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story category Modern Suburban Broadband Isn't Up To Date
Blogger complains about services in suburbs of New York
(old news - 01:56PM Sunday Jun 22 2008)
tags: dsl · coverage · consumers
A blog post over at ZDNet today provides an overview of what you can expect to find in terms of modern broadband services if you’re living in an American suburb today. The author lives in New Jersey, about eight miles from Manhattan, and uses the article to explore the services (or lack thereof) in this specific area. Problems cited with the broadband here include a lack of choice among service providers, slow broadband speeds, an aging telephone infrastructure system, and a shortage of central offices and POPs in the area.

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Forums » Modern Suburban Broadband Isn't Up To Date
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Ricky Smith
Premium
join:2004-09-11
Winter Park, FL

Suburban

I live in the "suburb" and we've got at least 3+ choices in providers. We have Comcast, RCN, Verizon, Satellite, and other random providers. So I'd have to say our broadband is upto date.
--
Ricky Smith
ggultra2764

join:2007-09-13
Cambridge, NY

Re: Suburban

In my suburbs, we have a choice of Time Warner Cable, Verizon DSL, sattelite (which seems pointless with the better options), and wireless (VZW, Sprint, AT&T, and Hudson Valley Wireless). So, that department seems well covered for my town as well.

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

Re: Suburban

I live in an L.A. suburb (its own city) of Santa Clarita (aka Valencia), and we have a few choices

1. Cable (TimeWarner)
2. DSL (AT&T and resellers)
3. Uverse
--
Canada = Hollywood North
Ulmo

join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
·SONIC.NET

said by Ricky Smith See Profile :

I live in the "suburb"
No, you don't, if your byline is correct (it says "Boston, MA"). Mine says "Aptos, CA", which I need to update to "San Jose, CA". Let me explain the difference between Aptos and San Jose:

San Jose is a major metropolitan city. Aptos is a suburban town of a minor city (Santa Cruz), and foreigners often mistake it for being a suburb of an even more minor city that's closer to it (Watsonville, but that's a field and picker city).

Boston is an urban area. Is there some exceptions in its bounds, like in a few cities, and to what extent are those exceptions really exceptions in practice? Are you near enough to urbania to get its effects?
Ricky Smith
Premium
join:2004-09-11
Winter Park, FL

Re: Suburban

I lived in Boston for college, I know what a suburb is thank you. I currently live in Woburn, MA which is the suburbs. As I noted bellow boston is not a suburb nor are the surrounding cities.

LiamJunket
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Ocean City, NJ
·Comcast

Whining because IBM won't reimburse all his costs

The blogger was getting reimbursed fully for landline, cellphone, & internet costs. They didn't want to reimburse him for the top OOL service tier where he was getting 23729/3938 speeds. So he looked for something cheaper and being 17,000 feet from the CO, his Verizon dsl speed was 348/379. He wants Fios and it isn't there yet - hence the whining. He could keep the best OOL service if he'd shell out $25/mo of his own money. He doesn't get any sympathy from me.
--
My BLOG .. .. Internet News .. .. My Web Page
Ricky Smith
Premium
join:2004-09-11
Winter Park, FL

Re: Whining because IBM won't reimburse all his costs

If he's complaining he can't get FIOS cause he's in the "burbs" then he's naive, as all the places I know around here Verizon has deployed are in those areas. They've yet to deploy in Boston or surrounding towns.
--
Ricky Smith

rawgerz
In Debt we trust
Premium
join:2004-10-03
Grove City, PA
·Verizon Online DSL
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

And if he ever got FIOS, he'd probably bitch about Verizon's prices too. Their not exactly priced competitively with their own DSL service after all.
The guy probably makes 80K a year but wants everything for nothing.

Maybe next he will try to get his employer to pay for a pressure washer to clean his siding.
--

You can't make all the people happy all of the time. But it should be common sense to shoot for the majority.

ablack6596

join:2005-01-28
Scarsdale, NY

Not that bad

This was supposed to be a comment on the site, but the registration is just too long. Why is my full address required?

At least you have a choice. My only choice for broadband internet until fairly recently was Optimum Online and we were one of the last be setup for cable internet. No DSL available here. Also if you've experienced internet from other cable companies, OOL is by far the best.

