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Increased Bandwidth Irrelevant?
halbert writes "ArsTechnica has a story about AT&T COO Randall Stephenson telling folks that there is 'no discernable difference' between AT&T's 1.5 Mbps service and Comcast's 6 Mbps, because the backbone is slowing everything down. The main argument from the article is that fiber to the home is not necessary. How about letting the consumer decide that?" From the article: "This is a direct response to the criticism that AT&T has suffered for deploying a fiber optic network that reaches only to the local node, not directly into a customer's home--which means that the 'last mile' connection is still copper wire. Verizon, by contrast, is deploying fiber directly into the home, making for much higher speeds. AT&T argues that its model is cheaper, faster to deploy, and just as capable as Verizon's, which currently uses much of its massive bandwidth to distribute RF TV channels."
And I can tell a HUGE difference in the performance of the connection during normal browsing activities. When downloading a new distribution or flac files their DSL connections seem unusable to me.
The main argument from the article is that fiber to the home is not necessary. How about letting the consumer decide that?
I'm sorry. I'm incapable of making important personal decisions.
Isn't there a government agency that could decide for everybody at once, including me?
Next you'll be asking me to choose a health-care provider!
Did I have first post?
No. Apparently your cable speed is too slow.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Damn you and your high-speed, all I get is 45.2 Kbps. :-(
*ahem*
Oh behalf of Slashdot, I have one thing to say. I HATE YOU!
Ya, I'm jelous.
Life is not for the lazy.
What possible reason could he have for downplaying a competitors speed advantage?
..good luck getting dates though.
Along the same lines:
a '86 dodge omni is just as good as a brand new ferrari
rubbing alchohol is just as good as a bottle of wine
pressing hard on your eyeballs is just as good as going out to a movie
Just think of how much money you can save with this line of reasoning!
Starsucks
Centralization breaks the internet.
"640kbps ought to be enough for anybody" --AT&T COO Randall Stephenson
Kids? What are those? *googles by telnetting to google.com :80 and typing in raw HTTP strings*
Oh. They result from a thing called sex.... *googles sex*. Oh that involves girls. What are girls *googles girls*. oH.
This is /. remember? :)
Charles Wyble System Engineer
Sounds like my first relationship. Let me tell you that even if you have a weak back-bone, a fat pipe can be a lot of fun in the right hands.
all this bandwidth may windup being moot if the people that want to end network Neutrality and or switch to bandwidth used pricing models have their way.
why is it people in korea have like 20000000000Mbs connections for $10 a month (ok maybe i exaggerated slightly)
and in the US we will be lucky to keep only paying $50 a month of 3.0Mbs connections.
We in the US are getting Screwed on data pricing and speed.
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
Verizon isn't doing shit in my podunk town of Ridgecrest, CA. My second phone line is a split line and consequently I can't get Caller ID on it. And forget DSL! Verizon can't even tell me when I can expect anything better than 26k dial-up... And yet I'm paying the same price per line as someone in a larger city who can get DSL, so why should Verizon hurry up and get off their ass and run fiber to my house?
I know what I'd do with it for the first 5 minutes. Then I'd probably need a nap.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
I can say that I certainly noticed the difference when I upgraded my DSL service.