FCC Finds 68 percent of U.S. Broadband... Isn't

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I am waiting for my FCC provided router to be part of the sampling of ISPs under the SamKnows project. I know what bandwidth level I pay for and what I typically see with speedtest.net using a local server. The bottom line is that I see much less than I am paying for. I hope that participation in this effort will force ISPs to be more truthful in their service offerings.
 
Author, don't make assumptions. They say that broadband ISN'T... If the subscriber takes lower than 4/1Mbps then they are purchasing a product that is labeled broadband but isn't... that's the issue... not the subscriber choice. It's like saying I bought a high def television but opted to save money by only getting a panel capable SD display...
 
On another note. I pay for a 20/2Mbps connection... Last night.. I was downloading at 22Mbps... I'd say I'm getting what I pay for... and I routinely push 2Mbps without issue.
 
But you also have to remember that back in 2008 the FCC revised the definition of "Broadband" to be
According to the FCC, the term “broadband” now means 768Kbps, up from the previous definition of 200Kbps. Under the new definition, “basic broadband” defines download speeds between 768Kbps and 1.5Mbps.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, most providers seem to have stopped increasing DSL speeds at the 3Mbps mark, even though the standard for 24Mbps DSL has been around for years, and uploads are usually 384Kbps or 768Kbps. So by a definition of 4Mx1M, Verizon's only broadband service is FiOS and their DSL is... something that's not broadband. I'm pretty sure AT&T in most areas has the same DSL speed caps. I finally got tired of 1Mx384K DSL from Verizon (well, I got tired of Verizon for their pathetic excuse for customer service) and now get 10Mx1M cable from Time Warner for the same price.
 
FADE IN:

INT. COMCAST HEADWQUARTERS - DAY
An Overweight Executive sits in a hottub filled with customers ill-gotten cash. Suddenly the solid oak double-doors burst inward. Dust billows from the now open void.

Overweight Exec
Wh..whose there?

The rock hard body of an shirtless FCC MAN emerges, muscles gleaming from the victory over a thousand Comcast minions.

FCC MAN
Comcast, your DNS Servers may be down, but your game...

The FCC MAN reaches dramatically into his pants and pulls out a document with a visible FCC seal on the cover.

FCC MAN
...is up.

OVERWEIGHT EXEC
No, please, don't kill me, I'll do anything

FCC MAN
Kill you? I'm from the FCC. Here's a document acknowledging that your company has been very naughty. You shouldn't have marketed internet to consumers as being faster than it actually is, and you shouldn't have screwed so many customers because of the complex nature of your delivery format.

FCC MAN turns and begins to walk out.

OVERWEIGHT EXEC
Wait, so you're not going to do your job?

FCC MAN stops.

FCC MAN
What do you mean,

The FCC MAN pulls a pair of sunglasses from seemingly nowhere and cooly slips them on.

I just...did.

Overweight shrugs his shoulders and continues his cash bath.
 
I've seen several examples of how my speed is what I actually pay for. At the 8mbps (Mega bits per second) they quote. I've downloaded files several times that come down at 1MBps (Mega Byte Per Second).

People commenting need to keep in mind the difference between mega bits and mega bytes.
mbps is mega bits
MBps is mega bytes
The capital B makes a difference.
Internet providers like to show their connection in mbps because it shows as a higher number. There are 8 bits in a byte. File sizes and hard drive sizes are showen in mega bytes (or Kilo bytes). So if charter says 8mbps then I know I should get at least 1MB/s when downloading and that a 5MB MP3 should take (as little as) 5 seconds. But a lot of internet speeds are capped, not on your end but on the end of the sender. You may go to a website and notice that a download is only going 250KB/s this is only 25% of the speed I should be getting but it is likely that the connection to my ISP is fine and fast and the the bottle neck/slow down is acutally on the website I'm downloading from. Many website conserve bandwidth by limiting thier upload speeds (meaning you download it slower).

