Re: Gluttony? in http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20738358 en Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:59:29 EDT Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:59:29 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20741868 degauss1 : In my home we have 2 seperate VoIP phone lines and 3 users (one doing loads of traffic over VPN for telecommuting).
768Kbps would only slow me down dramatically.

People need to realize that not everyone is using the internet to pirate things. My company made a large portion of it's workforce 'mobile' to save $$. I think with gas prices rising sky high many more companies will do the same.

I don't need my full 15/2 bandwidth all day but I do use all very regularly.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20741868 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:06:27 EDT Re: Hey Dumb Ass http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20741244 Boogeyman : Yes, I have been to Atlanta during rush hour. And in my limited experience, its for speed AND volume. (You Atlanta drivers are fucking nuts, 4 lanes side by side going 50 bumper to bumper? I was scared shitless the whole time driving there)

Anyway, how does agreeing that someones analogy is better than mine make me a dumbass? I dont agree with his point, just that his analogy fits better.

amiga_boy, I understand your side, and I can see from a business perspective how that way should work, but when looked at from a consumers perspective, it would be like ordering fries from McD's and only getting a half order because everyone else was ordering fries at the time too.

Its just part of the cost of doing business. In an office, you dont always need someone sitting at the desk to answer phones, because the phone doesnt ring constantly, but you pay someone to be there all the time for when the phone does ring.

*EDIT* huge spelling mistakes]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20741244 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:43:07 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20740472 kba4 : of course the amount of data is not the same. HDD's are cheaper than ever, and so is the cost of computing. but somehow it suddenly costs more for the ISP to connect me to their network? of course not- it's all gotten cheaper over time and the only things changing are the number of users (which should take care of itself because users pay for service and that money should be invested at least partly into maintaining the network) and the type of data being transmitted.

ISP's like comcast have long snooped in on users habits and more and more often over the past few years it seems that p2p and video have become targets to isolate and boot. the problem is, these ISP's (I can't speak of comcast, I live in TW territory) like to tout their network's speed and potential uses, actually using pseudo progress bars in ads sometimes with familiar file formats on them (mp3, avi) showing us all just how quickly we can 'stream music, movies, download and share, etc.'. But the moment a sizable number of users decide to use their connections they become hogs.

As I've said, and I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me here: I pay for 15/768 and I'd like to use it without paying a second or third time. I'm not asking for anything for free, I just want what is advertised. If cable's main product (video) wasn't threatened then I seriously doubt there would be any issue raised in the first place.
--
"I saw Matlock in a bar last night; the sound was off, but I think I got the gist of it..."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20740472 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:28:11 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20740383 XBL2009 :
said by WasteNot :

Other than those who will use the internet as a giant DVD library, I can't see how anyone fills more than a 128kb pipe.

People like you seem to forget that other people actually exist and have a need/want for more bandwidth. Businesses would love low priced bandwidth instead of being gouged.

I would love to watch more tv show and movies online with better quality, I hate all the buffering and stuttering. I would also like better video conferencing.
--
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Benjamin Franklin
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20740383 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:54:39 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20740193 BF69 :
said by kba4 See Profile :

as many others will agree, charter (and the rest of these miserly cable ISP's) is instituting caps not because someone downloads multiple GB's of data, but because that data is more and more often video-data which is competition for the cableco's. they didn't care much 5 years ago did they? no, it wasn't until youtube, and netflix and the other services mentioned by others above went online that suddenly even a few GB became a big deal.
if you think the amount of data going through the pipes of the ISPs is the same as it was 5 years ago you're nuts.

Does INTENT really matter to you? You're convicned these caps are for nefarious purposes and no amount of proof is going to pursade you to think otherwise. You also dislike caps so even if the ISPs did have proof that caps where necessary adn you believed them you simply wouldn't give a shit. You want what you think is yours and that's all there is to it. If your ISP said they were going to have caps but the caps was going to be 600 GB a month and only 15 cents per GB overage you'd still be against it.

