Search:  

 
 
   News
newer
story category ISPs Downplay User Need For Speed
After years of marketing downstream speeds, suddenly it doesn't matter?
06:26PM Monday Mar 24 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: business · bandwidth · cable · Verizon FIOS · RoadRunner Cable
Verizon, who is testing 100Mbps FiOS among their employees, has all but admitted that the 100Mbps connection is little more than a marketing weapon at this point, but at least the potential is there. Cable executives, in the position of now having to play catch up, suddenly seem to be downplaying last mile speed after years of marketing cable's speed advantage. Douglas Semon, vice president of technologies and standards for Time Warner Cable, seems to mirror AT&T's recent comments that network capacity trumps end-user speeds:
Think a little bit about speed versus capacity, and maybe we're just barking up the wrong tree when we keep saying 150, 250, 450 [Mbit/s], whatever it is. It's a ridiculous number. What do our customers really want? We're going to find out. I personally don't think it's about speed wars, I think it's about capacity.

...This would be a really good chance to insult all our customers wouldn't it? Has anyone ever really explained what this means to the end user? It's one of those things where you assume that, oh, faster is better, so I'll switch.
Of course you'll notice that the people suddenly claiming that end-user speeds don't matter are playing catch-up to Verizon FiOS (particularly when it comes to upstream speeds). AT&T tried to save a buck and decided on VDSL over fiber, and Time Warner Cable is playing wait and see with DOCSIS 3.0. Keep in mind Time Warner Cable is also tinkering with monthly caps as low as 5GB -- is that what customers really want?

Related:
  1. Time Warner Cable Pretends Cable Is Fiber
  2. Time Warner Caps: Behind The Numbers
  3. Time Warner Cable Says They're Ready For FiOS Rumble
  4. Long Awaited Japanese Caps Arrive: 930GB Per Month
  5. Time Warner Cable Confirms Powerboost Trials
  6. Time Warner Cable: Caps 'Make Your Internet Experience Better'
  7. Time Warner Cable Powerboost Hits Texas
  8. Time Warner Cable Using Fine Print To Foist Caps On Customers
Forums » ISPs Downplay User Need For Speed
view: topics flat text 
Post a:
page: 1 · 2

punker
deleted by moderator
Premium
join:2004-06-21
Palmdale, CA
clubs:

edit:
March 24th, @06:39PM

i want GigE

1 Gigabit/ps down

500mbps upload

•No Caps

•No traffic shaping

•No goverment spying

•No long times on hold

•Yes To great customer support

• Yes to Lower lantcy

hopeflicker
They all belong in the trash
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA

Re: i want GigE

x2 plz

Ikyuao
debian linux power

join:2007-02-26
Wichita, KS
You want more speeds then you will pay more price expensive because ISPs need to buy more crap bandwidth to feeds customers a faster like crap if you want 1Gbits/500Mbits then just pay up 150 dollars to 200 dollars a month!

hopeflicker
They all belong in the trash
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA

Re: i want GigE

said by Ikyuao See Profile :

You want more speeds then you will pay more price expensive because ISPs need to buy more crap bandwidth to feeds customers a faster like crap if you want 1Gbits/500Mbits then just pay up 150 dollars to 200 dollars a month!
No,

My fios is faster and cheaper than cable/dsl.
--
Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people.

Ikyuao
debian linux power

join:2007-02-26
Wichita, KS

Re: i want GigE

Really? Not! You just pay FIOS,TV and phone with federal taxes that telecom COs have to collect your money to pay a taxes like crap but on cable I don't have to pay any crap taxes

hopeflicker
They all belong in the trash
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA


edit:
March 24th, @06:54PM

Re: i want GigE

huh??

Like i said, when an ISP offers nice speeds such as fios, that doesnt mean taht they are gonna sock you with $100 internet bill.

at one time i was paying 52$ for 3M down on cable.

Now i pay 45$ for 15/2
--
Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people.

Ikyuao
debian linux power

join:2007-02-26
Wichita, KS

Re: i want GigE

Nice... I want to see if cox will come with something like 30Mbits/10Mbits or even 30Mbits upstream if cox do that then I will stay with them that's it so no switching to FIOS...

AnonUser132

@verizon.net
Yes, fios is definitely the best option. TWC here is $55/month for 10/1. Fios has a 20/5 for $45 and a 20/20 for $65. I think you can accurately guess which I have.

