Now that theater chains are offering these same services I believe they have succeeded in their goal of making a subscription service available to the people. However it is not their service so if their end goal was to be profitable (I don't see why anyone would ever think that was possible) well then they failed.
Yes the web is an open platform. Google is not changing that. In fact they are embracing the fact that the web is an open platform. No one is forced to use their services. Also their services are not preventing the rest of the web from being available. They are doing what has been done for years... advancing the technology.
BBS's were archived into the web if relevant. I don't hear anyone crying about Gopher or USENET. Forcing people to use SFTP and SSH vs FTP and Telnet doesn't seem to be a big deal.
The Internet evolves. Things that need to be preserved will be preserved. No single entity has ever forced the Internet to do anything. It just evolves with available technology and the will of the people.
Oh and if you think the will of the people is BS... well we still have the same old shitty email that has existed forever. No matter what alternatives are forced on people, they keep their email.
Then you are not a good counselor. Good counselors don't tell people to not do something. Good counselors help guide people to make their own decisions as to what would be the best fit for them.
With that being said, you have a very limited view of what IT is. You mention "things like HVAC tech, aircraft engineer, electrician, or something involving industrial controls or construction" These positions/careers/vocations are no different than IT. At best you may be implying some of those positions are independent, not working for a company. If that is the case, then they are definitely not reliable jobs. However a majority of them are probably for business/corporations that pay well, have balanced schedules and also include benefits. Just like most IT jobs.
If you are in an IT position that is overworked and shitting on your health, then go find a new company to work for. There are plenty.
"Your attempts to fend off disaster go ignored" If this is the case then you are either not doing your job or again, find a new company to work for. Or maybe just stay there and don't put in any of the time that makes you "overworked" because apparently it doesn't matter.
"If you love tech....make it your own...do your own thing and love it. Stay away from corporations." should be... "If you love tech....make it your own... figure out your own thing and love it... don't be afraid to find a new love"
18650 (18mm x 65mm) is a size. Implies nothing about the battery technology. Also Tesla is now using a 2170 (21mm x 70mm) cell which is not only 50% larger in volume/capacity, it can also deliver about 2x more instantaneous current due to the adjusted proportions.
One thing I would like to add. It is highly possible these and other EV batteries are treated more like SSD's. You may purchase a 480 gig SSD, but it really has 500+ gigs available. This "extra" capacity fills in for failures and makes you think your drive is reliable when it may not be.
If an EV predicts your mileage. You use that as the number. It tells you nothing about the actual battery capacity. Also you can't really check batteries for pass/fail cells like a sector on a drive. Some could be at 90% some at 99% and others at 75%. The car will just give you a random estimated range that is associated with capacity which was most likely a very conservative number in the beginning.
This isn't news but really just standard practice. News would be comparing the real world battery life and degradation against all available EV batteries and then comparing those figures.
A warranty means nothing compared to real world figures. I have several products warrantied for life. In most cases it costs more to ship the product in for replacement or repair than it does to purchase a new one. Then there are the standard 1 year warranties on electronic products. I'm sure 99% have far exceeded their warranty period.
All this is saying is that a piece of technology didn't catastrophically fail.
I don't remember clicking that authorize cookies thing for Facebook. But I do just click yes to them all since the internet can function without cookies.
Maybe the simplest answer to your question is... Tell people what you have.
Kickstarter or similar services are a great way to judge interest in a project. If you truly have something people will want, they will gladly donate to and share your idea. Of course this still requires marketing, maybe a break even type of thing. However with a niche offering like this, if you don't have a name or any way to prove what you can do, then don't expect much traction.
Said in another way... if you aren't already known it will be very hard to become known.
That being said, we can help without more information... New languages and/or compilers crop up every day. Have you invented a new language or just a new compiler? -- this is not clear at all. What makes you different from the others? How is it better? Why would I switch from what I am currently using? What is the learning curve to switch? What is is compatible with?