I don't think at this point that Comcast's proposed 250 GB is to small. That may change in 5 years. Now the overage fees that both TW and Comcast have proposed are a joke.

I've download DU meter on both my computer and my son's. Last month I used 28 GB total both DL and UL my son used 23 GB. He plays games online and downloads demos from Steam all the time. So that's 51 GB total. Now that's doesn't count any XBL useage since I haven't measured that. Not sure if I can. From what I have read on various places even a hardcore gamer wouldn't use more than 15 GB a month. So adding that up that would come to 66 GB. Hell let's round it up to 70 GB just to be safe. I'd still have 180 GB left over using Comcast's cap.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20740193 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:16:16 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20739955 kba4 : as many others will agree, charter (and the rest of these miserly cable ISP's) is instituting caps not because someone downloads multiple GB's of data, but because that data is more and more often video-data which is competition for the cableco's. they didn't care much 5 years ago did they? no, it wasn't until youtube, and netflix and the other services mentioned by others above went online that suddenly even a few GB became a big deal. technology has advanced a lot since cable internet started up, logically the cableco's would be embracing the idea of adding users, not creating ways of making them feel unwelcome after showing people doing just what they claim is 'hog activity' on their tv commercials.

is it any coincidence that longtime cap-avoider TW is now seriously considering caps, now that DirecTV has a VOD service that can potentially use the TW network to work?
--
"I saw Matlock in a bar last night; the sound was off, but I think I got the gist of it..."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20739955 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:32:13 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20739745 BF69 :
said by alg See Profile :

Last week when my brother was still on vacation we had three computers connected to our 1.5 DSL line. While my mother was doing bills and stuff on the family computer, my dad and I were watching sports on ESPN360 and my brother was doing work related expense reports. Even those modest activities (all 100% legal by the way) were really dragging on the connection (which is the fastest connection we can get for the house). That's not even counting the fact that I cannot stream films from Netflix (another legit activity) even when I have the connection all to myself. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to have faster connections.
No one is saying there is anything wrong with FASTER connections. Hell I have 10 Mbps form Charter. It's normally $50 a month. I do not however expect that for $50 that entitles me to download 3 Terrabytes of data in a month. And frankly if someone doing that is going to make MY conenction slow then hell yeah I'm all for Charter capping his ass.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20739745 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:34:04 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738978 alg : Last week when my brother was still on vacation we had three computers connected to our 1.5 DSL line. While my mother was doing bills and stuff on the family computer, my dad and I were watching sports on ESPN360 and my brother was doing work related expense reports. Even those modest activities (all 100% legal by the way) were really dragging on the connection (which is the fastest connection we can get for the house). That's not even counting the fact that I cannot stream films from Netflix (another legit activity) even when I have the connection all to myself. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to have faster connections.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738978 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:16:04 EDT Hey Dumb Ass http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738929 slimpickinz : If you have ever been in Atlanta during rush hour, the extra lanes are not for speed, but for VOLUME.
And that would apply to the pipe as well.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738929 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:01:56 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738657 dadkins :
said by BF69 See Profile :

said by dadkins See Profile :

Ever see a large... game demo?
Or something like America's Army(1800+MB)?
Ever want to maybe play it... TODAY?
@ 128kbps, it's going to take you a while to download America's Army. :hmm:
Some games hit the multi-GB size.

Meanwhile, someone with 6mbps+ will get it in a more timely manner and be playing it WAY sooner than - you.

Got Steam? :o

Movies are trying to make a play via internet(Netflix streaming? Movielink? Amazon Unbox?)
Care to guess how long it will take someone on a 128 or 256kbps line to download a DVD?
A HD movie?
How about a 46GB Blu-ray?
HD movies from places like XBox Live and Itunes are typically 5-6 GB not 46 GB. Those HD movies are 720p and have bit rates of 4-6 Mbps. Places would never have movies in "blu-ray" format for download. If you mean "blu-ray"-like as in 1080p and 40 Mbps bit rate then ok maybe down the road they might.
Yes, that's why I added Blu-ray as it's own line - as another possible future item someone might wish to try and download - if it or similar is ever offered.
What "they" offer as HD currently is... poor at best. :(
I'll edit the post to reflect this.

