This may offer a bit of comfort to some with slower broadband connections. For US internet users, your tax dollars have now proven that the speed of broadband is 50% slower than what it’s claimed to be.
For those that would say, "Did we need to spend a bunch of tax money to figure something out everybody already knew?" In fact, yes. The problem needed to be identified in absolute fashion so plans can be made to actually do something about it. Saying something is slow and proving it as such are two different things. And now it’s proven.
A few other things have been proven as well.
First, what ISPs claim to be "fast" really doesn’t sound believable anymore due to the fact more and more US customers are saying, "I paid for ‘fast’ internet and I’m not getting it." When you download web pages, files and so on at the same speed you did with your "slow" broadband, you feel cheated. And you are being cheated. Fast should be legitimately fast, and it isn’t.
Second, internet today is no longer a luxury. For many it’s increasingly becoming a necessity. While it’s true you can go through daily life without it, it is becoming more difficult to do so and in the long run can cost you.
A simple example of this is paying bills online instead of mailing them out. The current cost of a US stamp is 44¢, and this doesn’t include the cost of envelopes. If you mail out 10 letters a month, that costs you $4.40 each time. Sending out bill payments online is completely free, and for payments that you cannot pay electronically, the bank will cover the cost of the postage and mail it for you.
This is just a single example as there are obviously many more.
The US is grossly behind the times when it comes to our broadband speed. The last time I wrote about this, the US ranked 15th in the world, with an extremely poor last-mile average download rate of 2.3mbps.
Thank the FCC for at least identifying our slow broadband as a legitimate problem. Plans to improve the network in the US will start soon in 2010. This is very late to the party concerning other countries are beating the pants off us right now in the broadband dept., but at least the problem has been identified and steps will be taken to resolve it, hopefully in short order.
Does your ISP make "fast" claims that they can’t deliver?
You pay good money for speed concerning your internet connectivity. Are you getting it? Post a comment and let people know.
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Not only USA, here in Spain i pay for and it says 6.1Mbs but when i run a check i am lucky if i get 2, max i have seen was 3.
I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. At home I have 12Mbps down cable, and I consistently get that speed when I test. Will be getting Fios soon (just got to the development and my wife is an employee)–hopefully similar good results.
(BTW–common usage is to capitalize the “M” in Mbps. Lower case “m” is usually “milli-” rather than “mega-”.)
No mention that in other countries the internet infrastructure is subsidized mostly by the taxpayers. Is that what we want here or do we want the actual users of the internet, in proportion to their usage, to pay for it?
I think the users should pay for it. That’s fair.
If people want faster internet then pay for it. I just ran Speakeasy, and this morning and I am getting a 29.244 mbps download speed….but I pay $70 per month for it through Comcast.
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
Having the users pay for it is great. However, if the internet is becoming a necessity of life, which it’ll probably be soon, then wouldn’t it be akin to roads? You know, something vital to life in this country. At that point, why not fund it like roads & highways?
Oh, and we here in northwest florida are getting robbed by our ISPs as well on speed.
The last survey I saw put Korea at the top of the list. Korea! And most of Western Europe is faster too. The phone & cable companies which have a stranglehold on the common forms of delivery would seem to prefer to sell cell phones and gadgets. When I did a trial here a Qwest of 5mbps instead of 1.5 it only delivered 2.0 which was like a 1/3rd improvement.
As to the comments of ‘let the users pay for it’ – if they won’t offer and deliver the option, you can’t pay for it. And there is often a wide gap between the claimed speed and what you actually get. If it does not come thru DSL on the phone or else on the cable, the only choice is satellite which goes to 70/month. Ouch!!
I guess it comes down to politics. Should the government pay for food since that is a necessity of life? Should the government also pay for housing and clothing? Should the government pay for health care?…which of course is the debate we are having now. The government pays for the roads of course. How much more should we add to the list of services that the government (the taxpayers) pay for? I think those using the service should pay for the service and leave everyone else out.
There is a name for the system of government where the government pays for all your needs and quite frankly, I do not care to live under that system of government.
@ David M:
Are you really this stupid? Can’t you even read?! This *is* about people who are paying for their service, and not getting what THEY PAID FOR. This includes ME. I pay $63.00 per month for a crappy 10 mb/s (it’s advertised as 20 mb/s). They are con artists who LIE about the connection speeds, and then when you call them, they try to blame the slow speed on your PC or some other pathetic excuse.
So anyhow, you need to shut up because you are obviously out of your mind. You’re off on some unrelated tangent that makes no damn sense. People ARE paying… and they aren’t getting what they pay for; that’s the bottom line, dumba$$. I subscribe to the highest speed available from my carrier (Cox Communications) and it is AWFUL. The speed is only half of what is advertised. I am getting ripped off monthly!!!!
