Slashdot Mirror

You mean as the source ? Most high profile web (microsoft patches, apple, youtube/google..) sites are able to sustain (well, for as big the files I can find) 60 to 70 mbps, only a few keep the connection capped at 95-98mbps.

On the low end of thing, I have a cheap (5$ per month) host which is pushing me over 50mbps on multi-gigabyte downloads..

Steam is usually around 80 mbps (best test case is GTA4 which is a pretty big download, was at that speed too for L4D2 and others..)

If you meant as a provider, then there are multiple options. http://speedtest.net/ can provide you with stats for where to look around you. Also, based on their data, the average download speed is over 6mbps in both north america an europe.

I just tested my results (speedtest.net)

Download: 32MB
Upload: 1.8MB
Ping: 13ms

Your mileage may vary.

Here's the link: http://www.speedtest.net/result/685154620.png

At some point, I was thinking of trying to set this up on my Linksys WRT54Gv4 when moving from HyperWRT to Tomato. But it seemed like too much work... maybe if I somehow end up with another WRT54G so I don't have to dink with my production configuration.

Also, Tomato has gotten a good reputation for performance... when I recently upgraded my FiOS to 25/15Mbps, I benchmarked my unit using http://speedtest.net/ and only got about 20/10Mbps using HyperWRT, but upgrading to Tomato allowed it to max out my link... which saved me from having to run out and buy a new router or go back to the awful but beefier ActionTec router that came from Verizon.

I've also wanted to play with OpenWRT, which has an OLSRD module that takes your open access point a step further and makes it part of a mesh. But sounds like that would involve actual work :/ And it seems likely that Tomato might support OLSRD sometime soon anyway.

Anyway, my machines are pretty up-to-date... and the only one I care about is the server which is serving out in the DMZ anyway. So I just leave my station wide open. I make sure I use encryption on anything I care about going out wirelessly (I wouldn't trust even WPA much anyway). And if the neighbors or wardrivers get to be a problem, then I might set up one of my older crap wifi routers up for them instead and monitor and rate-limit the heck out of it.

Speedtest.net already does this, although I don't think they publish the information broken down with 3G only numbers. It specifically tests 3G speeds using the iPhone app, and geo-tags your location to get the closest server with the lowest ping times. They do have the info on file though. I wonder why they don't publish it?

http://www.speedtest.net/global.php

I love Optimum Online Ultra. Cablevision is a company that "gets it." http://www.speedtest.net/result/612762349.png

sorr y you're jealous, just so you can see what you're missing, http://www.speedtest.net/result/612733502.png

In Finland, you get a 110/5 Mbit (Euro)DOCSiS3.0 connection for a not-so-whopping 45,00 € a month. That includes a Cisco gigabit cable modem and free setup fee. Also, if you're a customer at Welho, you can get a 1Mbit 3G dongle for just 1€ for the first two months. You can cancel the contract after just one month so you basically get free 3G Internet access for two months.

Last time I checked my speed at http://www.speedtest.net/ I got 106.5Mbps down and about 4.4Mbps up, so you're not getting completely fooled.

Also, on the Netalyzr test, basically every single checkbox is green, so they're not doing any blocking of any kind (except the usual SMTP and SMB port blocks).

This connection is available to anyone who has cable TV in their home, which in the capital region amounts to almost everyone.

Also, in Finland, no ISP whatsoever blocks, caps or shapes any of your traffic. The speeds are the same whether it's at 5 P.M or 5 A.M. In fact, most people are not even aware of that this happens quite frequently in other countries around the globe.

All in all,
God bless Finland

The data is taken from http://speedtest.net/global.php, as indicated in C64's original post.

The major difference between our [USA?] service and theirs [rest of the world?] is that our plans aren't rated by data transferred per month. In the EU, Japan, even Australia, end users have 5G, 10G, 25G plans et al.

Typical slashdot, guy gets "insightful" for something that's untrue. I'm in France, part of the EU, I have an ADSL2+ connection at home - no data transfer limit, the 3-5Mbit/s speed limit is imposed by the 3.5Km distance between my house and the DSLAM. I have a "50Mbit/s" FTTH (GPON) connection at work, no data transfer limit, it often gives me speeds of around 75Mbit/s even though it's sold as 50. (Last test I did).

And here's mine. "15.73" is nowhere near 30. In fact, if it weren't for the 5.14up (and the bill each month), I'd think I didn't have Boost.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/462403094.png
(15.73/5.14)

Obviously you don't live in a Cablevision territory, otherwise you'd know that they absolutely DO deliver what they claim.

http://www.speedtest.net/rank/1129628824.png

AA has been offering wireless on several SFO <-> JFK flights for quite a while. And as another poster pointed out, Virgin is also offering this on many flights.

I hit speedtest.net from both a recent American Airlines flight and a Virgin America flight (Bonus: Verizon Fios and TWC stats, too!).

The connections from the flights were good enough to watch Battlestar Galactica on hulu.com. (I am a big geek.)

In both cases, Internet service was provided by Gogo.