Thanks BF!
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738657 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:58:57 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738592 amigo_boy :
said by karlmarx See Profile :

But we're not ASKING for roads that let you go 160mph. We ARE asking for roads where you can always go 60mph, and if that requires them to upgrade from a 4 lane road to a 12 lane road, well, that's what they should do. Why do they ADVERTISE 160mph, if the only let you do that for 1/2 hour a day?
Why do telephone companies advertise that you will reliably get a dial tone (and complete a call) when they know that's not the case when *everybody* tries at the same time?

You're asking for the ISPs to provide capacity which would largely go unused just so they could always meet their advertised rate. Just because you can't accept the idea that they're providing average capacities.

That doesn't sound reasonable to me because, to meet their advertised speed at any time, they'd have a lot of perishable product go unused. That's expensive. If you're willing to pay for it, that's ok.

But, I do agree that if they aren't even trying to tie advertised rates to average usage (and expectations), that's a problem.

Mark]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738592 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:48:13 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738358 karlmarx : But we're not ASKING for roads that let you go 160mph. We ARE asking for roads where you can always go 60mph, and if that requires them to upgrade from a 4 lane road to a 12 lane road, well, that's what they should do. Why do they ADVERTISE 160mph, if the only let you do that for 1/2 hour a day?
--
The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738358 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:00:15 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738135 Xioden :
said by plat2on1 See Profile :

or you could make install discs through steam for all your games.
You still would have to have them downloaded. What if you didn't currently have them downloaded?

What about non-steam games? Plenty of MMOG can be downloaded directly from the patch server. TWC is flaunting some of their new caps as "1 GB allows for 34 hours of gaming". So cool, I don't play that much so that's fine... Oh Wait, This game is 5GB+ Well damn, its going to take me over a month just to download the game unless I want to pay overage charges.

Some games are in the 10GB+ range. Biggest I've downloaded was Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, which was 21GB. Puts a big damper on things such as Steam, Direct2Drive, and any other digital sales.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20738135 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:06:02 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737931 BF69 :
said by dadkins See Profile :

Ever see a large... game demo?
Or something like America's Army(1800+MB)?
Ever want to maybe play it... TODAY?
@ 128kbps, it's going to take you a while to download America's Army. :hmm:
Some games hit the multi-GB size.

Meanwhile, someone with 6mbps+ will get it in a more timely manner and be playing it WAY sooner than - you.

Got Steam? :o

Movies are trying to make a play via internet(Netflix streaming? Movielink? Amazon Unbox?)
Care to guess how long it will take someone on a 128 or 256kbps line to download a DVD?
A HD movie?
How about a 46GB Blu-ray?
HD movies from places like XBox Live and Itunes are typically 5-6 GB not 46 GB. Those HD movies are 720p and have bit rates of 4-6 Mbps. Places would never have movies in "blu-ray" format for download. If you mean "blu-ray"-like as in 1080p and 40 Mbps bit rate then ok maybe down the road they might.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737931 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:23:44 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737815 Ahrenl : Because you work for an ISP?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737815 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:00:15 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737546 maartena :
said by WasteNot :

Other than those who will use the internet as a giant DVD library, I can't see how anyone fills more than a 128kb pipe.
In what century do you live? We are in the 21st century, with 300-500kbps video streaming to be the average, where online gaming is a profitable industry, where iTunes rules the day (hint: at 128 Kb it would take more then 10 minutes to download a 5 Meg MP3 file) and where companies like BlockBuster and Netflix offer online DVD-rental for a fixed monthly fee. Download a DVD, burn it yourself. Watch it on TV.

Try downloading a 3 Gb+ movie from Netflix using 128 Kb. "Honey, what movie do you want to rent for NEXT tuesday, I need to start downloading it today". :D]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737546 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:06:57 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737505 CO_Chris :
said by WasteNot :

I can't see how anyone fills more than a 128kb pipe.

