Back in 99? I had a philosophy teacher who was crazy smart and did crazy things right. He was always talking about how great the "internet" was because of all the things you can do on it (like getting around censoring).
So I told him about an idea of how you could "cripple" the inet. My idea came from netsplits on a fairly large IRC network. When I explained it to him, he said "that can't happen because of redundancy." Well, IRC networks have redundancy too. But that's the point, not to eliminate it but damage it enough where it's not usable.
So FF to 2009 and now we're hearing about it. Have the whole router DNS forwarding debacle with authority issues being handed out left and right, what's to keep this sort of attack from happening?
Anyhow, just like the air port security improvements, there's only 1 thing that'll keep us safe, and it's not technology!:P
Although I am not claiming anything else than the following, i'm sure i'll get flamed on by someone...
Albert Einstein is supposedly the most intelligent man to have ever lived (arguably right). While that could be true, I disagree with it simply because he changed his theory (possibly more than one) based on the popular philosophy of the day.
Any true scientist will agree that #1 God exists (for things we can't prove through science) #2 what we can prove is far removed from popular thought.
And that is why I have issue with AE being "thee man."
That being said he rocked!:P
But it just goes to show, even AB could fook it up... read sig
you think that's bad? We just had to take federal mandated courses that help ensure we protect customers privacy and help prevent banktastic fraud right. Do you know that I just skipped the learning part and just started reading questions and answering them? Yah, bad ass huh! 80% or higher to pass.
Ok here's the scary part, people couldn't pass this for weeks because they "couldn't learn" enough to get the answers right.
So we have leaders who don't know wtf most average people know, and people playing with your most delicate info who dn't know how to keep it safe hahahaha
Now to click on the Post Anonymously and we're done.
many years ago I was writing a script with a friend and it was basically along those lines right. He told me, "who wants to see a movie about computers taking over? That's impossible, no one would believe it."
Ok so a few years later the Matrix came out. And he stopped talking to me. But the idea is still good! The Matrix excelled because of the philosophy that was used in it (people didn't even know what they were watching but loved it!).
So a movie where the compies take over and actually try to help people be prosperous isn't so far fetched in my mind! Let's do it! And in the end you'll see the town/country called 2212 is actually the 2212th simulation the compies have run and is eventually wiped out to start again like in the SIMs hahaha:D
When compared to Monty Python, why are people complaining? I'm no literary expert but isn't there a finite amount of themes anyways? And every story is just a variation of those themes?
Interestingly enough, that's one of the ideas/themes in Watchmen, nothing ever ends and will continue to repeat.
It may be surprising to some but I was in the beginnings of my political career about a decade back and was following a case in California. Long story short, it was a case of a judge ruling in favor of the plaintiff but not upholding judgment.
That is essentially what some are saying is happening here, right? The case that made me change my career of choice was that of a divorced father who sued the school district where his daughter attended for "forcing her" to say "God" in the pledge of allegiance when he "is an Atheist."
The rest of the story goes, the daughter not only did not live with the father, but was a christian and regularly attended church with her mother. So why did this bother me? Well, all religious beliefs aside, why would a judge rule in his favor to set precedent and not uphold (enforce) their ruling? That just opens the door for this assclown to take it further.
I decided it's not worth my time to try to help people so stupid. But then again, maybe I was the stupid one thinking i could "help" these people out to begin with?
Well in the U.S you are also issued a birth certificate. So i don't really know what the problem is. But i'll tell you what works bitchen, when I turned 18 i got a happy birthday postcard from the government saying 'Happy Birthday dude, hope you're having a good one. By the way, keep this little card with you at all times because it's your draft ID.' lol
Although they can't figure out ass from head in anything else, they sure know when they can "legally" draft your ass!
believe it or not, something like that HAS happened to me. Many years ago when i worked as a high tech trash man, a customer gave me some coupons right. They were for some super market that was a little ways away (in another county). So i was like whatever, can't use em but maybe i can find someone who can...
long story short, i ended up giving them to one of my buddies and his gf and we used them. Well, not only did we get almost all of the items on the coupon (there were like 6 or 8 items) but we actually made money on the deal! Yah, because the discount was more than the current price. So we walked out with bread, ready pak salad and a bunch of other stuff AND $12!!@&*(#&!@(*
Not quite exactly the same, but still ended up getting a lot for nothing. And yeah, we had to pay like $3 "out of pocket" but because of all the credit we got we really didn't pay anything.
