iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| reply to binded2
Re: Here's the thing You're forgetting that if broadband is defined too highly, companies will simply call their HSI service something else ("high speed internet" for example) and go on with their day.
I'd like a 5 Mbps symmetric connection everywhere I am, but AT&T isn't going to give it to me. I'd much rather have a 3/768 connection OTOH than have a 5 Mbps symmetric tier that doesn't exist at my location, if you get what I'm getting at.
Does setting a low standard mean that companies will stick to that low standard to the exclusion of everything else? Absolutely not! If that was the case you'd see 768/200 internet everywhere and nothing much higher. In reality, a decent baseline provides a common enominator for a provider's "Economy" tier in most cases, with additional tiers building from there. For example, Verizon and Comcast have 1024/384 for their economy tier (higher than 768/200 by the way), yet both go up to 50 Mbps on downloads in their flagship areas (DOCSIS 3 for Comcast, FiOS for Verizon). Qwest's baseline DSL is now 1.5 Mbps down, 896k up (okay, not really, but about 86% of that). Their highest VDSL2 tier is 40/20.
One last thing: even now, calling something broadband isn't going to make companies rise to the occasion. AT&T DSL starts at 768/128, as does Time Warner Cable. CenturyTel has a 512k tier. WildBlue and HughesNet have starter tiers below 768/200... |