We've been very happy with our DSL circuit @ 256kb, though they've "upgraded" to 768k over the years.

128K you are kidding right?

man how can you live on 768k? really you must read email only. It would take days to download my TopGear Ep's at that.

I remember when AOL was upgrading to 56k and i thought that was fast. I can never go back to less then the 8 megs i get from Comcast that's for sure.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737505 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:58:02 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737431 BIGMIKE :
said by Boogeyman See Profile :

Yes, much better analogy.
How much car do you really need?

Do we really need a car with v8 motor that gets 12 mpg?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737431 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:45:39 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737011 anon : its not an excuses some people really do that stuff daily ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737011 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:32:05 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737286 NetAdmin :
said by WasteNot :

Other than those who will use the internet as a giant DVD library, I can't see how anyone fills more than a 128kb pipe.
Other than me, I can't see how anyone fills more than 256kb of memory...

Same rationale...
--
---
Over ten plus years of carrying The Clue Bat...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737286 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:13:02 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737187 deadzoned : Generalize for the masses much?

What about people like me? (This number is growing larger everyday too!) who have a Netflix Roku box and a Vudu Box and stream movies and TV shows LEGALLY on an almost daily basis?

I don't use the Internet as a "Giant DVD Library" as you say, implying once again the tired argument of; "Anyone who uses their Internet connection to it's fullest is a Pirate!" I use it for legitimate services like Netflix, Vudu, Flickr, YouTube, etc...

People like you are going to find yourselves quickly becoming more and more of a minority as the streaming services become more and more prevalent.

In short, you are behind the times, missing out, and you ultimately don't seem to care much if technology advances one way or another. Ignorant, sad, and mis-guided of you. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737187 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:54:08 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737182 ninjatutle : Now you are making perfect sense :uhh:]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737182 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:52:51 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737163 Boogeyman : But I'd still have the problem of 3hrs to install all my games again while having to sit there swapping out disks.

I can install Steam, tell it to get all my games, then go to work and everything would be playable when I got home.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737163 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:47:54 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737093 en102 :
said by amigo_boy See Profile :

Without metered billing, it's all about averages. A perishable product going unused, or overused.
Those averages may are typically business models.
In the case of some ISPs, it may depend on where their cost point is. Eg. Cable 'can' put high data rates, but may require caps to support it at the node. This model would work for this scenario, however, I do suspect that time of day usage may also play a part.

Eg. I could consume 95% of the bandwidth, but congestion occurs during peak periods. In the case of DSL, costs are not at the node, so the basis is somewhat different... but the same overall model will work.

If the model is (and most likely is) easier to track on a per GB model, and management can work with that model as a 1:1 correlation. Management can trend based on what they set as averages... they just have their 'averages' set a little 'low'.
--
Canada = Hollywood North]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20737093 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:32:57 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736967 amigo_boy :
said by en102 See Profile :

Do I really need a higher data rate ? No! But I'd be forced to a higher data rate regardless.
I wonder if there's really a difference from the ISP perspective. If the average person consumes 1000x their [advertised] speed, I don't think I'd care whether 1. someone wants higher speed but not more consumption (i.e., their capacity will go unused more often). Or, 2. someone wants higher consumption at a slow speed (i.e., their capacity will go unused less often).

Without metered billing, it's all about averages. A perishable product going unused, or overused.

You're assuming that slow speed with above-average consumption (less unused time than the average) costs the ISP less, and would result in a significantly lower-priced plan than higher-speed/consumption. Their costs may be due to people falling outside the average.

Mark]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736967 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:14:12 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736939 kba4 : What I'm not understanding here is why anyone would side with the big ISP's on this. the ISP's are simply looking for more revenue and could care less about any of us here.