Most references to US law imply that they would need to return the merchandise or pay for it if it is an obvious error in pricing. However this all probably depends on how they received the discount on the merchandise. If it was a coupon code or certain methods of clicking, then they are probably ok. However of they say used something like the Chrome inspector to change prices submitted to the backend then they are probably liable for theft and/or hacking.
I have tested all of them in the past. Some have moved in a direction that I don't think is right for a PHP developer. They are essentially moving to sandboxed virtual environments where they want you to develop on that virtual box.
I have been keeping my eye on codeanywhere as I believe it is going in the right direction. However with the lack of PHP (or any language) linting, it is useless. For those of you that don't know, linting is essentially the highlighting of syntax errors in your code. I believe this should be their top priority but is seems they could care less. If it is ever implemented, I will definitely give codeanywhere another try on a real project.
A few months ago I gave up on the cloud IDE's as well as cloud syncing. I carry around a 512 gig USB3 SSD with my projects as well as any applications and configurations/preferences I need. It works great for those that never know where they will be and always want access to their projects and preferred IDE. Just remember to back it up on a regular basis.
It is important to note that Comcast is not the manufacturer of these devices. They are also most likely not creating the software for them either. The alarm system is sold by an OEM that several different alarm companies use, including other cable companies.
The system also isn't just using ZigBee for communication, it is using the ZigBee Home Automation standard. ZigBee has defined how they want home security and automation products to communicate over their ZigBee radio standard. So this isn't just related to Comcast. I would think that just about every other system out there using ZigBee for home security would have the same problem. So this is a bigger problem than just Comcast users.
I would think a software update could be pushed to the base station that would detect active signal jamming. It could be as simple as checking of the signal level is peaked on all channels with no valid data being detected. It could also be a lot more sophisticated and look at actual received data to determine if it was from a jamming device or possibly matches signatures of known devices that can cause interference.
I think an ideal solution is adding a beacon that is not dependent on power usage. This beacon would transmit on regular intervals (every second or so). If this signal is not received for a period of time (plus may some other detected conditions), then the system can trigger the desired alarm.
This is one of those things where history got it right. We get sent to colonize and are supported by a particular governing body (group of nations?). At some point this governing body is no longer required. The colony decides to separate itself from this governing body when it is no longer required. If it is truly no longer required, the separation is a success. Some people sacrifice their lives, but eventually everyone becomes friends and they all live happily ever after.
Many people in several different "colonizations" refer to this transition as Independence Day.
The thing is, it was and will never be an infinite resource. While the data was not necessarily limited, you had purchased a specific amount of bandwidth. Using that full amount of bandwidth 24/7 will cause your truly unlimited plan to still have a limit.
This is similar to Mail Order Netflix. You could get an unlimited number of DVD's in one month. However those had to be sent via mail which took time and limited you to a maximum number of DVD's per month. Now lets say Netflix were to upgrade to a shipping method that took half the time. Now you can have your DVD's quicker and order twice as many in one month.
This exact scenario happened. Online Streaming. Now you can have a truly unlimited amount of movies shipped to you from Netflix. The problem is they are no longer paying for shipping and the shipping company wants to be paid one way or another.
The whole situation amuses me though. I remember being one of the only kids in school that had access to a computer at home, let alone liked using it. Now we are almost to the point that teachers can start requiring students perform their work on computers and submit it over the internet.
20+ years ago in middle and grade school I was also one of the few with a computer at home (also one of the even fewer with a "personal" computer and modem). At that time the requirement already existed to perform work on a computer and also print it out on a printer (dot matrix, ink jet or laser if you were rich). However almost no students had these things at home. That is the point of a computer lab, free periods and "late buses" This isn't anything new.
My suggestion to the OP. Let the students deal with it. There are computer labs and libraries for these types of students. Things can be hand-written at home and then typed and submitted during normal or extended school hours. If they have cell phones, buy a bunch of Bluetooth keyboards and loan them out.
On a side note, I would put money down that lack of funds isn't why they don't have a computer at home. Lack of need for a computer is more plausible. They probably have a tablet or at least the parents have decent cell phones which covers any of their internet or computing needs. The same people that didn't have computers when we were younger are the same people that don't have them now because they have a capable mobile device.