This is my experience: When I got my drivers license in my state (a republic) i couldn't swap out the first letter of my second name, which is J on my birth certificate for X. In the end, they're both pronounced exactly the same, but because of "legal issues" i can't have it with an X on my drivers license.
Go forward in time. I'm now 18 and able to register to vote. So I sign up with X instead of J, wondering if that'll go through EVEN THOUGH my birth certificate, social security number and drivers license along with all my other documentation in life so far has it with a J. Guess what? It went through!
So I now happily vote with an X for my middle initial and no one ever questions it. So what's so shady about this? Do you guys ever wonder how you get notices for jury duty? Really, have you ever considered where those names are pulled from? At least in my state, it's from voter registration records.
Since I registered, i've only received jury duty summons for X, never J, who legally doesn't exist! Yeah, something has to be done about all this. It shouldn't be so difficult. Mexico is infamous for it's election fraud. BUT the way the voter registration goes is excellent. Everyone has a voters credential. That is something that EVERYONE has, it's even more important that your drivers license. As a matter of fact, many people in rural areas don't have drivers licenses, but do have those voter cards.
I grew up believing "USA is #1 in the world." But after having gone out of the US and seeing more of the world, I don't believe that is the case in every aspect. Mexico is always looked down out of ignorance. But they have got their voting system down... it's fraud they can't eliminate:P
BTW, this reminds me of Bush's win in 2000... Mexicans said, "We thought we knew all of the dirty tricks on how to rig elections."
So I tried to download the book from the website right, it has an initial value of $5.00 but you can set the price to whatever you want. I set it to $0.00 as I like to "try before I buy." But unfortunately, the "free download" amount has reached it's limit for the day and I was told to try again the following day.
So, for those of you wondering how you can pirate a free book... if I get it in a torrent, well there you go.
But on the other hand, some people like myself can't escape the pirate label, since my great grandfather was in fact a pirate. It's like like the geico commercials, "so easy a cave man can do it."
As a long time FBSD user, i've complained about this for a while now. A long time ago we had it, but they took it away over a legal difference.
But am still waiting for the day it comes back. But with those saying nothing is worth viewing in flash, take a look at my home page. Sure, most of it has nothing to do with flash but there is one thing that is flash. I used to have another link to the users section but that's been down for a while now:P
I think you got a lot of flac for several reasons. This isn't an easy topic to figure out.
On one side we want any company to be able to lay down their own line as to help competition and bring prices down for the consumer.
While possible, there are many governing bodies there to protect other's line and the government's property as well as your well being. Something no one is going to object to.
While I worked testing fiber lines in Los Angeles, it was a real treat to learn about the actual infrastructure and laws of the land. The lines I worked on were from huntington park to Down Town Level 3 (head terminals). Some parts of fiber had to be replaced so I was present when some of that work was done.
The sewers here aren't like the one's the ninja turtles use. They have man hole covers for access and vary in size and depth. Although deep and used for many purposes, telco cables are run high to protect from water or other possible damage.
So while other companies adding their cable to the existing infrastructure may sound easy, it's actually pretty difficult. You need to drill new "tunnels" from point to point while taking care not to damage existing tunnels or cables (in my case fiber trunks).
The city on the other hand would have the best and easiest access to all that is necessary. As my company was a 3rd or 4th generation hand me down receiver of the contract. It's REALLY scary if you ask me, that the van we worked out of had 3 magnetic signs that you slap on the side depending on what job you're doing!