MisterMarcus

join:2001-11-10
San Diego, CA
·RoadRunner Cable

Re: i want GigE

Odd...I have Time Warner, and 15/2 speeds, and my bill is $30/month. And no, I'm not in a triple play package, I only have internet and phone. If it's discounted, that's a hell of a discount. I'm quite happy with those speeds, my only complaint is that tons of people in this complex have TWC's high speed package, and the throughput gets nerfed every Sunday like clockwork. Streaming sermons, I suppose.
DilutedRefor

join:2007-12-03

Re: i want GigE

Well, if you're in a MDU, they usually have deals worked out where you get lower rates as far as I know. This could be why you're getting such a low rate. This, however, is assuming by "complex" you mean a MDU.

big jim

@myvzw.com
the bonus with fios is that the pipe is yours from your router to the central office, Your speeds don't slow down because your neighbors are never on your pipe
TheMG

join:2007-09-04
Edmonton, AB
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·800Hosting.com
·Dreamhost
·TELUS
·Shaw


edit:
March 24th, @09:35PM

said by Ikyuao See Profile :

You want more speeds then you will pay more price expensive because ISPs need to buy more crap bandwidth to feeds customers a faster like crap if you want 1Gbits/500Mbits then just pay up 150 dollars to 200 dollars a month!
At that price, I'd certainly take it!

You realize connections like that cost TENS OF THOUSANDS right now?

Ikyuao
debian linux power

join:2007-02-26
Wichita, KS
·Cox HSI


edit:
March 24th, @10:04PM

Re: i want GigE

Yeah, Dude... If ISP want to offer 1Gbits/500Mbits then it will cost ISP plenty of FIVETY OF THOUSANDS dollars but I rather to take a 100Mbits/100Mbits that is much plenty of speeds for web browsing, checking email, playing games...

Wait... I have an idea... ISP could provide lots of bandwidth backbone networks then customers can ride on 100Mbits/100Mbits that makes sense and less lag and less bandwidth hog...
Squidii

join:2004-06-30
Little Rock, AR

edit:
March 24th, @11:45PM

.
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast

How bad do you want it?

You can get a 45 Mbps T3 circuit today for about $10,000/month or a 155 Mbps OC3 for about $30,000/month.

Not sure how much a real 1 Gbps connection would cost...but a 2.48 Gbps OC48 runs about $200K/month.

I'm sure they all come with no caps or traffic shaping and great customer service too! (It better be for $200K per month) Can't speak to the bit about government spying though....

BuggyBoyNYC
Sirius God

join:2000-11-19
Edison, NJ
·TowerStream


edit:
March 26th, @12:08AM

Re: i want GigE

When did you last look at pricing?

We pay about $3300/month for our (full) DS3 circuit, including loop (delivered over Verizon Fiber, down to coax through AdTran equipment, and eventually down to Ethernet handoff via an Anda 2200).
--
-Sterling
»67.106.132.22:8000/
jimbo2150

join:2004-05-10
Youngstown, OH
·Dreamhost
·Armstrong Zoom In..

Re: i want GigE

said by BuggyBoyNYC See Profile :

When did you last look at pricing
I agree with BuggyBoyNYC See Profile, those are pretty old prices. I got quotes for my area about a year ago just to see what the prices were at. A T1 was about $300/month + install. DS3 (T3) was about $3,000/month + install. Both were about $150-250 for install.

The direct fiber optic was about $6,000/month + $10,000 install.
--

- "Techie" Jim
battleop

join:2005-09-28
00000

Re: i want GigE

We see that kind of pricing in our market, and were not in a Tier1 market.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

said by jimbo2150 See Profile :

said by BuggyBoyNYC See Profile :

When did you last look at pricing
I agree with BuggyBoyNYC See Profile, those are pretty old prices. I got quotes for my area about a year ago just to see what the prices were at. A T1 was about $300/month + install. DS3 (T3) was about $3,000/month + install. Both were about $150-250 for install.

The direct fiber optic was about $6,000/month + $10,000 install.
Speakeasy has some pretty good deals on T1 lines
and the T1 equipment is free after rebate. loop charge is included in their prices
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO
clubs:
·Comcast

Heh...Google FTL! I don't work in that side of the business so my research consisted of about 5 minutes in a search engine. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

Still, the point stands...$3300/month for a full DS3 circuit that you can run at 100% 24/7/365 (which seemed to be what was asked for) just won't fly for residential use (unless you're a hedge fund manager who lights his cigars with $100 bills).