Have you looked at the links in the email? Have you looked at the email headers to find out exactly where it is coming from? It is pretty common to send emails like this to get you to enter information on a false site where they log it and then try to use those login details somewhere else... hence the reason multi-factor authentication was invented.
Did you even try searching? Linux support may be hard to find, but OSX and Windows apps seems readily available. I'm sure most of these companies are working on Linux support too. There is no technical reason why this can't work seamlessly. The only disadvantage is using the native web interfaces to search for and view files.
From the article... Shostak told me. “I’ve bet dozens of astronomers coffee that if we pick up an alien signal, it’ll be artificial life.”
This is true an any scenario. We have been sending out signals for at most a few hundred years. These signals may have been engineered by us, but they were sent with an "artifical" life form. By the time another intelligent life receives these signals, we will most likely be long gone and they may believe they came from artificial life.
The reverse holds true for us. When we finally find an alien signal, it will just be an artificial life form. The chances of the original life form (or even their planet) still being around are fairly small.
But to say that artificial rules all depends on if non-artificial ruled first. How many probes have been sent to voyage beyond our solar system? Take that number and compare it to the number of living organisms on just our planet. Sure we will all die off and the probes will continue on their voyage. But they aren't intelligent and may not even make it to another destination where they are detected.
No one is referring to alibaba.com when they speak of Alibaba. They are referring to the Alibaba Group which includes aliexpress.com and at least 5 other websites which are consumer based (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group#Companies_and_affiliated_entities). They are even the PayPal or maybe Authorize.net of China with AliPay.
so... alibaba.com - not consumer based AliExpress.com - Consumer based, like Amazon or eBay Taobao - Consumer bases, like Amazon or eBay Tmall.com - Consumer based, Amazon like Juhuasuan - Consumer based - like any daily deal site, think dx.com eTao - consumer based comparison shopping, think Google shopping Alipay - consumer/retailer based, AKA PayPal Alibaba Cloud Computing - smells like Amazon China Yahoo! - ya, they pretty much own Yahoo, and again consumer based Aliwang - messaging app? consumer based. ChinaVision Media Group - TV? consumer based Youku Tudou - seems to be a Netflix, consumer based 11 Main - online mall, consumer based Alibaba Group R&D institute - smells like Google, end user, consumer.
First of all it is DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification).
Secondly comparing the maximum bandwidth of a fiber line to a 4 channel DOCSIS 3 modem that is connected to the same wire as multiple other DOCSIS 3 modems is just ignorant. DOCSIS 3 can add more channels and have more bandwidth while also supporting more modems off the same line. The fiber you mention is a single point-to-point connection and probably costs 100 fold to deploy. Take that fiber and tell me how much it costs to create a setup with 4 channels grouped and each delivered independently to a neighborhood of 100 houses. Including the termination at each house. Fiber is not for individual households. Maybe in the future, but currently completely unnecessary. Especially when copper and wireless are the last foot.
You say DOCSIS alternatives will be more expensive in the long term. The only way they will be more expensive is if they become legacy and have to be maintained separately. Currently most of the infrastructure was already in place and re-used, so again your comparison is apples to oranges. Adding fiber costs a lot more, but can be cheaper in the long run if it is re-used and doesn't become a legacy system.
People without fiber are not losing out on "super-fast" broadband. 100+ Mbps is readily available and more than enough for most users.
In reality... (In the US) The problem is I can get 100+ Mbps yet my co-worker, living only about 20 miles from me can't even get DSL. He is stuck on fixed wireless that claims 10+ Mbps but averages 2Mbps. His provider is most likely sharing a single 10Mbps line with several customers. This is an issue. Broadband penetration is missing a lot of small areas which should be supplied with broadband. No one currently "needs" fiber. Cable and POTS lines can handle the bandwidth needs of just about anyone. They just need to be made available to everyone.
There are already networks dropping support for 2G and I assume 3G will follow. These type of devices need to last at least 10 years if not more. The mobile networks don't work on that type of time frame. A lot of the modules out there already won't work on most networks because they don't support 2G. GPRS doesn't help either as that is being dropped too.