Another thing to take into consideration are the terminals. Where do you put them? One was located in an unusable storage area. It was pretty big inside, but getting inside was very difficult because the door was small and you had to turn to the left immediately. I don't know how they got the racks in there (had to be in pieces). And in an area such as LA there isn't a whole lot of free space.
So any company who is willing to pay for all of this and become approved to do so has to find more space for their terminals.
Ideally, it is best to have several companies providing similar services because we benefit and technologies and approaches to problems are figured out much faster. But it can't be at break neck speed nor completely controlled by the gov't either.
Verizon has been getting a lot of crap over them not replacing or upgrading worn out copper systems. In rural areas where the cost is much more than they'll recover in fees they just ignore customers.
Hopefully wireless will become the reality and provide sufficient bandwitdh for inet AND VoIP. Then you could possibly have much much more competition!
I've been thinking about this for a while, but not only for online applications. What we need to do is get organized and have everyone (at least in the U.S.A.) to set up rules which we want to become law.
My idea for this is simple, for any company with which you enter a relationship, your information by law should not be able to be shared at all, whatsoever outside of that organization. IF that company has subsidiaries, directly related to the services they provide (such as a phone company who also has internet, VoIP, 'cable TV' or anything simiar) then they can share it amongst themselves. Maybe because of the modern day tie it in to domains.
So for example, I now have home phone service with AT&T. So if they wish to sell me TV, VoIP or internet services, they must be within their *.att.com domain. It can't be uverse.com or attinternet.com. This way i won't be getting spam from at&t wireless OR any other company who I never solicited.
Another thing to implement is that once you sign a withdraw from sharing your information, it stands until changed by the consumer. None of this yearly bullshit. No means no for women who are trying to prevent rape, but no means no for only 12 months when trying to eliminate unwanted solicitations.
It's that simple, one or both will work for us. But we have to REALLY get together and push for it. What will happen if ever introduced as a bill is that the companies will pay huge sums against this policy. Then we vote (where applicable) to get rid of those who don't vote in our favor.
There are many reason to share your info with other companies, which is fine if you WANT that. But this has to be in our control, not theirs.
Once something that basic is in place we can start working towards online because they'll have something to reference. Remember, because we're online a bit and have a decent grasp on what's going on, people who are in government aren't really like us, they don't know and don't care about our privacy. While they protect their assets even if no one really cares how much or where they have their multiple houses and yachts, we do care where we rent and what numbers we have.
While I am certified and "learned" that i shouldn't be plugging in usb flash drives to my computer (hahaha) honestly, what's to stop anyone from doing so?
We have awesome technology and security solutions, but it's like my God Father's story on a Japanese Island, the CO would send his men every day to die trying to take a hill because that was his orders... fresh on the battle field they had no chance. They went through CO's daily. Their superiors don't have a clue as to what the situation really is because they are so far removed. The same thing here.
I got tired of trying to help (which is only bad if you never try at all) but using public upload sites (such as mega share) for VERY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION is ridiculous to me! It's sad that my GhettoBSD server at home is a more secure method of transferring files than some people's.
Then again, I'm not in IT so WTF do I know about security RIGHT???!??!
that's the thing though, france is willing to pay to refine 'nuclear waste' and reuse it. the US doesn't want to do that, they just want to bury it like a cat taking a shite.
I'm for nuclear power with recycling waste, but not for NP with burying waste. Think of it like a garbage dump, they're filling up with trash, and one day the same will happen with waste.
it'll have to be a combination of many things. because 1 thing won't work everywhere.
From the sounds of it, this could work really well for windows. I mean they have the whole virus sharing @ 10/second down, so how much harder can it be to use the existing infrastructure to distribute computing load?