However, I do have Fios now. I also live in NYC suburbs, Westchester. My town is also very conscious about looks, no solar panels because they're ugly, but encouraged Verizon to bring competition with Fios.

PhoenixDown
-- Wants FIOS
Premium
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY
clubs:

Re: Not that bad

-- Flushing Queens
Broadband Options = Time Warner Cable and Nothing
jester121

join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL

Re: Not that bad

said by PhoenixDown See Profile :

-- Flushing Queens
A good start?
iansltx

join:2007-02-19
Fredericksburg, TX
·Comcast
·Qwest.net
·magicjack.com
·BeeCreek Communica..
·Sprint Mobile Broa..

Here's what they mean by "no choice"

Now that mobile broadband has a 5GB cap per month, two miles west of a town of 10k or so the only choice is a local WiSP...or satellite. If you want 512k you pay $50 a month. $70 for 1M, $100 for 2M. That enough non-choice for ya?

In a bedroom community to San Antonio (sorta...Boerne) the choices, AFAIK, are the local telephone company or that same WiSP. That's it.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
upstate NJ
·Verizon FIOS
·Optimum Online


2 edits

Stop the BS...

As a resident of Bergen County, NJ (about 8 miles from NYC also, and I know where that picture was taken by the author), I'd just like to say that we definitely ARE much better off than others when it comes to broadband... The vast majority of this county received FIOS before the rest of NJ... I have two primary options here... 20/5 or 30/5 from Cablevision or 10/2, 20/5, 30/5 or 50/20 from Verizon FIOS... If you live in this county and you're bitching about broadband options, then you need a serious reality check. DSL sucks here... True... But I don't know anyone else who uses DSL anymore here... Something like 80% of the people I knew had OOL cable service prior to get FIOS when DSL was the only option... The best DSL Verizon can offer here is 768/128... I got about ~384/128 out of that line when I tried it a few years ago... But FIOS blows all the competition out of the water.

-Tzale
--
Neoconservatives (G.W.B) are not true conservatives. A conservative believes in defending the Constitution. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. - RON PAUL 2008

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

Re: Stop the BS...

Thumbs up to that. NY is one of the "best connected" states in the union.

wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace

join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·BroadVoice

This guy is an idiot

The NYC suburbs are one of the most competitive broadband areas in the country. He is complaining because he wants to downgrade from cable internet to DSL, and is unhappy with DSL's limitations. As a "technology" writer he should be aware of this fact already. Furthermore, he is whining about the fact that they arent upgrading the DSL infrastructure in his town when FIOS will be deployed there shortly! This guy needs to stop bitching that he actually needs to pay for part of his internet service now.
--
If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.
-Ronald Reagan-

Bobcat
Cablevision sucks donkey balls
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ

What a whiner!

He's such a moron, he doesn't even deserve a response.

NetAdmin

join:2008-05-22

Re: What a whiner!

said by Bobcat See Profile :

He's such a moron, he doesn't even deserve a response.
Yeah, I agree... At least his employer paid him for his internet connection. At a previous job, nearly all of my internet use at home (on a business connection) was work related and I never received the proper reimbursement from them for it. Yeah, I really feel for that guy cause he is getting SOOOOO screwed over... Not.
--
---
Over ten plus years of carrying The Clue Bat...

Jason Perlow

@optonline.net

Re: What a whiner!

First of all, about this whole "whining" thing. I don't buy it. There's a lot of stuff my employer doesn't pay for. For example, while they do pay for my cell service and voice, they don't pay for my Blackberry data plan, which for some reason they regard as non business critical. I could understand this if nobody in my division or in my job role carried them, but the reality is we all do, and are expected to be responsive when we travel and when we are away on vacation even if its a serious customer problem. I have to eat that $70 extra every month and I either have to like it or lump it. I could choose not to use a Blackberry, but it keeps me from missing numerous conference calls and allows me to conduct business without my laptop. When you are in services delivery, this is essential nowadays.

Additionally, we have totally unrealistic compensation for business travel. On average, we are only allowed $32-$40 per day in meals. I travel 4 days out of the week. Ever tried to travel to San Francisco and eat for $40 a day? And when we have local travel to do, and have to use our own vehicles for transportation, gas is only compensated at 35 cents per mile. Thats based on a rate for ultra compact cars, which I don't drive. I don't drive a giant SUV, I have a sedan that is over ten years old, but its not exactly a ultra compact in terms of fuel consumption.