I'm with bell canada in QC. its possible it could just be the business connection i have though. i pay about $45/month for it. i haven't been wired in a while since i set up the router a while back i just roam all over. I've also never checked the upload bandwidth either. although i did test my speed yesterday on http://www.speedtest.net/.

I'm not saying that it's accurate, I'm just saying what my system tells me.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/430414855.png

I just ran that while replying.

I should also say that my cable runs over fiber until it gets to the neighborhood.

I don't have a docsis 3.0 modem and my service isn't docsis 3.0

comcast's sandvine tactics are fudging the numbers somewhere.

Pricing is not that bad. I am posting this from a mobile phone hooked up to my laptop. I pay £15 per month for a mobile with 200 minutes and 300 texts. I then pay £7.50 per month on top for unlimited data. This is pretty reasonable in my book.

I am currently on a train moving between London and Manchester at 100+ miles per hour and get the following:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/404516397.png

Ok, the ping is pretty bad but I cant complain about the price. I think they may cap my usage but I have never hit the cap so it does not make any practical difference. I have certainly used upwards of 2Gb in a month so it is fine for casual browsing. I have not tried bit torrent or any monster downloads but at least I do quite happily let windows update hammer my phone on patch Tuesday. I also quite happily browse on train journeys like this and not care about being charged.

I have even considered signing up to a dedicated mobile broadband account at £30 per month just for an internet dongle for the convenience and fact that they throw in a free laptop:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/editorial/get_connected_free_laptops/?int=home_nav

All this seems pretty reasonable to me.

Roaming charges are a good point but I don't have time to go into that now, I am just about to arrive in Manchester :)

Wow, seriously? That's hilarious. These are my results. Your connection appears to be absurdly asymmetric; you have about 70 times the downspeed than your upspeed, meaning my upspeed is nearly as fast as yours. Doesn't that actually start to limit your downspeed, as the upstream ACKs can't keep up?

Well this is what I get here in Seoul: Speedtest result here

http://www.speedtest.net/result/388702611.png

Some of us get more.

here's the test:

Standard lines in Japan are 100mbps up/down with 24 people sharing a head-end switch. That switch has 100mbps going back to the ISP. The price is about $20 for the fiber-optic line lease and $50 for the ISP service.

Typical rates are 20mbps down and 5mbps up. They are higher in the city, but I live out in the boondocks of Japan.

If you want, you can pay $75 per month and they will move you to a head-end switch with 12 users and 1gbps link back to the ISP. Then, you are almost guaranteed the full 100mbps service.

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

The way I see it, the internet functions just fine at fast speeds (through personal experience). If the ISPs need to rate limit its customers then they haven't done their job to build their networks to meet demand.

Here is Tokyo, Japan, I have great internet usage speeds. I have 100 Mbps fiber to my home. It should be 100 up/down, but up is always slower. I am able to easily cap out my bandwidth esp if things are downloaded from inside of Tokyo (crossing an ocean tends to slow things down a bit). The ISPs in Japan have chosen to invest in their infrastructure so that they can truthfully advertise 100 Mbps speeds.

Check out my speedtest.net results:

Tokyo-Tokyo: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320103019.png

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320111142.png

Tokyo-Chatan, Okinawa: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320109814.png

Tokyo-New York: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105818.png

Tokyo-Chicago: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320105532.png

Tokyo-Los Angeles: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106192.png

Tokyo-London: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320106863.png

Tokyo-Stockholm, Sweden: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107174.png

Tokyo-Frankfort, Germany: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320107789.png

Tokyo-Hong-Kong, China: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108421.png

Tokyo-Taipei, Taiwan: http://www.speedtest.net/result/320108846.png

Incorrect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

DOCSIS Upstream is 27mbps.

I just ran a Speedtest at www.speedtest.net if you don't believe me: http://www.speedtest.net/result/313675847.png

Uh, I have 100Mbps in small-town Washington, USA. http://www.adjicent.com/internet.html http://www.speedtest.net/result/305460664.png

Hi.

My provider is not mentioned in this article's list, it is called "Centennial de Puerto Rico".

I have just tested their service back at speedtest.net and got: DL 1023kb/s, 559kb/s, and 137ms latency, to their Miami, FL. server.

At some other time it tested like 1500kb/s download, and I have seen, according to Linux, downloads of up to 200KB/s (if only for a few seconds).

Pinging Google gives the following, all in ms: 102.00, 99.5, 102.00, 138.00, 108.00

The modem they gave is an Axesstel, CDMA 1xEV-DO Rev A, MV400i series, MV430LITE.

The only problem is that sometimes the connection to the outside sort of freezes (all machines connected to it, as it has 4 ethernet ports, can connect to each other just fine, however), and I have to turn the modem off and back on to fixit. Their technical support is, as usual, useless when asked about this particular.

I am using Ubuntu 8.04. I have tested this with Windows 200 proffeional, and the modem seems to work reliably, but I have not tested it long enough to be completely sure.