I think i'm ready with a few infections across several machines!:P
Interestingly enough, the math can't be evil! As Plato believe the theory of forms that something is inherently good or bad. If he liked math, we believe that he believed it was good! So regardless of what comes of it, it would be good because it itself was good a priori!:P
Here's what you do, lobby your local congressmen and you state's senators to try to host the upcoming winter/summer olympics. THEN they'll upgrade the entire communications infrastructure and you'll be set! That's what happened in Utah!
Back in 2000, DSL was i think $35 for the slowest speed through SBC in So Cal. Now I could get AT&T's slowest speed for about $15 a month.
In 2000, it was a 2 year contract for dsl, and now it's monthly for AT&T - for new and existing customers. Things have changed quite a bit since 2000. But things have slowed down. DSL/Cable have effectively killed dial up, which was the main competition and main reason the prices dropped so much. Now that it's gone, what's left?
Everyone loves cables speed, but in historic areas such as San Gabriel, their lines are so old and over saturated that it's no longer a good experience at any part of service. Some people get killer speeds, but you have to live out in the "boonies" for that.
Anyhow, I have the fastest speed I can get with AT&T and it's ONLY $35 a month. That's not an issue for me. What is an issue though is that I had to pay $60 for a POS modem they forced on me even though I had a compatible modem already. Of course, they sent the modem to me and i used my previous modem which is wireless and has worked without issue.
So some things have gotten better, others worse. But ultimately it's up to us to shape how all this works out. Vote with your money, that's what i do.
Slashdot Mirror
Back in 99? I had a philosophy teacher who was crazy smart and did crazy things right. He was always talking about how great the "internet" was because of all the things you can do on it (like getting around censoring).
:P
So I told him about an idea of how you could "cripple" the inet. My idea came from netsplits on a fairly large IRC network. When I explained it to him, he said "that can't happen because of redundancy." Well, IRC networks have redundancy too. But that's the point, not to eliminate it but damage it enough where it's not usable.
So FF to 2009 and now we're hearing about it. Have the whole router DNS forwarding debacle with authority issues being handed out left and right, what's to keep this sort of attack from happening?
Anyhow, just like the air port security improvements, there's only 1 thing that'll keep us safe, and it's not technology!
http://darkroomsexgame.com/gallery.php
see thats why i never give out my real info! So they can try to say i'm socrates but good luck to me admitting that online!
Doh~
Although I am not claiming anything else than the following, i'm sure i'll get flamed on by someone...
:P
Albert Einstein is supposedly the most intelligent man to have ever lived (arguably right). While that could be true, I disagree with it simply because he changed his theory (possibly more than one) based on the popular philosophy of the day.
Any true scientist will agree that #1 God exists (for things we can't prove through science) #2 what we can prove is far removed from popular thought.
And that is why I have issue with AE being "thee man."
That being said he rocked!
But it just goes to show, even AB could fook it up... read sig
eof
you think that's bad? We just had to take federal mandated courses that help ensure we protect customers privacy and help prevent banktastic fraud right. Do you know that I just skipped the learning part and just started reading questions and answering them? Yah, bad ass huh! 80% or higher to pass.
Ok here's the scary part, people couldn't pass this for weeks because they "couldn't learn" enough to get the answers right.
So we have leaders who don't know wtf most average people know, and people playing with your most delicate info who dn't know how to keep it safe hahahaha
Now to click on the Post Anonymously and we're done.
many years ago I was writing a script with a friend and it was basically along those lines right. He told me, "who wants to see a movie about computers taking over? That's impossible, no one would believe it."
:D
Ok so a few years later the Matrix came out. And he stopped talking to me. But the idea is still good! The Matrix excelled because of the philosophy that was used in it (people didn't even know what they were watching but loved it!).
So a movie where the compies take over and actually try to help people be prosperous isn't so far fetched in my mind! Let's do it! And in the end you'll see the town/country called 2212 is actually the 2212th simulation the compies have run and is eventually wiped out to start again like in the SIMs hahaha
yah imagine if people knew the names of MS windows programmers... they'd be tied up somewhere in nor cal forced to fix things the users didn't like!
