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glad I could help

People, give Macromedia some credit. Without Flash we wouldn't have some of the movies that defined a generation. Some of the classics are:

All Your Base
Yatta
Eat Your Oatmeal
This Land is Your Land

And all the other bizarre flash that lives HERE Without Flash we'd be living in a world on Animated GIFS or worse yet ASCII art. Sure Flash is proprietary, has a less than optimal IDE, and costs way to much just to make screwy videos, but it sure has brightened up the web. Additionally, Flash has given me more than one much needed side-splitting laugh. Long live FLASH!

First, one less box sitting in the entertainment center. There is a finite amount of space for AV equipment and a limit to the number of power outlets. Remove a box without losing functionality (at least today) sign me up!

Second, seemless integration would be made easier. There was a comic over at Penny Arcade that pretty well described the situation many AV geeks are living in. If I could remove a single device from my cabinet, it would make my wife's life easier and thus my life easier. This would be a Good Thing(tm).

Third, there is an opportunity for new services. Perhaps my cable company is unique (Wide Open West), but they have continued to add services while maintaining or lowering costs. In my opinion they "get it" and know who and what there competition is. I feel certain that when a new use for these boxes is invented (perhaps an iTunes like player and purchasing system) they will be right there trying to offer the services. Would TiVo? Maybe the hacker community could, but that's not the same thing.

These are just my thoughts, but I suspect that there are a good number of people who feel the same way and will speak with their wallets.

128k down / 64k up and always on would be fine for my use, and I'd even be OK with a (reasonable) download cap, for say $25-$30 per month.

Wide Open West offers packages like that in a few US states. I think it's about $20/month if you get it with cable TV.

WideOpenWest is a good example of what a cable company can do when you get RID OF SBC-like overhead. Background: WOW bought the failed Ameritech cable unit from SBC some time ago - now they are profitable and offer rates half of the competitors.

Some do. I have TimeWarner now, but I'm thinking of switching to WOW which has three different tiers.

The average Joe User is starting to realize that they can dump AOL and their advertisements-up-the-wazoo and pick up Juno or Netzero with their advertisement-somewhat-less-up-the-wazoo for less than half ($10 vs. $24). That's huge...

And then there is broadband. Drop your wimpy AOL or other dialup as well as the dedicated line for a broadband connection. Places like WideOpenWest are offering cable TV and internet for less than what you'd pay for a broadband connection via a Big Provider. This is a no brainer...

Unrelated note - I spent TWO HOURS on the phone with Comcrap. All that I wanted to do is tell them that I've moved to a new address and hooked up my cable modem there (it worked fine.. just down the road from where I used to live). I kept being routed from department to department but they never did update the address. Since the service works and I have auto bill pay, I decided that I wouldn't waste my time anymore. As soon as WideOpenWest offers service in my area (Spring), you can bet your sweet bippie that I'll be dumping Comcast.

And then you'll see an article about how Comcast is losing customers. It isn't because people are leaving the internet, it is because better providers are finally moving in and offering real customer service and value to people who could not get it previously.

Wide Open West, a cable provider making its rounds currently in the Midwest (Detroit, Chicago, etc.) has been offering tiered cable broadband pricing for a while now.

If I actually get to pay less for capped speeds, or if I could pay more for higher speeds, I would be fine with it. I really like the way WOW Cable Internet has set up their pricing structure.

WOW! Internet Value: $29.95 (Download Speeds Up To 112Kps)
WOW! Internet Basic: $39.95 (Download Speeds Up To 500Kps)
WOW! Internet Advanced: $44.95 (Download Speeds Up To 1.5MB)

I have Comcast Internet right now and the speed is horrible because I live in an apartment complex, and the lines get spliced about 80 times before it reaches my apartment. At least I would be able to pay less for my slower speeds.

Also, if all i wanted was a fast browsing experience then I would pay say $30 a month. If I am a bandwidth hogging gamer, I can opt to pay more for that type of service.

Unfortunately because of the abuse from certain users, I think cable/dsl may be forced to raise prices. If prices go any higher, then I am dropping my service, and I would think that others would too.

Really though, it is time to start banding together and creating wireless networks for our neighborhoods, and divide up the costs of the hardlines between everyone. =)

Looked into WideOpenWest yet? They just began offering cable Internet service in Columbus in the past month at very competitive prices. Better yet, they offer tiered services, so you can pay a little less if you don't need the fattest cable pipe they offer.

Wide Open West was doing a site survey near my home recently, to set up this kind of fiber-obtic infrastructure.

They have a FAQ at http://www.wideopenwest.com/00_frame_aboutus.html

Wide Open West was doing a site survey near my home recently, to set up this kind of fiber-obtic infrastructure.

They have a FAQ at http://www.wideopenwest.com/00_frame_aboutus.html

Ah, well you're lucky then. Currently SE Michigan only has a couple of broadband choices (I think just 2) - all of which are less than or equal to 1 Mb. SBC Ameritech for DSL and Comcast for cable are the two I know of. The cable used to be 1.5 Mb, but with the dissolve of @Home, they bumped everyone down to 1 Mb. WideOpenWest supposedly has plans to move into the area with bandwidth selections ranging up to 10 Mb. I ll be looking forward to that, but until then we're all stuck with Comedycast and the 1 Mb max here in SE Michigan.

I hate to sound like I'm marketing it, but what about DSDN? It's true that it doesn't run over existing technologies, but for 10 Mbps Internet access it's considerably cheaper than the current alternatives (such as direct fibre-optic lines) and is supposed to cost about as much for the end user as their cable or DSL ISP already does.

It's already in use in Denver as well as a section of Utah, and it's supposed to be very fast in practice - not just theory. The Denver ISP has a site at wideopenwest.com and the company that designed the technology is at switchpoint.com. Switchpoint is the one testing it in Utah as far as I know.

I also know that Slashdot has mentioned this tech before, but it bears repeating this for others; we'll never get past sub-standard cable and phoneline solutions if people don't demand alternatives.

WideOpenWest is already laying wire here in Colorado and they claim on their site that some portions of Denver are ready for service...

SwitchPointNetworks is rolling out ethernet based internet access in conjunction with local ISP's like WideOpenWest to provide access speeds upto 100Mbps with the possibility of gigabit access. WideOpenWest is bundling internet, cable TV, video-on-demand, and local and long distance telephone service. For $125/month you get 3Mbps bi-directional internet. The problem is availibility. It's taking forever to get to my area.

Okay... I'm going to submit this as an article, but I thought I would write here first... just in case it doesn't get posted.

This submission was interesting, but people around here would be far more interested in what SwitchPoint Networks is doing. They're offering 100Mbs (synchronous) service to residential customers for about the price of ADSL. They already have live customers in Utah. They recently signed a deal with Wide Open West to start deploying this technology on a wider scale.

So, if you're really interested in getting proper "broadband" capabilities, these are the folks you need to talk to. (Well... actually they're a technology company, they don't build the networks anymore. So tell your friendly neighborhood overbuilder to start using their technology.)