I envision devices that these would be put in to actually use well established low power wireless protocols. These devices would then talk to a router that could be directly connected to the internet or have a module like this. But this type of setup doesn't require an extremely small module. Especially when you take the power requirements in consideration. If I have a huge battery, do I really care about the size of the wireless module? Or... if it is plugged into mains and mounted somewhere on the side of my house do I really care about size?
I also don't think the cost of the connection would be an issue. These devices would have different terms to connect to the wireless networks and most likely be under a blanket contract that is resold by the supplier of the product. Think OnStar.
But to expand on the router concept... Predictions say we will have several connected devices in our homes. Everything from our blenders to our stoves, dishwashers, laundry, etc. There is no reason for these all to have a device that directly connects to a national wireless network. It makes more sense to have a household or neighborhood router that relays these signals. It will be cheaper to upgrade and will cause less congestion on the cell phone network. Comcast is already installing public hotspots in everyone's home. I'm sure similar plans are in place for other providers globally. These routers could have other wireless routing technologies installed to allow lower power devices to connect to them. At a minimum if you own a IoT device you can just get a router that plugs into your internet connection.
This doesn't necessarily cover the idea of the electric company wanting wireless connectivity to your meter. You may not have a router for them to connect to. Then they can just install something on the electric pole. In quantity I don't see a device costing more the $10 - $20. They could be on every pole and probably already are.
Small devices don't need to connect to cell phone networks. Add a relay and be done with it.
Slashdot Mirror
Now that theater chains are offering these same services I believe they have succeeded in their goal of making a subscription service available to the people. However it is not their service so if their end goal was to be profitable (I don't see why anyone would ever think that was possible) well then they failed.
Yes the web is an open platform. Google is not changing that. In fact they are embracing the fact that the web is an open platform. No one is forced to use their services. Also their services are not preventing the rest of the web from being available. They are doing what has been done for years... advancing the technology.
BBS's were archived into the web if relevant. I don't hear anyone crying about Gopher or USENET. Forcing people to use SFTP and SSH vs FTP and Telnet doesn't seem to be a big deal.
The Internet evolves. Things that need to be preserved will be preserved. No single entity has ever forced the Internet to do anything. It just evolves with available technology and the will of the people.
Oh and if you think the will of the people is BS... well we still have the same old shitty email that has existed forever. No matter what alternatives are forced on people, they keep their email.
Then you are not a good counselor. Good counselors don't tell people to not do something. Good counselors help guide people to make their own decisions as to what would be the best fit for them.
With that being said, you have a very limited view of what IT is.
You mention "things like HVAC tech, aircraft engineer, electrician, or something involving industrial controls or construction"
These positions/careers/vocations are no different than IT. At best you may be implying some of those positions are independent, not working for a company. If that is the case, then they are definitely not reliable jobs. However a majority of them are probably for business/corporations that pay well, have balanced schedules and also include benefits. Just like most IT jobs.
If you are in an IT position that is overworked and shitting on your health, then go find a new company to work for. There are plenty.
"Your attempts to fend off disaster go ignored" If this is the case then you are either not doing your job or again, find a new company to work for. Or maybe just stay there and don't put in any of the time that makes you "overworked" because apparently it doesn't matter.
"If you love tech....make it your own...do your own thing and love it. Stay away from corporations."
should be...
"If you love tech....make it your own... figure out your own thing and love it... don't be afraid to find a new love"
18650 (18mm x 65mm) is a size. Implies nothing about the battery technology. Also Tesla is now using a 2170 (21mm x 70mm) cell which is not only 50% larger in volume/capacity, it can also deliver about 2x more instantaneous current due to the adjusted proportions.
One thing I would like to add. It is highly possible these and other EV batteries are treated more like SSD's. You may purchase a 480 gig SSD, but it really has 500+ gigs available. This "extra" capacity fills in for failures and makes you think your drive is reliable when it may not be.