For instance, some ISPs in Europe for instance, are constantly striving for excellence and going above and beyond. If you check the fastest countries on the speedtest global stats, you'll see Belgium is actually the fastest!

oops, here it is

I live in West Miami. I should have been affected by the outage, but I believe I get my power from the west coast. My power flickered off for a second. Here's the really interesting part. I'm a comcast customer. While the whole of south FL was offline, here's what I was getting on speedtest.net Speedtest Results 101Mbits!!! A 6Mbit cable line was getting 100Mbits while everyone else was offline. What gives? Why all the blocking? Why all the hating, comcast?

20918 kb/s up, 8181 kb/s down

http://speedtest.net/ is my DSL comparison of choice, and does comparisons over time.

Just to let you know, I live in phoenix (well, a bit north of phoenix actually), and really do get my full 8mbps.

I live in the southwest corner of Las Vegas. I replaced my cable modem yesterday...the old one was taking hours to reconnect to the network after a power outage or reset, and it was maxing out around 1-1.5 Mbps on service that's supposed to deliver 10 Mbps (and it had delivered that speed in the past). Playing around with Speedtest.net yesterday with the new modem up and running, I maxed out at 22 Mbps and usually pulled 5-8 Mbps, depending on which test server I picked (the fastest connection, FWIW, was to San Francisco).

Just saying, cable doesn't suck everywhere..

I've noticed most of the complaints have been aimed at Comcast. Occasionally, you hear complaints about Time Warner (my parents moved from Phoenix to Dayton, OH, and they had trouble getting both their TV and data services working right there). I don't think I've ever seen anyone say anything bad about Cox. I know I've never had any trouble with them, and my parents didn't either.

Copps noted, though, that his own broadband connection in Washington, DC was "nothing compared to Seoul.

I'd like to know what this guy means by "nothing compared to Seoul. Because from personal experience broadband there is crap to what I've seen in the US. Given that most innovation on the web is coming from US companies I find it hard to believe that our service is as bad as claimed. Why bother with all the content heavy sites if service is supposedly subpar for most people.

I'll grant that South Korea has many more service providers and in most cases monthly fees are also lower. But mind you that the average income there is also significantly lower than it is in the US.

And there's something else to consider. The barrier to entry for service providers is lower in many countries than it is in the US. This means there's less government red-tape to get through to establish service. And there's far lower resistance from residents regarding the installation of equipment. They certainly aren't concerned about environmental impact like people are in the US. Basically, like essentially everywhere else in Asia, if something needs to be built it gets built.

For at least 30 years my state has been trying to complete this stretch of highway. Even though much of the land has been acquired for the project the wealthy residents of time and again blocked all construction. They don't want their idyllic world disrupted. So instead, what would be a 20 minute trip takes over an hour. The currently used two lane road sees heavy traffic which spills over onto some side roads. On particularly busy stretches accidents are quite frequent. The highway would improve quality of life for everyone and help businesses all the way up the road, but it's blocked nevertheless. So instead the state throws money away on useless improvements for the existing roadway.

Recently there was a big debate regarding power lines passing through the same area. It would help lower rates for residents and increase reliability of power delivery but nobody wants them in their neighborhood. I think the power lines will take a wildly circuitous route and a big portion of it will be underground. Electricity is already expensive and this has only helped to raise rates further.

In Asia we wouldn't even see resistance to such projects. If a company needed to put up a communications tower, for example, they'd just put it up and that would be the end of it. In the US it would be blocked and the end result would be people complaining about spotty service.

This is one of many examples of the difficulties faced in the US. I'm not suggesting companies be allowed to build with impunity; I certainly don't believe they should be given free rein to do whatever they want. My point is that what problems there are aren't so simple. These providers are the source of some of our problems, but not EVERYTHING is their fault.

And Canada, Norway and Sweden may have lower population densities than the US but that population is also condensed into a smaller area of the country making their populations easier to service. In the US you've got population centers hundreds, if not thousands of miles apart.

I wonder if anyone's taken a look at sites like this one: SpeedTest

The stats provided on that site are quite interesting. According to my results my service is faster than over 92% of the world. I'd like to think that's not too bad. Japan is the only country I see in Asia with significantly faster speeds. Korea, seems to consistently lag behind the US.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if these guys aren't just looking for a reason to bash the US.

Toronto: 2,790 kbps down, 1,216 kbps up<br>
San Jose, CA: 2,101 kbps down, 470 kbps up, 92 ms ping<br>
New York: 17,410 kbps down, 1,357 kbps up, 12 ms ping<br>
Tucson, AZ: 4,258 kbps down, 1,461 kbps up, 190 ms ping<br>
Mexico City: 2,811 kbps down, 992 kbps up, 81 ms ping

It all depends on the cable modem that you have. Some of the new motorola modems, like the SB5120, do not have the ability for Comcast to limit as much as they sometimes like. Comcast themselves has not been too worried about it as long as the network segment you are a member of is not over-crowded. They see it more like a new benefit which allows better competition against FIOS. Personally I average 25-28mbps on my modem.

Here is a current snapshot:

The Speakeasy speed test is just a re-branded version of speedtest.net. They have a lot more test locations to choose from there.