I was sold a 15/768 line (albeit 'up to') and intend to use it in the manner it was advertised: to download music, movies, and software updates at 'blazing fast speeds, all for just $9.95 more per month'. TW in my area continues to advertise 'questionable' online activities that one could use their product for, and they do it for one reason: to sell it. If they decide to backpedal and begin charging users tolls to do these things, then they'd better prepare for someone to get upset.
--
"I saw Matlock in a bar last night; the sound was off, but I think I got the gist of it..."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736939 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:10:25 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736932 plat2on1 : or you could make install discs through steam for all your games.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736932 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:09:15 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736907 Boogeyman : Yes, much better analogy.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736907 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:01:19 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736895 s13 : Sure Spack Jarrow :uhh:]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736895 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:59:13 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736882 ninjatutle : Sure Jack Sparrow :uhh:]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736882 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:57:50 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736877 s13 : Good call Bono, only music pirates and warez d00ds need fast connections. 768k DSL for everyone! :uhh:

The only thing lame here is your act - notice I didn't say "getting lame," because it has been since day one.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736877 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:57:07 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736872 amigo_boy :
said by Boogeyman See Profile :

Do we really need a car that can go over 60mph? I mean, for people who dont need to drive on the highway often, why do we need a car that can consistantly hit 60mph?
I think the analogy is: Do we really need roads with capacity for 160mph 24x7 when most people are ok driving 60? (And, ok with rush hour traffic slowing things down to 40). If I'm ok with 60, why should I have to pay for expanding a 4-lane highway to a 12-lane for the people who are obsessed with "any speed at any time?"

Mark]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736872 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:55:46 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736809 Boogeyman : Heh, bringing Steam up reminded me that when I reformat/reinstqall again, I'll be downloading about 20-30gb from Steam alone just to reinstall my games.

Which was actually one of the features I fell in love with, I dont have to keep all my disks handy and switch them out over a 2hr period while all my games install. I just install Steam, log in, then download and install the games I want to play. Hell, I dont even have all my Steam games installed right now just to save some space.

I'd be pissed if I got charged hefty overages just because I had to reinstall my legally purchased products.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736809 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:42:54 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736774 Boogeyman : Do we really need a car that can go over 60mph? I mean, for people who dont need to drive on the highway often, why do we need a car that can consistantly hit 60mph?

The point is that the extra speed is available when its needed. I may not patch my windows boxes everyday (though it seems like it some days), but when I have to reformat and reinstall, I'd rather be able to do this in 3hrs as apposed to having to wait for a day off and spend all day doing it.

My pc also doesnt need 4gb of ram all the time, but when I load up Google Earth while browsing in multiple tabs in Opera while streaming some musci from another pc with winamp, my ram usage jumps from 900mb to about 3gb. I dont always need it, but its there when I do.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736774 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:34:48 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736767 dadkins : Ever see a large... game demo?
Or something like America's Army(1800+MB)?
Ever want to maybe play it... TODAY?
@ 128kbps, it's going to take you a while to download America's Army. :hmm:
Some games hit the multi-GB size.

Meanwhile, someone with 6mbps+ will get it in a more timely manner and be playing it WAY sooner than - you.

Got Steam? :o

Movies are trying to make a play via internet(Netflix streaming? Movielink? Amazon Unbox?)
Care to guess how long it will take someone on a 128 or 256kbps line to download a DVD?
A HD movie?
How about a 46GB Blu-ray or Blu-ray quality video?

EDIT: Clarification.

--
Think outside the Fox... Opera
  
 
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736767 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:31:59 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736735 Jason Levine : 128KB? Are you kidding? Pages nowadays can easily top 200KB each (with images, JavaScript, CSS, etc). At 128kbps, that would take 12.5 seconds to load. At 1Mbps, it would take 1.6 seconds.

In addition, I'll often load up multiple pages at once. Either by opening an entire folder of bookmarks in Firefox (e.g. "Morning Websites") or by simply browsing on three or four websites at the same time. This cuts my bandwidth-per-site down. If I try loading four 200KB pages at the same time, it will take me nearly a minute on a 128kbps connection. A 1Mbps connection, however, will have those four pages loaded up in 6.4 seconds.

This doesn't even address online video, downloading updates, or some of the other bandwidth-intensive tasks that can be done (that other posters have touched upon).