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

said by punker See Profile :

1 Gigabit/ps down

500mbps upload

•No Caps

•No traffic shaping

•No goverment spying

•No long times on hold

•Yes To great customer support

• Yes to Lower lantcy
Move to south korea then and you'll get all that for around the equivelent of $14/month USD.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
NOCMan
Verizon Fios User
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Flower Mound, TX

And what would you do with it?

I argue that capacity is king, but at the same time speed is important. There is a balance where both work together to ensure that customer requests are on the line the least amount of time without haveing so many requests queued up that it starts to slow down overall speeds. At that point it's a feedback loop that just builds up.

The other problem is those asking for the speeds are typically the warez downloaders, music/movie stealers, or worse.

Do not tell me you're downloading Linux ISO's.. only about 3 in 100 do that.

I would say that 20mbit is the current sweet spot. At that rate customers can effectively use internet video services like Xbox Live and Apple TV for on demand SD content. At 50mbit you could do 720p HD content. Currently at 20mbit HD 720p content takes a few minutes of downloading before it's far enough along that you could start it. (On Fios only).
BigVe

join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI
Some parts of Sweden offer 1gig down/up

Korean

@verizon.net
sure, you can get that.. move to Korea

^_^

Steven Wong

@bell.ca

Re: i want GigE

You know i remember about 8 years ago when Korea and Canada were in a near deadlock on internet speed and pricing. My gosh?? What has happened to Canada today!!??

CCTVTech
Where Is My Fiber?
Premium
join:2003-04-23
Phoenix, AZ
clubs:
·Cox HSI
·Qwest.net
·GoDaddy Hosting
·Voip Street

Faster upstream needed

I just want faster upstream, 790kb sucks, even 1.5mb would work.

It makes for slow offsite backups

Nobody offers anything faster unless I go with a T1, but then I loose my download speed.
--
==== Eye In The Sky ====
I Fight Crime - One Camera At A Time

Chiyo
Save Me Konata-Chan
Premium
join:2003-02-20
Minneapolis, MN
clubs:

Re: Faster upstream needed

Give me fast upload some good LEGAL reasons

Skype
Podcasting
My flickr account
offsite backups of my important documents
uploading said podcast to webserver
Maybe I want to expand to video casting??

odinb

join:2001-11-26
Frisco, TX


edit:
March 25th, @10:46AM

Re: Faster upstream needed

...and I want to be able to do that at the same time.

Wife on the VOIP-phone.
Kid on Skype.
Other kid on VOIP.
Me doing upload to my webpages of the latest family pictures for grandparents to see.
..and running P2P-TV (TVU) in the background.

This will not happen with my current speed of 768kbps, if I am lucky I can do 2 of those in parallell without either skype or VOIP starting to soud/look awful....
--
"The same ferocity that our founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic". Al Gore, The Assault on Reason
Jerkface

join:2005-06-05
Washington, NJ

hahaha

i would be happy with 20/5 for now, then see what happens in the future. Now with my MYKA, i can download and watch anything i want at blazing speeds. Just get rid of the sandvine, comcast.

ztmike
Premium
join:2001-08-02
·Comcast
·AT&T Midwest

Re: hahaha

I think 20/5 is the sweet spot.

Only if Comcast offered that.

*Without caps

*Without Sandvine

*$50-60 bucks would be as much as I would be willing to pay for internet.
--
»chris.pirillo.com/live/
espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN

Re: hahaha

20/5 is doable on DOCSIS 3.0 or aggressively built 2.0 networks, but probably not for $50-$60.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: hahaha

said by espaeth See Profile :

20/5 is doable on DOCSIS 3.0 or aggressively built 2.0 networks, but probably not for $50-$60.
Cablevision does it on their DOCSIS 2.0 network
BOOST is pretty much "uncapped cable" of course fios is there and thats why they offer these speeds.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth
espaeth
Misanthrope
Premium
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN

Re: hahaha

Clearly there will be exceptions, which is why I qualified my response with "probably". The overwhelming majority of providers will not match that though, at least not for the bulk of the US.

