers, as well as agencies and political subdivisions of the state from offering broadband, Internet, telecommunications, or video services.

WELCOME TO LIVING IN RURAL USA!