Nowadays, I'd say that 1Mbps is the minimum bandwidth for the casual web surfer with higher bandwidths required the more you do online (VoIP, online video, online games, etc).
--
-Jason Levine
Support a children's charity. Buy a calendar. Shooting For A Cause
Jason's Toolbox | PCQandA.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736735 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:25:06 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736721 en102 : Personally, I work remotely, and VPN/SSH tunnel in to sites half way across the country on a 3Mbps/512kbps pipe, and it works very well for SSH, Remote Desktop, VoIP (Skype) and even X11.

The issue that I typically have is...not the ability to have higher data rates, but the promotion of higher data rates with caps.

Eg. Is there a need for caps on a 3Mbps connection ?
Companies will promote 10-20Mbps connections, then complain that the lines are being abused, and force a round of caps on all, where the 'low' end user ends up on an insanely low (read wireless like) 5GB/month cap, forcing users to a higher tier, making more profits for the ISP.

Do I really need a higher data rate ? No! But I'd be forced to a higher data rate regardless.
I think anything under 100GB/month for a wired Internet connection is crazy. If you're going to put in a 5GB cap on a line (like TWC is proposing in TX), it should be on a 256kbps-512kbps line ONLY.

100GB cap on a 3MBps line would mean that I use ~1/10th of the total bandwidth in a month, based on a 3Mbps tier.

While I am no bandwidth hog, I do accept a reasonable amount of control.

--
Canada = Hollywood North]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736721 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:22:09 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736708 Corydon : Well there are other applications besides simple browsing that might be able to really take advantage of these kinds of speeds.

For instance, we are just starting to see web based email applications that approach the same kind of interface that you'd get with a mail client like Thunderbird. Part of that is new(ish) technologies like AJAX but part is also having the bandwidth available to deliver email messages (complete with graphics) in near-real time.

So I'd expect to see a lot more applications popping up on the web (OpenOffice for instance). That's something that's been talked about since the '90s, but 50 Mbps starts to make it viable. There are real advantages to not having your work tied to one particular computer after all.

Also, a 10 Mbps connection brings you to the sort of speeds you typically got with a LAN ten years ago. A 50 Mbps connection gets you a much of the way to the typical 100 Mbps LAN most people still have today. So there are all kinds of implications for network storage as well (assuming that these connections eventually become symmetrical).
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"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736708 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:18:58 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736707 ninjatutle : And you do these patches daily?

The excuses are getting lame. The old patches routine, Linuxes, baby photo's to granny, etc, etc. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736707 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:18:55 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736667 kba4 : anyone who runs a MS OS or app would surely beg to differ. the last install of xp pro that I did took just 30mins including drivers, etc. but once I got connected to the net boy was I glad to have 15Mbps down- there were hundreds of security patches to download.
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"I saw Matlock in a bar last night; the sound was off, but I think I got the gist of it..."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736667 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:11:47 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736663 chrisbmoore : Well with VOIP you need to have more than 128 kb guaranteed. That connection alone takes 190 kb. If you add in 3 users in a home all using the internet at the same time, then you've easily maxed out 3 Mbps, depending on what you are doing. So for you maybe mroe than 128kbps is not needed but trust me...it is now in the minority of broadband users. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736663 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:11:33 EDT Re: Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736571 Pashune : My daily dose of Youtube is nice now and then, so 1.5 mbit sort of satisfies my needs...but not really. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736571 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:52:24 EDT Gluttony? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736564 anon : Other than those who will use the internet as a giant DVD library, I can't see how anyone fills more than a 128kb pipe.

We've been very happy with our DSL circuit @ 256kb, though they've "upgraded" to 768k over the years.

The key to our satisfaction though, is not the rated speed, but the consistent delivery of it. 768Kb should give us sustained 768Kb 24x7, not "3 Mbps", except when the cable company decides to give us zero. In this respect, DSL still reigns supreme over all other connection methods.

ISDN would have been preferable, but thanks to Judge Greene and non-competitive pricing, it was stillborn in America.

(My 300 baud modem was an upgrade.)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20736564 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:50:13 EDT