Nightshade
Beware the Blue Rabbit
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR


edit:
March 25th, @12:37AM

Fear

Why cable ISPs are downplaying the need for speed is because they want to make it sound like Verizon's FIOS isn't all that important in the long run. But the real reason is that they fear the potential of Verizon's FIOS speed capacity and by the time DOCSIS 3.0 finally comes out Verizon's going to have a huge head start in FIOS deployment.

The fear that all the ISPs have for Verizon is so bad you can smell it.

Mr Kentucky

@alltel.net

Re: Fear

said by Nightshade See Profile :

This sounds like why cable ISPs are downplaying the need for speed is because they want to make it sound like Verizon's FIOS isn't all that important in the long run. But the real reason is that they fear the potential of Verizon's FIOS speed capacity and by the time DOCSIS 3.0 finally comes out Verizon's going to have a huge head start in FIOS deployment.

The fear that all the ISPs have for Verizon is so bad you can smell it.
I agree, Verizon will have a head start. They took the plunge, and I believe they will reap most of the reward.

I personally want faster speeds, and more upload. But the location I live in.. well..... I've got what I have is all I can say. And it's better than 56k...

(@ Article
I am willing to pay more money for faster service, but apparently I am to far from the office(customer service said so). I'm under 2 miles from the main office. I'm willing to spend more money, but, faster service is just not available to my knowledge currently)

Camelot One
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-21
Austin, TX
clubs:
·VoicePulse

What your customers want

Is what they signed up for. It doesn't matter if you are selling a 768/768, or a 40,000/40,000....if the line doesn't deliver due to blocks of this, limits of that, it doesn't matter.
--
Intel Quad Core QX6700 @3500Mhz/Asus P5N32-E SLI/4x 1024Mb Corsair/Seagate 750.10/PNY 7800GTs SLI/Silverstone 850W/Custom water cooler
EPS

join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

Speed

Well one issue with speed is the computer- my primary computer is kind of old and has some network issues, so I'm not really getting the best out of my 20/5 FiOS connection for that reason- on our newer computer, it's blazing fast, though.

I've switched from DSL (way back in Bell Atlantic days, when you had to log in through a program), to Cable, back to DSL, to FiOS with this computer, and for the most part the browsing experience is the same, even when heavy downloading (the computer issues I mentioned above).
sludgehound

join:2007-03-12
New York, NY
·RoadRunner Cable

Just want 10K/500 as paid

Paying TWC from midtown Man'h west side and usually
get just 700 downstream evenings & weekends. Upload
holds steady 490.
Mega tech visits. 2 foremen one time. "Client
relations" has record of this.
Just goes on and on. Like dial up opening websites.
Don't lose connection. Plain vanilla LAN. High end
PC & Vista. No help.
Thanks for nothing TWC. DSL was worse in that it always
lost carrier even tho only 2 blocks from C.O. Most Sundays
that went off line only to return Monday am. LOL
Went to Roadrunner soon as began. Was solid at 5mb and
7mb. Troubles began at 10mb offer. Con Ed knocked out all
service at one point to w hole building. Then we were all out. But don't know now if others suffer this. Do see some
barfs that others get this 800k 'cap' during certain
times. Usually in Queens or Lower East Side.
But TWC is only game for now.

N O Y B
St. John 3.16

join:2005-12-15
Forest Grove, OR
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast

The Tortoise & Rabbit Race

When it was cable vs. DSL the cable providers claimed it was all about speed and pounded on the telcos with ads. Now that it is cable vs. FiOS the cable providers change their tune and say it is all about capacity.

Funny thing is the cable providers were/are right on both counts. Problem is FiOS has them beat on both counts. LOL

When I was with Comcast best they could do was 384Kbps. And they had the nerve to claim 768Kbps DSL was slow. What a bunch of hypocrites.

--
PC dot Com: »www.PC.com/
Be a Good Netizen - Read, Know & Honor Your ISP Terms of Service
Comcast: »www6.comcast.net/terms/
Verizon: »www2.verizon.net/policies/

See 6 replies to this post

mlubby72

@verizon.net

a simple 5/5 line for $50/month

All I want is a reliable 5 meg line up and down with no fine print that says that bandwidth varies based on what my neighbors are doing. A simple 5 MB line that is dedicated to me for $50/month.