As much as my employer compensates me, it almost always costs me money to travel for them. Every little bit I can save helps.
jester121

join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL

Re: What a whiner!

Sounds like time to find a new job. (They probably won't compensate you for that either)
tmc8080

join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY

Cost of living...

That's the trade-off you make when you want to live in a less expensive place to live. The cable & phone companies won't see your town as a priority for upgrades. Proximity to NYC is not the point... $850 a month rent vs $2800 rent for a comparable in NYC (maybe not that drastic a difference..but you get the point).

Jason Perlow

@optonline.net

Re: Cost of living...

Hardly less expensive.

You may get -more- for your money in terms of square footage, but Bergen County -- where I live and we have a number of issues related to FIOS deployment and such -- is one of the most expensive areas of the country to live in. Compared to NYC, it may be "cheaper" but it is hardly an inexpensive place to be. We have some of the highest real estate taxes in the county, highest insurance premiums, etc.

Cable Me Not

@verizon.net

Up to date, or non-competitive?

About the best we can get here is 3Mbps, which isn't anything to write home about, but its ok, coming from 28K dialup.

What bugs me is the constant argument that somehow, we have competition, and that will solve everything. We have a "choice" of two non-competing vendors. Prices are lower than when there was only one, but they both wink at each other, and prices rise in concert, at every opportunity.
dfc

join:2008-06-23

Oh.... Boo Hoo!


Such a sad story

This user should try living in the outer burbs of Australia,
As was release by FCC on 14.06.08 or in US terms 06.14,
»200kbps Officially No Longer Qualifies As 'Broadband'

Most Australians are not even on broadband most of us,
like myself are on 150-160KBps,
and I pay $89.00 per month..

So dude put that in your pipe..

BTW He obviously has no idea how good he has it and will have it,
He also obviously only subscribes to ZDNet and not DSLReports.:

»50Mbps, 20/20Mbps FiOS Tiers Hit All Markets
Selenia

join:2006-09-22
Pittsfield, MA
·RoadRunner Cable

Truly an idiot!!

Let's have him try to move to Pittsfield, or better yet, my hometown of Quebec. Pittsfield has Roadrunner(10m/1m standard 15m/2m Premium, 768k/128k lite), Verizon dsl(up to either 768k/128k or 3m/768k, depending on location), and Richmond Networx.

Richmond is about the biggest ripoff for what you get. You get to buy your own modem and pay a hefty installation charge, in addition to paying $60 a month for 1.5 megabits down, 384 kbits up.

Roadrunner sucks in my area because they could not give a hoot about uptime(this includes the phone service), not to mention they have the worst phone techs ever(as well as a decent number of crappy field techs, especially for the neighborhood I moved to).

Then there is Verizon, which is decent if you can accept their speed limitations. But only 1 decent choice, which is way behind on speed. That's our internet picture. I would go on about Canadian internet service, but that's the past for me and I don't want to flood this thread. This guy should feel damn lucky he has 2 truly high speed providers with other lower competition.

jaa
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
·Optimum Online
·Vonage

Is he kidding?

Complaining about 24mbps down and 4mbps upload speed? That is probably better speed than most of the readers of his stupid post get.
--
NOTHING justifies terrorism. We don't negotiate with terrorists. Those that support terrorists are terrorists.
etplayer

join:2006-01-05
Tucson, AZ


4 edits

Sounds like Tucson

Heh, I feel for the guy, the elderly gent I work for tried to get them to reinstall DSL at the house. This morning, I called up to see why they hadn't installed it yet seeing as it was supposed to be in place last Wednesday, the guy on the phone told me they were 'Out of internet' in my area. Middle of Tucson, a city of a million people, 100s of homes in the surrounding block or so, a mall, 2 auto dealerships, 2 hospitals, numerous strip malls and doctors officers, and the regional phone service is 'out of internet' (QWEST). Freakin' unbelievable.

antdude
A Ninja Ant
Premium,VIP
join:2001-03-25

Just one.

My area -- Dial-up (3 KB/sec) and cable. No DSL, no FIOS (Verizon area), etc. Satelitte, IDSL, and ISDN are too expensive and slow.
Forums » Modern Suburban Broadband Isn't Up To Date


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