"We'll see how well you'll do with a blue screen of death in front of YOU"
When compared to Monty Python, why are people complaining? I'm no literary expert but isn't there a finite amount of themes anyways? And every story is just a variation of those themes?
Interestingly enough, that's one of the ideas/themes in Watchmen, nothing ever ends and will continue to repeat.
It may be surprising to some but I was in the beginnings of my political career about a decade back and was following a case in California. Long story short, it was a case of a judge ruling in favor of the plaintiff but not upholding judgment.
That is essentially what some are saying is happening here, right? The case that made me change my career of choice was that of a divorced father who sued the school district where his daughter attended for "forcing her" to say "God" in the pledge of allegiance when he "is an Atheist."
The rest of the story goes, the daughter not only did not live with the father, but was a christian and regularly attended church with her mother. So why did this bother me? Well, all religious beliefs aside, why would a judge rule in his favor to set precedent and not uphold (enforce) their ruling? That just opens the door for this assclown to take it further.
I decided it's not worth my time to try to help people so stupid. But then again, maybe I was the stupid one thinking i could "help" these people out to begin with?
Well in the U.S you are also issued a birth certificate. So i don't really know what the problem is. But i'll tell you what works bitchen, when I turned 18 i got a happy birthday postcard from the government saying 'Happy Birthday dude, hope you're having a good one. By the way, keep this little card with you at all times because it's your draft ID.' lol
Although they can't figure out ass from head in anything else, they sure know when they can "legally" draft your ass!
believe it or not, something like that HAS happened to me. Many years ago when i worked as a high tech trash man, a customer gave me some coupons right. They were for some super market that was a little ways away (in another county). So i was like whatever, can't use em but maybe i can find someone who can...
long story short, i ended up giving them to one of my buddies and his gf and we used them. Well, not only did we get almost all of the items on the coupon (there were like 6 or 8 items) but we actually made money on the deal! Yah, because the discount was more than the current price. So we walked out with bread, ready pak salad and a bunch of other stuff AND $12!!@&*(#&!@(*
Not quite exactly the same, but still ended up getting a lot for nothing. And yeah, we had to pay like $3 "out of pocket" but because of all the credit we got we really didn't pay anything.
Cool huh!
This is my experience: When I got my drivers license in my state (a republic) i couldn't swap out the first letter of my second name, which is J on my birth certificate for X. In the end, they're both pronounced exactly the same, but because of "legal issues" i can't have it with an X on my drivers license.
:P
Go forward in time. I'm now 18 and able to register to vote. So I sign up with X instead of J, wondering if that'll go through EVEN THOUGH my birth certificate, social security number and drivers license along with all my other documentation in life so far has it with a J. Guess what? It went through!
So I now happily vote with an X for my middle initial and no one ever questions it. So what's so shady about this? Do you guys ever wonder how you get notices for jury duty? Really, have you ever considered where those names are pulled from? At least in my state, it's from voter registration records.
Since I registered, i've only received jury duty summons for X, never J, who legally doesn't exist! Yeah, something has to be done about all this. It shouldn't be so difficult. Mexico is infamous for it's election fraud. BUT the way the voter registration goes is excellent. Everyone has a voters credential. That is something that EVERYONE has, it's even more important that your drivers license. As a matter of fact, many people in rural areas don't have drivers licenses, but do have those voter cards.
I grew up believing "USA is #1 in the world." But after having gone out of the US and seeing more of the world, I don't believe that is the case in every aspect. Mexico is always looked down out of ignorance. But they have got their voting system down... it's fraud they can't eliminate
BTW, this reminds me of Bush's win in 2000... Mexicans said, "We thought we knew all of the dirty tricks on how to rig elections."