I also think that every business should be able to get a 20MB/20Mb line for $200 month. As business owner it gripes me that we can not get decent bandwidth for a reasonable price. Not every business can make a case for $1000/month for a crappy T1 when Fios is available a few blocks away but not available to us. Funny thing is that verizon will pull fiber to us for a bargain price of $2000 and $1500/mo for 10MB.

In the day and age of fiber that can be multiplexed with different wavelengths and capacities of fiber and switches with 10's of GB, this is not unreasonable to ask for with fiber to my house.
DilutedRefor

join:2007-12-03

Re: a simple 5/5 line for $50/month

In reply to your residential wishes of a 5/5 for $50/month, that is already available. 20/5, actually, for $45/month here. Some areas it's up to $55/month due to less competition. Also, I have 20/20 service and I've always had that bandwidth available, minus a few minor hiccups here and there which is acceptable. About 9 out of 10 people on my street and a couple streets in each direction have FiOS (thanks to me suggesting it) and the bandwidth is still available as can be seen here:
»www.speedtest.net/result/251173950.png
As for businesses, no ISP would be able to offer a dedicated 20/20 for $200, it's just not doable. You think that in this age of fiber, it's possible. Consider the cost of the equipment before you come to that conclusion. Also, a T1 is a lot cheaper these days, around $300 with free install. Some you can even get free equipment after rebates. Speakeasy is a great example of this.

maartena
Super Grover

join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

Upload!

Quite frankly....

I would rather have 5/5 then 15/2 FIOS. You are right. It's no longer about the download speed, it is about the power of what one individual can do with their internet connection and a computer.

Try having two teenage daughters with each their own VOIP so they can chat all they want with their friends, dad who is trying desperately to upload his 10 MP pictures that he took with his DSLR to share them with friends, mom who is webcamming with the oldest son who just had a brand new baby on the other side of the country, all the while while someone is uploading homework, wanting to use xbox 360 online with a few friends, etc.

384 kbit/s upload is what most DSL subs give. 512 kbit/s maybe if you have cable. If you buy the super-duper-turbo for loads of money, you can get 1 Mbit/s upload on cable.

But that's where it stops. And the ISP's are just heaping up the "features" and the 16 Mbit/s downstream and show how FAST the internet is, while the internet is SLOOOOOWWWW!! when all you want to do is send stuff from one person to another.

Uploading is not all about sharing movies you shouldn't be sharing. This is the 21st century where everyone can be their own youtube, their own myspace, and their own steam.

I don't need 100 Mbit/s. Hell, I don't even need my 10 Mbit/s that I have now. Only reason I have it is because of the 1 Mbit/s upload.
--
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -
Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father.
Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Re: Upload!

said by maartena See Profile :

Quite frankly....

I would rather have 5/5 then 15/2 FIOS. You are right. It's no longer about the download speed, it is about the power of what one individual can do with their internet connection and a computer.

384 kbit/s upload is what most DSL subs give. 512 kbit/s maybe if you have cable. If you buy the super-duper-turbo for loads of money, you can get 1 Mbit/s upload on cable.

I don't need 100 Mbit/s. Hell, I don't even need my 10 Mbit/s that I have now. Only reason I have it is because of the 1 Mbit/s upload.
I'll trade you my STANDARD tier of 5mbps down and 1mbps up for 10mbps down/512kbps up. Actually what I would be very happy about would be getting reasonably close to 600KB/Sec on downloads which would match the speed cap that I pay for. I usually am quite lucky to get 150KB/sec on downloads even from sites on the West Coast and forget downloading an application from Russia or Germany. I might well switch to RR dialup.

I would love to get 15mbps/2mbps once Oceanic is able to offer it to more than one tiny area on Oahu but it is $25 a month more and I know I won't really get anything near the 15mbps down. I get 4.8 mbps on speed tests to the West Coast but never anywhere close to that on downloads from the West Coast. I get 1mbps up on all speed tests I do but never in real life.

I don't upload anything other than a screen shot here and there and I see no improvement in uploading to this site after Oceanic upgraded us all free of charge to 1mbps up. I only wanted better upload speed to balance the download speed but unlike what you describe about your family, I have no need for lots of upload speed. I need desperately more download speed that I actually get as I download a great deal. To me, the internet is about downloading not uploading. As for VoIP, I just entered official elder hood today and I care enough about my health and well being to want a phone that works during a power outage. Oceanic's VoIP has no battery backup at all. In Hawaii, one has to have a landline unless one is young, reckless and has no family. Oceanic told the PUC that they have no plans ever to offer carrier class service for their internet phone so I will never get it and don't need upload speed for it.

