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Charter Cooking Up 300 Mbps Tier
Keeping Pace With Comcast, Verizon
Several insiders have informed us, and at least one tech has suggested as much in our forums, that Charter Communications is working on creating a 300 Mbps service tier. There's no word on pricing yet, but the company's goal is to keep pace on the marketing front after both Comcast and Verizon FiOS have announced 300 Mbps tiers in recent weeks. Verizon's 300 Mbps tier offers 65 Mbps upstream and clocks in at $205 a month. Comcast's 305 Mbps down, 75 Mbps up tier was recently announced at $300, but as we recently exclusively reported looks to be getting a significant price cut to $119 a month (bundled). Despite numerous flirtations with hard caps and overages, Charter still only enforces their caps in high-volume markets.
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

1%

At the pricing that 300mbit tiers have, it will only appeal to about 1% of residential internet subscribers...

When these tiers get significantly cheaper (say, 50+ percent reductions.. then you will see greater adoption of higher speed tiers). Google fiber is ready to prove 1gigabit can be sold for $70, so if the rest of the industry can't offer 300 megabit at $50, then there's something wrong with that picture if it take 5 years to get there.. that leaves plenty of time for Google to expand..
cryptic1911
join:2010-01-24
Willimantic, CT

cryptic1911

Member

Re: 1%

Oooh, if it's anywhere near the current 100mbit price, we'll be upgrading

lets just hope they don't jip us with 10mbit upload or something

googlepr
@verizon.net

googlepr to tmc8080

Anon

to tmc8080
said by tmc8080:

Google fiber is ready to prove 1gigabit can be sold for $70, so if the rest of the industry can't offer 300 megabit at $50, then there's something wrong with that picture if it take 5 years to get there.. that leaves plenty of time for Google to expand..

Google has only proven that they can do PR and not a real business case that says this is viable to expand beyond a marketing case.

Until we see the numbers or the executive commitment to actually deploy nationally, Google is doing nothing more than running a science experiment that will lose money and does not have the finance to back it up.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: 1%

K.C. is only an R&D case. They have no intention of ever going national.
ChrtrFanBoy6
join:2012-07-02

ChrtrFanBoy6

Member

Re: 1%

If they find it extremely profitable I would not put it passed google to expand to other large cities.
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO

me1212

Member

Re: 1%

They would most likely expand to other kc metro areas and other cities IF it is very profitable. But aside wifi at from a few coffee shops near its kc hq google isnt even available here anywhere in kc yet.
FloridaBoy
join:2009-06-22
Bradenton, FL

FloridaBoy to tmc8080

Member

to tmc8080
First, lets see if Google can get it done or not.

I have my doubts because the larger you get, the more trucks you have to roll, the more call centers you have to have, the more employees you have to hire, and the more plant you have to have around for any breakage.

Personally, I doubt Google is ready for that.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: 1%

you don't know much about Google's networks do you?
FloridaBoy
join:2009-06-22
Bradenton, FL

FloridaBoy

Member

Re: 1%

I never claimed I knew about Google's network specifically.

But, I can infer from other national carriers about what you have to have around to run one.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: 1%

the residential ISPs run some of the ugliest, rag tag, networks in the history of networking. How there is not more downtime/outages is beyond me.
Cobra11M
join:2010-12-23
Mineral Wells, TX

Cobra11M

Member

Re: 1%

said by ArrayList:

the residential ISPs run some of the ugliest, rag tag, networks in the history of networking. How there is not more downtime/outages is beyond me.

no kiddin.., its like they work on a 40 year old car but just patch it up every time it has a problem... instead of actually fixing it

TheOtherMoe
@charter.com

TheOtherMoe

Anon

Re: 1%

I've had Charter internet for 5 months and it goes down every single morning. This is only relevant because I've been asking to talk to an engineer, since I stopped counting after service call number 12. They've only sent line techs.

I'm now convinced that Charter doesn't have any engineers working at the company. I think they buy equipment, and no one even knows what a CMTS is.

I wouldn't trust that they could pull this off.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina to FloridaBoy

Member

to FloridaBoy
I'm certainly not going to claim I didn't sleep through econ 101 but I'm not following this logic. Generally, larger means there are economies of scale that enhance profits, not reduce them. Am I missing something that only applies to carriers that makes this principle work in reverse?
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Thanks but no thanks

Heck I won't even consider their 100 Mbps tier. That's $110. I didn't even want it when it was $88. So no I won't be getting 300 Mbps. What is anyone realistically going to do with that? $60 would be the upper end of what I would pay for internet.
cryptic1911
join:2010-01-24
Willimantic, CT

cryptic1911

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

It all depends how you use it. If all you are doing is checking the weather, and some light web browsing, then no, you'll never need it.