So I tried to download the book from the website right, it has an initial value of $5.00 but you can set the price to whatever you want. I set it to $0.00 as I like to "try before I buy." But unfortunately, the "free download" amount has reached it's limit for the day and I was told to try again the following day.
:P
So, for those of you wondering how you can pirate a free book... if I get it in a torrent, well there you go.
But on the other hand, some people like myself can't escape the pirate label, since my great grandfather was in fact a pirate. It's like like the geico commercials, "so easy a cave man can do it."
Aww that breaks my heart =(
:P
As a long time FBSD user, i've complained about this for a while now. A long time ago we had it, but they took it away over a legal difference.
But am still waiting for the day it comes back. But with those saying nothing is worth viewing in flash, take a look at my home page. Sure, most of it has nothing to do with flash but there is one thing that is flash. I used to have another link to the users section but that's been down for a while now
I think you got a lot of flac for several reasons. This isn't an easy topic to figure out.
:P
On one side we want any company to be able to lay down their own line as to help competition and bring prices down for the consumer.
While possible, there are many governing bodies there to protect other's line and the government's property as well as your well being. Something no one is going to object to.
While I worked testing fiber lines in Los Angeles, it was a real treat to learn about the actual infrastructure and laws of the land. The lines I worked on were from huntington park to Down Town Level 3 (head terminals). Some parts of fiber had to be replaced so I was present when some of that work was done.
The sewers here aren't like the one's the ninja turtles use. They have man hole covers for access and vary in size and depth. Although deep and used for many purposes, telco cables are run high to protect from water or other possible damage.
So while other companies adding their cable to the existing infrastructure may sound easy, it's actually pretty difficult. You need to drill new "tunnels" from point to point while taking care not to damage existing tunnels or cables (in my case fiber trunks).
The city on the other hand would have the best and easiest access to all that is necessary. As my company was a 3rd or 4th generation hand me down receiver of the contract. It's REALLY scary if you ask me, that the van we worked out of had 3 magnetic signs that you slap on the side depending on what job you're doing!
Another thing to take into consideration are the terminals. Where do you put them? One was located in an unusable storage area. It was pretty big inside, but getting inside was very difficult because the door was small and you had to turn to the left immediately. I don't know how they got the racks in there (had to be in pieces). And in an area such as LA there isn't a whole lot of free space.
So any company who is willing to pay for all of this and become approved to do so has to find more space for their terminals.
Ideally, it is best to have several companies providing similar services because we benefit and technologies and approaches to problems are figured out much faster. But it can't be at break neck speed nor completely controlled by the gov't either.
Verizon has been getting a lot of crap over them not replacing or upgrading worn out copper systems. In rural areas where the cost is much more than they'll recover in fees they just ignore customers.
Hopefully wireless will become the reality and provide sufficient bandwitdh for inet AND VoIP. Then you could possibly have much much more competition!
P.S. I think i wrote too much
I've been thinking about this for a while, but not only for online applications. What we need to do is get organized and have everyone (at least in the U.S.A.) to set up rules which we want to become law.
My idea for this is simple, for any company with which you enter a relationship, your information by law should not be able to be shared at all, whatsoever outside of that organization. IF that company has subsidiaries, directly related to the services they provide (such as a phone company who also has internet, VoIP, 'cable TV' or anything simiar) then they can share it amongst themselves. Maybe because of the modern day tie it in to domains.
So for example, I now have home phone service with AT&T. So if they wish to sell me TV, VoIP or internet services, they must be within their *.att.com domain. It can't be uverse.com or attinternet.com. This way i won't be getting spam from at&t wireless OR any other company who I never solicited.
Another thing to implement is that once you sign a withdraw from sharing your information, it stands until changed by the consumer. None of this yearly bullshit. No means no for women who are trying to prevent rape, but no means no for only 12 months when trying to eliminate unwanted solicitations.
It's that simple, one or both will work for us. But we have to REALLY get together and push for it. What will happen if ever introduced as a bill is that the companies will pay huge sums against this policy. Then we vote (where applicable) to get rid of those who don't vote in our favor.