I need MORE DOWNLOAD speed that I actually get! I would die for 50mbps down...even 30mbps down sounds magnificent to me.
--
"The same ferocity that our founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic". Al Gore, The Assault on Reason

prestonlewis
Premium,MVM
join:2003-04-13
Sacramento, CA
·VoiceStick
·Comcast
·Pacific Bell - SBC
·DSL EXTREME
·Vonage
·VoicePulse

I agree

I agree with many forum posters. Increasing upload speed is more important to me than increasing download speeds at the moment. My Comcast 8,000/768 suits me and my high bandwidth family just fine for the downloads. However, 768 is a pathetic upload (1/10) compared to the download. Increasingly, users like my family need more upload: XBox360 and VOIP to mention a couple. 768 is insufficient making me also buy DSL for gaming only.

Increase the upload before tempting me with higher downloads that I probably can't use anyway.

N O Y B
St. John 3.16

join:2005-12-15
Forest Grove, OR
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast


edit:
March 24th, @11:45PM

Re: I agree

said by prestonlewis See Profile :

I agree with many forum posters. Increasing upload speed is more important to me than increasing download speeds at the moment. My Comcast 8,000/768 suits me and my high bandwidth family just fine for the downloads. However, 768 is a pathetic upload (1/10) compared to the download. Increasingly, users like my family need more upload: XBox360 and VOIP to mention a couple. 768 is insufficient making me also buy DSL for gaming only.

Increase the upload before tempting me with higher downloads that I probably can't use anyway.

Yeah, and to think the Comcast die-hards laughed at me for dumping 6/384 cable for 3/768 DSL. They just didn't get it. Guess so long as their porn comes down fast that is all they care about. They must not create anything that needs to be uploaded and contributed the the internet/world.

--
PC dot Com: »www.PC.com/
Be a Good Netizen - Read, Know & Honor Your ISP Terms of Service
Comcast: »www6.comcast.net/terms/
Verizon: »www2.verizon.net/policies/

Meh37

@verizon.net

Re: I agree

Say it with me now: DSL had more c-a-p-a-c-i-t-y.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Upload!

Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload Upload !
Regardless of what YOU think, most people want more upload
there *ARE* other uses for upload OTHER than piracy!
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

Iknowenuff

join:2001-06-28
Riverside, CA

Agreed

I agree with prest and dvd. My six meg DSL is just fine for my 360, desktop and laptop. I have yet to see the killer ap that my six meg cant handle in a reasonable amount of time. But 768 up vs six meg down is ridiculous. When video and browsing apps require more than six meg then i'll get on the faster speeds bandwagon. Until then just increase the friggin upload speeds.

N O Y B
St. John 3.16

join:2005-12-15
Forest Grove, OR
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast

Today's CEOs Need to Retake Marketing 101

Comcast and a bunch of other ISPs, as well as the officers of many other tech companies, need to retake marketing 101 and learn the difference between need and demand.

Selling only to the need is missing a big market. But I guess the CEO’s of today must not of been around to witness the muscle car era. People spending hard earned money for cars with more horsepower and speed capability than they would ever realistically use. Who cares if the speed limit is only 70/75, half the top speed. It’s about bragging rights which fuels demand. You know that male hormone, testosterone, that supersedes brain cells in the male of the human species. Learn to capitalize on it already would you.

Sell to demand, not need. Need only sets the minimum demand, why limit your sells to that.

--
PC dot Com: »www.PC.com/
Be a Good Netizen - Read, Know & Honor Your ISP Terms of Service
Comcast: »www6.comcast.net/terms/
Verizon: »www2.verizon.net/policies/

ctceo
Premium
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN
clubs:


edit:
March 25th, @01:10AM

They have a point, Unfortunately.