If an EV predicts your mileage. You use that as the number. It tells you nothing about the actual battery capacity. Also you can't really check batteries for pass/fail cells like a sector on a drive. Some could be at 90% some at 99% and others at 75%. The car will just give you a random estimated range that is associated with capacity which was most likely a very conservative number in the beginning.
This isn't news but really just standard practice. News would be comparing the real world battery life and degradation against all available EV batteries and then comparing those figures.
A warranty means nothing compared to real world figures. I have several products warrantied for life. In most cases it costs more to ship the product in for replacement or repair than it does to purchase a new one. Then there are the standard 1 year warranties on electronic products. I'm sure 99% have far exceeded their warranty period.
All this is saying is that a piece of technology didn't catastrophically fail.
I don't remember clicking that authorize cookies thing for Facebook. But I do just click yes to them all since the internet can function without cookies.
Oh and until you tell people what you actually have, it will always be vaporware.
Maybe the simplest answer to your question is... Tell people what you have.
Kickstarter or similar services are a great way to judge interest in a project. If you truly have something people will want, they will gladly donate to and share your idea. Of course this still requires marketing, maybe a break even type of thing. However with a niche offering like this, if you don't have a name or any way to prove what you can do, then don't expect much traction.
Said in another way... if you aren't already known it will be very hard to become known.
That being said, we can help without more information... New languages and/or compilers crop up every day.
Have you invented a new language or just a new compiler? -- this is not clear at all.
What makes you different from the others?
How is it better?
Why would I switch from what I am currently using?
What is the learning curve to switch?
What is is compatible with?
Most references to US law imply that they would need to return the merchandise or pay for it if it is an obvious error in pricing. However this all probably depends on how they received the discount on the merchandise. If it was a coupon code or certain methods of clicking, then they are probably ok. However of they say used something like the Chrome inspector to change prices submitted to the backend then they are probably liable for theft and/or hacking.
It is not connected backwards it is "labeled" as if it were a battery in series with the other batteries.
I have tested all of them in the past. Some have moved in a direction that I don't think is right for a PHP developer. They are essentially moving to sandboxed virtual environments where they want you to develop on that virtual box.
I have been keeping my eye on codeanywhere as I believe it is going in the right direction. However with the lack of PHP (or any language) linting, it is useless. For those of you that don't know, linting is essentially the highlighting of syntax errors in your code. I believe this should be their top priority but is seems they could care less. If it is ever implemented, I will definitely give codeanywhere another try on a real project.
A few months ago I gave up on the cloud IDE's as well as cloud syncing. I carry around a 512 gig USB3 SSD with my projects as well as any applications and configurations/preferences I need. It works great for those that never know where they will be and always want access to their projects and preferred IDE. Just remember to back it up on a regular basis.
It is important to note that Comcast is not the manufacturer of these devices. They are also most likely not creating the software for them either. The alarm system is sold by an OEM that several different alarm companies use, including other cable companies.
The system also isn't just using ZigBee for communication, it is using the ZigBee Home Automation standard. ZigBee has defined how they want home security and automation products to communicate over their ZigBee radio standard. So this isn't just related to Comcast. I would think that just about every other system out there using ZigBee for home security would have the same problem. So this is a bigger problem than just Comcast users.
I would think a software update could be pushed to the base station that would detect active signal jamming. It could be as simple as checking of the signal level is peaked on all channels with no valid data being detected. It could also be a lot more sophisticated and look at actual received data to determine if it was from a jamming device or possibly matches signatures of known devices that can cause interference.
I think an ideal solution is adding a beacon that is not dependent on power usage. This beacon would transmit on regular intervals (every second or so). If this signal is not received for a period of time (plus may some other detected conditions), then the system can trigger the desired alarm.
This is one of those things where history got it right. We get sent to colonize and are supported by a particular governing body (group of nations?). At some point this governing body is no longer required. The colony decides to separate itself from this governing body when it is no longer required. If it is truly no longer required, the separation is a success. Some people sacrifice their lives, but eventually everyone becomes friends and they all live happily ever after.