There are many reason to share your info with other companies, which is fine if you WANT that. But this has to be in our control, not theirs.
Once something that basic is in place we can start working towards online because they'll have something to reference. Remember, because we're online a bit and have a decent grasp on what's going on, people who are in government aren't really like us, they don't know and don't care about our privacy. While they protect their assets even if no one really cares how much or where they have their multiple houses and yachts, we do care where we rent and what numbers we have.
What do you guys think?
I agree with you that compliant != secure.
For example, because I work with sensitive financial information I am required by law to take the GLB certification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act
While I am certified and "learned" that i shouldn't be plugging in usb flash drives to my computer (hahaha) honestly, what's to stop anyone from doing so?
We have awesome technology and security solutions, but it's like my God Father's story on a Japanese Island, the CO would send his men every day to die trying to take a hill because that was his orders... fresh on the battle field they had no chance. They went through CO's daily. Their superiors don't have a clue as to what the situation really is because they are so far removed. The same thing here.
I got tired of trying to help (which is only bad if you never try at all) but using public upload sites (such as mega share) for VERY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION is ridiculous to me! It's sad that my GhettoBSD server at home is a more secure method of transferring files than some people's.
Then again, I'm not in IT so WTF do I know about security RIGHT???!??!
that's the thing though, france is willing to pay to refine 'nuclear waste' and reuse it. the US doesn't want to do that, they just want to bury it like a cat taking a shite.
I'm for nuclear power with recycling waste, but not for NP with burying waste. Think of it like a garbage dump, they're filling up with trash, and one day the same will happen with waste.
it'll have to be a combination of many things. because 1 thing won't work everywhere.
hahaha HAIL HYDRA!
sorry, don't have time to read the entire post... playing starwars! Darth Vader kicks ass!98@!&^%#@!%! *choke*
From the sounds of it, this could work really well for windows. I mean they have the whole virus sharing @ 10/second down, so how much harder can it be to use the existing infrastructure to distribute computing load?
:P
I think i'm ready with a few infections across several machines!
Interestingly enough, the math can't be evil! As Plato believe the theory of forms that something is inherently good or bad. If he liked math, we believe that he believed it was good! So regardless of what comes of it, it would be good because it itself was good a priori! :P
But then again, what do I know?
Go Socrates!
i've actually have had both done hahaha...
When I was a kid i played a lot of baseball, so i wondered what it would be like to hit a basketball... well, lets just say i'll never do that again!
And since I train in MMA, sometimes "things happen." lol
So although i dislike real and their products, it's a step in the right direction. (i think)
Here's what you do, lobby your local congressmen and you state's senators to try to host the upcoming winter/summer olympics. THEN they'll upgrade the entire communications infrastructure and you'll be set! That's what happened in Utah!
Back in 2000, DSL was i think $35 for the slowest speed through SBC in So Cal. Now I could get AT&T's slowest speed for about $15 a month.
In 2000, it was a 2 year contract for dsl, and now it's monthly for AT&T - for new and existing customers. Things have changed quite a bit since 2000. But things have slowed down. DSL/Cable have effectively killed dial up, which was the main competition and main reason the prices dropped so much. Now that it's gone, what's left?
Everyone loves cables speed, but in historic areas such as San Gabriel, their lines are so old and over saturated that it's no longer a good experience at any part of service. Some people get killer speeds, but you have to live out in the "boonies" for that.
Anyhow, I have the fastest speed I can get with AT&T and it's ONLY $35 a month. That's not an issue for me. What is an issue though is that I had to pay $60 for a POS modem they forced on me even though I had a compatible modem already. Of course, they sent the modem to me and i used my previous modem which is wireless and has worked without issue.
So some things have gotten better, others worse. But ultimately it's up to us to shape how all this works out. Vote with your money, that's what i do.