The average user needs ideally only enough to have their pages load in an efficient manner for them. Take for example the page Tiger Direct.com. When I load it with the 6mbps DSL package I have it still takes the page up to 3 seconds to load. The most demanding user is only going to benefit from a page that loads nearly instantly, since loading the page before you actually can is not currently possible. "Lag is Killer" to quote a phrase I use a lot. Its the lag that causes the page to load in 3 seconds, not the stream, all the GFX on the page SHOULD load in less than 1 second (nearly instant IMO). In the case of demo games that are gig's, isnt it just more efficient to go get the disc from somewhere? If conceivably not, then YES we do need as much Throughput & Bandwidth that you can throw at us. Who wouldn't want to be able to download the latest demo of their favorite 3gb game in 1 second?

Now depending on whether or not you need to trunk huge amounts of data across the internet is sketchy at best. If your files are that big Its probably more efficient to pay for a dedicated line to your target, and that's an Intranet. Failing that using removable media is probably the second best option. NOTE that's a much smaller percentage of users total than you think.
matt314159

join:2006-01-18
Hesperia, CA
·Charter Pipeline

Upload is becoming king.

I think the biggest emerging need is going to be expanded upload speed. Aiming for digital convergence People are using things like orb, slingbox, VOIP, Xbox 360, they're uploading 10MP photos to their online storage account, they're using Mozy, iDrive, xDrive, you name it, to store their most precious data off-site. They're uploading videos to youtube. They're FTP'ing files to their personal websites.

And they're doing it simultaneiously. Our house at any given time has three desktops, two laptops, orb, slingbox, and vonage to handle. Try doing all that with 1mbps upload speed. it's possible, but that makes 1mbps sound rather puny.

I've currently got charter's 16m down, 2mb up service, and I'm loving it. Even having 2mb up is a real breath of fresh air. But I'd trade this connection for a 5/5 symetrical connection in a heartbeat.

Verizon is now capable of 15/15, 20/20, 50/50, and who knows what else they're going to offer in the future? Cable companies should be running scared. Maybe DOCSIS can handle it when the Cableco's finally roll out the 3.0 standard, but by that time, FIOS will probably be capable of gigabit internet connections in the home. I think from here on out, the cableco's are going to be playing catch-up.

So, the logical thing for the marketing suits to do is to try to convince the customer that he/she simply doesnt need that much speed. But we're increasingly demmanding it.

fishmaster
Premium
join:2004-10-08
Rockford, IL
·Comcast
·Insight Communicat..

Marketing Media Propaganda

This is the next phase of the marketing media propaganda to inoculate people for the acceptance of the next round of billing. "Bill by the byte" Don't you know this way they can double dip. Charge you for the bandwidth that the paid third party Nebuad like services inject into your "Enhanced, increased value of service & robust online user experiences".

The wording would also start out as x dollars for x amount of bandwidth later to be changed to, x dollars for 'up to' x bandwidth.
--
Browse A lot - Sign In Little - Post Even Less

koitsu
Premium
join:2002-07-16
Mountain View, CA

What customers really want.

• Web portals!!! Oh man, I don't even need to mention these. They're AWESOME!!!
• Asymmetric bandwidth ("We offer speeds 10000x that of cable! 300,000,000mbits!! ...but only 256kbit upstream, lolzlolz")
• DNS redirection ("you mean you actually LIKE getting that error in your browser?")
• QoS management that's badly implemented ("Yeah man, I hate TCP window scaling too...")
• P2P packet injection (hello Sandvine)
• Transparent HTTP proxying ("what do you mean the webserver sees my request coming from proxycache01.nj.someisp.com?! My IP is 64.10.50.129!")
• Only 1 IP per customer ("we can sell you a router that has a buggy firmware, causing you to call us for technical support for 6-8 weeks regarding said bugginess, and none of our technical staff has any idea about the flaw")
• No concept of netblock routing ("we gave you 4 IPs, even though they're scattered across three different /23 networks...")
• Little or zero failover redundancy ("we had a core switch fail last night, thats the cause of the entire Bay Area losing network access...")
• Horrible peering ("one backbone is enough for anybody")
• Falsehood explanations for outages or corporate decisions ("nothing to see here...")
• Customer support reps who aren't kept in the loop with NOCs ("there's no known outages in your area, sir... although I can't reach your cable modem, hmm...")

With so many things to choose from, why would customers want anything else!?
--
Making life hard for others since 1977.
I speak for myself and not my employer/affiliates of my employer.

Skeedatl
Ah, push it - push it real good
Premium
join:2007-12-26
The Cloud

PRICE not king is speed

The dirt cheap DSL ads that smoked cable proved that.

Especially in this economy what people want is cheap.