If you download lots of large files and watch alot of streaming media, then it definately has its advantages. Look where we were 10 years ago, 2mbit internet was pretty fast, and noone really needed it at the time.. now 2mbit is like having dialup
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

said by cryptic1911:

It all depends how you use it. If all you are doing is checking the weather, and some light web browsing, then no, you'll never need it.

If you download lots of large files and watch alot of streaming media, then it definately has its advantages. Look where we were 10 years ago, 2mbit internet was pretty fast, and noone really needed it at the time.. now 2mbit is like having dialup

Listen Netflix's top bitrate is 5400 kbps. So even if you were using all 6 allowed streams at once that would be 31.6 Mbps. So I stand by my statement that 300 Mbps is overkill. As far as downloading large files. There are few if any places that would let you download at 300 Mbps or even 100 Mbps.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

said by 88615298:

said by cryptic1911:

It all depends how you use it. If all you are doing is checking the weather, and some light web browsing, then no, you'll never need it.

If you download lots of large files and watch alot of streaming media, then it definately has its advantages. Look where we were 10 years ago, 2mbit internet was pretty fast, and noone really needed it at the time.. now 2mbit is like having dialup

Listen Netflix's top bitrate is 5400 kbps. So even if you were using all 6 allowed streams at once that would be 31.6 Mbps. So I stand by my statement that 300 Mbps is overkill. As far as downloading large files. There are few if any places that would let you download at 300 Mbps or even 100 Mbps.

Bullshit, i max out my current 100mbps speeds on most servers now for downloads, as well as torrents from well seeded torrents. I would happily take 300mbps down as long as the upload isnt terrible like the current 100/5 is. Seriously, 100mbps down should come with at least 10 up, and I bet the 300mbps tier will have 6mbps upload(in true charter fashion).

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

Didn't you know, torrents are only used by thieves.
cryptic1911
join:2010-01-24
Willimantic, CT

cryptic1911 to Chubbysumo

Member

to Chubbysumo
I agree. I max out my 100mbit connection quite frequently on large downloads.

As for using Netflix at their top bitrate, yeah the numbers on paper equal ~31mbits, but I'd like to see you have 6 netflix streams going without quality drops on a connection that fast.

You need quite a bit of headroom to keep a connection steady. You can't have a 30mbit connection and expect 30mbit out of it all the time. Its more like have a 60mbit connection and average it somewhere in the middle. Plus, if you have anything that requires low latency connections, like gaming, running your connection near capacity will totally kill the response times.

Just because you don't personally have a need or use for it doesn't mean noone else will.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

said by cryptic1911:

You need quite a bit of headroom to keep a connection steady. You can't have a 30mbit connection and expect 30mbit out of it all the time. Its more like have a 60mbit connection and average it somewhere in the middle.

A) No one will use all 6 streams.

B) you just said 60 Mbps need not 300 Mbps. That's a 5 fold difference.

Just because you don't personally have a need or use for it doesn't mean noone else will.

Did I say that Charter shouldn't offer it? What's the title of my thread? I believe I was talking about myself. YOU guys seem to have an issue that I don't have a need for 300 Mbps. And who is noone? Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits?
88615298

88615298 (banned) to Chubbysumo

Member

to Chubbysumo
said by Chubbysumo:

Bullshit, i max out my current 100mbps speeds on most servers now for downloads, as well as torrents from well seeded torrents.

there you go. How about for LEGAL and LEGIT uses. Oh wait let me see you need to download 100 GB of Linux distros every day.
explorer514
join:2003-05-06
united state

explorer514

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

Regardless of percieved notions of 'legit' and 'legal' uses, (that fat brush may cover a lot but...) is it not in the interest of telco's to continually improve their services? I woudn't think that bottlenecks would be something we want to keep hanging around, especially in security and other arenas where more 'real time' data is of high value. I like that Charter is continually improving their speeds, services, and infrastructure. Resistance is futile. (yep, pun intended!)
desarollo
join:2011-10-01
Monroe, MI

desarollo to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
That is an unfair statement. There is an incredible amount of public domain audio and video programs. Didn't they just release a few terabytes of old radio and film?

Plus, many cutting edge and underground content producers distribute via torrents because it crowd sources the expense of distribution. Not to mention, certain programs from the likes of CBC.

While there isn't hundreds of gigabytes of this type of content being distributed daily, it is enough to make the blanket statement that all the protocol is good for is stealing content is inaccurate. There are producers that use it as their method of distribution.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

Ok 100 meg tier currently has a 500 GB cap. Let's assume 300 meg has the same cap. That's 16.7 GB per day average. If one could download at 100 Mbps it would take 23 minutes, to download 16.7 GB at 300 Mbps it would take about 7 1/2 minutes. So really 15 1/2 minutes extra for 16.7 GB is a big deal?
Bengie25
join:2010-04-22
Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Bengie25

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

said by 88615298:

Ok 100 meg tier currently has a 500 GB cap. Let's assume 300 meg has the same cap. That's 16.7 GB per day average. If one could download at 100 Mbps it would take 23 minutes, to download 16.7 GB at 300 Mbps it would take about 7 1/2 minutes. So really 15 1/2 minutes extra for 16.7 GB is a big deal?