We have the same package that all of the bussinesses in laurel county have they call it t1 ultra it was given to us quiet by mistake and all the other isps test it and say they cant compare or compete with it i have a constant 1.5 Mbps Upstream and a varyable 1.5 Mbps – 10 Mbps downstream if its stormy weather like rain high winds or snow then it differs slightly aprox 1 Mbps upstream and about 300 – 900 mbps downstream. this is naturally through windstream formerly verizon here in laurel county Is this a good rate for standard dsl for a 2 computer vs 1 router set-up? my router is a linksys wmp54g and wireles is wrt54g ab correct me If im wrong but doesn’t or alot of times cant the router and viable hardware in a computer or network also be a major factor in the slow speed(s) issues?
Charles
My speed is terrible—I’m paying for 5 Mbps, but only getting about 1.2 Mbps. My Upload is 100Kbps if I’m lucky, 5 Kbps if I’m not.
I’m waiting for FiOS to get to Rhode Island.
Rhode Island was one of the first states (if not the first) to have a fiber optic network cover the whole state due to its small size.
Rhode Island has the best median last-mile download speed of any US State.
It is amazing that even in the Ocean state, the place where internet speed and its availability is at its greatest, people can still get slow internet. It simply shouldn’t happen there, yet it does.
David M, your examples are quite a stretch. Pretty much anyone 21 years old and younger uses the internet almost on a daily basis. Those that don’t are probably the ones that can’t afford it, but if they could, yes they would be using it. This generation will be paying for your wars, your social security, the massive debt you caused, and all the other FAILINGS of the baby boomers for the rest of their lives. The very least you could do is to start helping out now building a solid infrastructure that will bring us up to speed with the rest of the world. The internet will become very integral to people’s everyday lives in the future (as it is now for some), and it would be shortsighted and irresponsible to neglect it now. Oh wait, that’s exactly what the 45 year old and up crowd is great at.
No its not a stretch. Seriously, how much should government pay for? Should the government also pay for the internet now like in other countries?
If you don’t like the excessive spending coming from Washington then vote the big spenders out of office. I don’t like their excessive spending either and this applies to both parties. But don’t try to blame everyone over a certain age. That’s just a false argument.
I’m 21 and agree with David M.
Things like this are up to individuals to work for money to obtain. Should be the same with healthcare and anything else. If I never use the internet and never get sick my life, I don’t want to pay a dime so other random people can get internet or healthcare. If I need either I’ll buy them; that’s why I work.
Hallelujah! Well said and thank you for saying it. I don’t work so I can pay taxes and make other people’s lives easier and better. I work so I can make MY life and my family’s lives easier and better. If people want internet, or healthcare or food and water and a place to sleep at night, they can GET A DAMN JOB and pay for it same as I did.
In response to the comment about the govt paying for roads in comparison to food/clothing — its a little off for a few reasons that i can think of – 1) roads are not a necessity. i have a 4wd and can go offroad anytime. 2) its logical for roads to be paid by taxes because it takes governmental organization to prepare the framework of intersections, etc… thats why they DONT pay for driveways — they dont effect the grid.
Either way.. we pay for everything. The only difference is this: if we pay for something through taxes and government we give up our rights as individuals to make our own choices about the services we need. You think if the govt starts puttin out paid-by-taxes internet, that an internet junky like myself would be able to choose to get a 50mbps FiOS if a 1.5mbps DSL is available in the area? Not without demonstrating a “need” for it (and I dont think they’d consider downloading music/movies a need lol).
Uh, no one ever said that government should be paying for your internet. Yes, if you want to use the internet, you need to pay a monthly subscription. We’re talking about government subsidies to improve infrastructure.
Roads are not a necessity????? Please…just stop talking.
Bellsouth promised 6 Mps and I routinely get 3.5 down and 938 up using speakeasy. Thanks BS
The example of saving $4.40 for paying bills online doesn’t seem like a good one to me. I know most people who have Internet service don’t use it just for paying bills online but how can you justify paying $25-$40 a month or more to save $4.40?
I know my Internet says it’s fast, and it is, some of the time. I’d rather have the same slow speed all the time than have it constantly fluctuating, really messing up my computer. I actually get their “fast” Internet at midnight or later, because everyone else who was on their servers is now off of them and so I finally get something remotely close to their “fast”, but as for the rest of the time, the Internet jumping up and down makes the rest of my computer seem to run MUCH slower…
My parents (I am 17 and still living with my family) are paying for 1.5 Mbps and I’ve tested the speeds. Here in Aurora, CO my house is getting 0.5 Mbps at best as a download speed. And when actually downloading something it’s around 50-100 kbps. Before my parents lost their jobs we were getting 10.88 Mbps with an actual download speed of 100 – 1000 kbps depending on where we downloaded from. I can definately support the argument that actual internet speeds are MUCH lower than what our ISPs are saying we get.
By the way, I will be getting a job (hopefully in the near future) and I support people paying for their own things. Let those who can, and are willing, donate for other people’s sake! I would donate if I could, but I need to support myself until I’m out on my own, and doing well.