Servarus: "I'm paying $31 for 6GB bandwidth"
NO YOUR NOT...
You would be paying hundreds maybe thousands of dollars a month for a connection like that. And connections that fast are typically for ISP's and large corporations only.
-Perhaps you ment 6MB. Even then you would still have it wrong because a capital B stands for a byte which would translate to 48mbps.
-Perhaps you ment 6GB download cap/limit. This is not the same as bandwidth. Bandwidth is connection SPEED.

And while I'm on this rant I want to say one more thing that really grinds my gears.
DOWNLOAD - When you RECIEVE data from another computer
UPLOAD - When you SEND data to another computer

You DOWNLOAD a game or song from the internet.
You UPLOAD pictures to facebook or shutterfly.

I ask that anyone reading this help me to educate idiots that don't know the difference. I've seen this kind of miss usage in movies and on TV and it's like the majority of people just don't have a f*cking clue.
 
I pay 40 bucks per month, on top of my phone bill, for DSL which is rated at 128kb down and 56kb up, however, the actual speeds seem to be a lot slower than that. Back in the 90s I had 56kb dial up and it was faster than my current service. Normally when I download a video game, for example, I get about 12-14kb download speed.

Pretty leet huh?
 
I guess I can't complain too much about our internet. 20$ unlimited 1Mbps up and something like 90Kbps down.

it's better than nothing. everything else is dial up and the other option is 40$ roadrunner.

freaking California...
 
"I'm paying $31 for 6GB bandwidth"
NO YOUR NOT...
You would be paying hundreds maybe thousands of dollars a month for a connection like that. And connections that fast are typically for ISP's and large corporations only.
Click to expand...

Actually I think he meant 6 GB. bandwidth as in he can download only 6GB. of data per month before having to pay extra for additional data at a $\GB. charge ! (not that he had 6GB\s bandwidth !!)
 
I live in Downtown Houston and the FASTEST Internet I can buy ($20) is 3Mb download .5Mb upload. (its really 2.5/.35) Its cheap but I would pay 60 for faster internet! 8 hrs to upload 1GB to my backup service!
 
I will say that this is nothing new as far as news goes. People know they are going to be ripped off before they even get the service but have little choice to get it due to there being so few providers. Overall there is about maybe a dozen or so companies that have like 80% of the market. In the end I will get my monies worth even if they won't deliver the bandwidth that I payed for, there is nothing that pisses them off more than to push several TB a year through their network. 😉
 
i pay 10$/month for 80Mbps down, 10 up :).... but i'm not in the USA... in Eastern Europe... :))
 


Paying for 10 down/2 up. This is from my notebook on a wireless G network, the hard line connected desktop usually gets a few more mb/s on the down.
 
You don't need a study to figure out what the FCC just found out. Typical "cable" internet services are WELL below 1Mb Up. I bandiwdth test at like 350kb Upload and that's higher than what the cable provider rates.
 
I feel bad that alot of people in america pay like $30 for 1mb and 500kb and a cap. Any1 in cali have a cap on there internet. I pay $50 for 30mb download and 3mb upload and i have no cap on mine. Any1 else use Brighthouse
 
[citation][nom]irtehyar[/nom]I'm shocked! And here I thought they *all* provided enough bandwidth to fill up your monthly cap within 3 days!/snicker[/citation]
I can fill my cap in 16 hours. :)
I have 15 up, but only 1 down (if I'm lucky).
 
This is the main reason I do not bother to get the top speed level from an ISP because it never scales right. I get about the same speeds at mid-range level and save lots of money. I hope the FCC actually makes the ISPs accountable!
 
Take what you pay for in download and multiply it by .6 and you have a good idea of what kind of speeds you will actually receive. Of my 20Mbps connection I usually get 12-13 Mbps. Kind of a ripoff. The REAL ripoff, however, is the upload rate. It's supposed to be 2-3Mbps and I've never tested it at higher than 500Kbps. 500Kbps is pathetic.
 
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