Many people in several different "colonizations" refer to this transition as Independence Day.
The thing is, it was and will never be an infinite resource. While the data was not necessarily limited, you had purchased a specific amount of bandwidth. Using that full amount of bandwidth 24/7 will cause your truly unlimited plan to still have a limit.
This is similar to Mail Order Netflix. You could get an unlimited number of DVD's in one month. However those had to be sent via mail which took time and limited you to a maximum number of DVD's per month. Now lets say Netflix were to upgrade to a shipping method that took half the time. Now you can have your DVD's quicker and order twice as many in one month.
This exact scenario happened. Online Streaming. Now you can have a truly unlimited amount of movies shipped to you from Netflix. The problem is they are no longer paying for shipping and the shipping company wants to be paid one way or another.
Hacksaw blades? For crying out loud, what century is this again?
The century where there still is metal that needs cutting to get through?
Last I checked, real tools are required for real materials.
The whole situation amuses me though. I remember being one of the only kids in school that had access to a computer at home, let alone liked using it. Now we are almost to the point that teachers can start requiring students perform their work on computers and submit it over the internet.
20+ years ago in middle and grade school I was also one of the few with a computer at home (also one of the even fewer with a "personal" computer and modem). At that time the requirement already existed to perform work on a computer and also print it out on a printer (dot matrix, ink jet or laser if you were rich). However almost no students had these things at home. That is the point of a computer lab, free periods and "late buses" This isn't anything new.
My suggestion to the OP. Let the students deal with it. There are computer labs and libraries for these types of students. Things can be hand-written at home and then typed and submitted during normal or extended school hours. If they have cell phones, buy a bunch of Bluetooth keyboards and loan them out.
On a side note, I would put money down that lack of funds isn't why they don't have a computer at home. Lack of need for a computer is more plausible. They probably have a tablet or at least the parents have decent cell phones which covers any of their internet or computing needs. The same people that didn't have computers when we were younger are the same people that don't have them now because they have a capable mobile device.
It probably meant to say "Hide/disable forwarding button" and maybe "Disable right click for copy paste menu option"
However maybe the "encrypted" email comes in as an image. Harder to copy/paste, but still easy to forward/screenshot.
Have you looked at the links in the email? Have you looked at the email headers to find out exactly where it is coming from? It is pretty common to send emails like this to get you to enter information on a false site where they log it and then try to use those login details somewhere else... hence the reason multi-factor authentication was invented.
Did you even try searching? Linux support may be hard to find, but OSX and Windows apps seems readily available. I'm sure most of these companies are working on Linux support too. There is no technical reason why this can't work seamlessly. The only disadvantage is using the native web interfaces to search for and view files.
http://www.cloudlock.com/ [looks like this runs from the cloud, so will work anywhere]
https://www.cloudfogger.com/en...
https://www.boxcryptor.com/en
http://www.syncdocs.com/downlo... [windows only]
From the article... Shostak told me. “I’ve bet dozens of astronomers coffee that if we pick up an alien signal, it’ll be artificial life.”
This is true an any scenario. We have been sending out signals for at most a few hundred years. These signals may have been engineered by us, but they were sent with an "artifical" life form. By the time another intelligent life receives these signals, we will most likely be long gone and they may believe they came from artificial life.
The reverse holds true for us. When we finally find an alien signal, it will just be an artificial life form. The chances of the original life form (or even their planet) still being around are fairly small.
But to say that artificial rules all depends on if non-artificial ruled first. How many probes have been sent to voyage beyond our solar system? Take that number and compare it to the number of living organisms on just our planet. Sure we will all die off and the probes will continue on their voyage. But they aren't intelligent and may not even make it to another destination where they are detected.
I assume it will be dispersed to the copyright holders he is accused of infringing on?