Let me go back in time a bit and use your same argument that has been used for a long while.

125kbit/s is overkill, 33.6kb/s is fine.

This is you.

SoulForge
@mhg.edu

SoulForge to 88615298

Anon

to 88615298
I maxed out 150 on FiOS downloading game patches. Have you seen the size of MMO patches these days? So yeah.....I use that.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson to 88615298

Premium Member

to 88615298
I would like to have 300mbps to steal my software and porn with. It's way better than 40mbps.

LightS
Premium Member
join:2005-12-17
Greenville, TX

LightS to 88615298

Premium Member

to 88615298
I will download 200gb of Linux Distro's a day just to spite your negative attitude.

Who cares what the pipe is used for.

fatpipe
join:2011-10-02
Austin, TX

fatpipe

Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

said by LightS:

I will download 200gb of Linux Distro's a day just to spite your negative attitude.

Who cares what the pipe is used for.

Well said LightS!

I may not agree with what you use the pipe for, but I will fight to the death for my right and your right to use the pipe for whatever you see fit.

So there!

LightS
Premium Member
join:2005-12-17
Greenville, TX

LightS

Premium Member

Re: Thanks but no thanks

Exactly. Although, I should have said, "I will redownload the same Linux distro a thousand times a day just to spite you"

No hard feelings, but I think that the bandwidth should be available, regardless of the use.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to LightS

Member

to LightS
said by LightS:

I will download 200gb of Linux Distro's a day just to spite your negative attitude.

Who cares what the pipe is used for.

it matters if it's legal or not? If your next door neighbor used his property as a crack house or meth lab or a brothel that doesn't matter to you because it's his property?

••••
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
said by 88615298:

said by Chubbysumo:

Bullshit, i max out my current 100mbps speeds on most servers now for downloads, as well as torrents from well seeded torrents.

there you go. How about for LEGAL and LEGIT uses. Oh wait let me see you need to download 100 GB of Linux distros every day.

There are plenty of legal and legit torrents. If its not licensed in america, no american company is going to sue you for it. Also, steam updates download at the full 12.5MB/s, as do most game updates from other companies these days.
Expand your moderator at work
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
Yesterday I ran a speedtest while updating an online game. The I have 35/35 FiOS. When doing the update, the speed test came back as 5/1. So I'm sure the other people on my network were suffering at that moment.

SHoTTa35
@optonline.net

SHoTTa35

Anon

OOL Boost+ Boost please

Come on CableVision! Bump your 50Mbps plan to 105Mbps and your 101Mbps to 300Mbps for the same price and i'll be more than happy!

(I have the 50Mbps plan)

•••
09129800 (banned)
join:2012-06-27
New York, NY

09129800 (banned)

Member

Caps

So, will this have caps like every other shit-tacular tier that Charter offers?

I wouldn't want it for $10 a month if it has bandwidth caps.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Caps

said by 09129800:

So, will this have caps like every other shit-tacular tier that Charter offers?

I wouldn't want it for $10 a month if it has bandwidth caps.

Charter's cap on the 100 Mpbs tier is 500 GB so I assume the cap on 300 Mbps tier would be no lower than that if there s one at all. Also Charter currently has TWO tiers. That's it.
WhyMe420
Premium Member
join:2009-04-06

WhyMe420 to 09129800

Premium Member

to 09129800
said by 09129800:

So, will this have caps like every other shit-tacular tier that Charter offers?

I wouldn't want it for $10 a month if it has bandwidth caps.

Agreed!
siouxmoux
join:2007-09-25

siouxmoux

Member

And still ATT thinks 24/3 is fasting Internet you ever need.

How long will it take for ATT get with the times and roll out FTTP for everyone subscribe U-Verse
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: And still ATT thinks 24/3 is fasting Internet you ever need.

said by siouxmoux:

How long will it take for ATT get with the times and roll out FTTP for everyone subscribe U-Verse

Never.
ExoticFish
join:2008-08-31
Zebulon, NC

ExoticFish

Member

305 for $119 huh ?

quote:
but as we recently exclusively reported looks to be getting a significant price cut to $119 a month (bundled)
You can't seriously state this. That photo was a leaked photo, which holds absolutely no water to it's validity. You're also stating it's 305, which isn't shown in the picture. Come on, you can't pick and choose to create an "exclusive" report.