No one is referring to alibaba.com when they speak of Alibaba. They are referring to the Alibaba Group which includes aliexpress.com and at least 5 other websites which are consumer based (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group#Companies_and_affiliated_entities). They are even the PayPal or maybe Authorize.net of China with AliPay.
so... alibaba.com - not consumer based
AliExpress.com - Consumer based, like Amazon or eBay
Taobao - Consumer bases, like Amazon or eBay
Tmall.com - Consumer based, Amazon like
Juhuasuan - Consumer based - like any daily deal site, think dx.com
eTao - consumer based comparison shopping, think Google shopping
Alipay - consumer/retailer based, AKA PayPal
Alibaba Cloud Computing - smells like Amazon
China Yahoo! - ya, they pretty much own Yahoo, and again consumer based
Aliwang - messaging app? consumer based.
ChinaVision Media Group - TV? consumer based
Youku Tudou - seems to be a Netflix, consumer based
11 Main - online mall, consumer based
Alibaba Group R&D institute - smells like Google, end user, consumer.
Seems pretty consumer based to me.
First of all it is DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification).
Secondly comparing the maximum bandwidth of a fiber line to a 4 channel DOCSIS 3 modem that is connected to the same wire as multiple other DOCSIS 3 modems is just ignorant. DOCSIS 3 can add more channels and have more bandwidth while also supporting more modems off the same line. The fiber you mention is a single point-to-point connection and probably costs 100 fold to deploy. Take that fiber and tell me how much it costs to create a setup with 4 channels grouped and each delivered independently to a neighborhood of 100 houses. Including the termination at each house. Fiber is not for individual households. Maybe in the future, but currently completely unnecessary. Especially when copper and wireless are the last foot.
You say DOCSIS alternatives will be more expensive in the long term. The only way they will be more expensive is if they become legacy and have to be maintained separately. Currently most of the infrastructure was already in place and re-used, so again your comparison is apples to oranges. Adding fiber costs a lot more, but can be cheaper in the long run if it is re-used and doesn't become a legacy system.
People without fiber are not losing out on "super-fast" broadband. 100+ Mbps is readily available and more than enough for most users.
In reality... (In the US) The problem is I can get 100+ Mbps yet my co-worker, living only about 20 miles from me can't even get DSL. He is stuck on fixed wireless that claims 10+ Mbps but averages 2Mbps. His provider is most likely sharing a single 10Mbps line with several customers. This is an issue. Broadband penetration is missing a lot of small areas which should be supplied with broadband. No one currently "needs" fiber. Cable and POTS lines can handle the bandwidth needs of just about anyone. They just need to be made available to everyone.
There are already networks dropping support for 2G and I assume 3G will follow. These type of devices need to last at least 10 years if not more. The mobile networks don't work on that type of time frame. A lot of the modules out there already won't work on most networks because they don't support 2G. GPRS doesn't help either as that is being dropped too.
I envision devices that these would be put in to actually use well established low power wireless protocols. These devices would then talk to a router that could be directly connected to the internet or have a module like this. But this type of setup doesn't require an extremely small module. Especially when you take the power requirements in consideration. If I have a huge battery, do I really care about the size of the wireless module? Or... if it is plugged into mains and mounted somewhere on the side of my house do I really care about size?
I also don't think the cost of the connection would be an issue. These devices would have different terms to connect to the wireless networks and most likely be under a blanket contract that is resold by the supplier of the product. Think OnStar.
But to expand on the router concept... Predictions say we will have several connected devices in our homes. Everything from our blenders to our stoves, dishwashers, laundry, etc. There is no reason for these all to have a device that directly connects to a national wireless network. It makes more sense to have a household or neighborhood router that relays these signals. It will be cheaper to upgrade and will cause less congestion on the cell phone network. Comcast is already installing public hotspots in everyone's home. I'm sure similar plans are in place for other providers globally. These routers could have other wireless routing technologies installed to allow lower power devices to connect to them. At a minimum if you own a IoT device you can just get a router that plugs into your internet connection.
This doesn't necessarily cover the idea of the electric company wanting wireless connectivity to your meter. You may not have a router for them to connect to. Then they can just install something on the electric pole. In quantity I don't see a device costing more the $10 - $20. They could be on every pole and probably already are.
Small devices don't need to connect to cell phone networks. Add a relay and be done with it.