I'm all for a city fiber Lan where your specific city is responsible for maintaining it. However, I think the cities service should end at the city. If you want actual access to internet then you need to pay a larger fee for using the POP which would be provided by a major telecom. I don't know about the rest of you but I wouldn't want to loose all the funding that telecoms put into communities. Almost all of them give government buildings free service, which incluces libraries, police departments, city hall, schools, etc, and they employ local people to maintain the system.
Cable companies don't make a whole lot of money from offering cable internet. Consider the type of bandwidth necessary to offer 100,000 customers 2mbit service. Sure it is oversold as not everyone will be using it at the same time but you are still looking at having multiple OC-3s to support that kind of customer base. Most of the cost for your service goes right back into supporting that same system.
Digital cable boxes are authorized by the MSO. So even if you have one or manage to get a pc card that can work with it you still need to get them to enter it into their system. Pretty unlikely.
Paul Allen owns & started Charter Communications. He may also own shares of Comcast. It's fun when your boss its like the 4th richest person in the world.
Next time some script kiddy walks into a cybercafe and uploads MyDoom.C to the net it will be on video and they can be arrested. Bubba in cell block D will make their life the same hell that ISP admins who have to clean up their shit is. Fuck I'm even Pro-mandatory anal rapings for people who are convicted of global virus creation/release. Don't like it? Don't do it.
Now being that I am a Network Engineer for one of the major US cable companies I suppose I am biased but I'll try to touch on the good and the bad of each...
Cable - Good
------------ Video On Demand (Awesome service, like having a movie store at your fingers) Subscriber Video on Demand (Same as above but content is based off of premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, etc.) Telephony (Voip is here to stay) DVR (Cable has them too, love mine.) Local Channels (Weather, news, school closings, community channels) Local employees (Most satellite companies don't have offices in your town.) Cable in the classroom (Cable provides free service to schools, and goverment buildings (police, fire, city hall)) Local contracts (Your town signs a franchise agreement with the cable company stating the conditions the service needs to maintained in) Cable Modems (Do I need to say more?) Weather (Typically doesn't effect your service) Analog Channels (Just plug into the coaxial and you got service on all the tvs in your home.)
Cable -- Bad
----------- Outages (Not that it happens much, but it can and probably will. Sat. is a direct feed to your home, so if someone cuts a fiber 2 miles away it's probably not going to take your service down.) Oversold Nodes (Too many subscribers, too little equipment. This isn't typically a problem either but it could be)
Sat -- Good
----------------- Digital picture, digital sound (Looks good, sounds good) Get it anywhere (Don't need to be on the plant) DVR (Yep they got it) Price (It may or may not be cheaper, especially if you start tacking on all the extras. If you got all 500 channels its over $1000 PER MONTH!)
Sat -- Bad
----------------- Weather (Weather can and probably will effect service from time to time. Especially if you live in an area where it snows frequently.) Clear Southern Exposure (Gotta have it to work) Not upgradable (Invest now, if you want a new feature, gotta invest again.) Local Channels (Most areas still don't have this, you pay an extra $5.00 a month, and reception may not be as good as cables (some sat services use an antenna on the dish to get the channels.)) Boxes needed (Each tv needs it's only box, and most dishes support 3 tvs. So if you have 4 tvs you need a bigger dish and 4 boxes.) Internet (22,000 miles makes for a LONG ping)
From the network info they provide it looks like this is a standard OC-3. In the days of high speed internet thats enough for about 103 simultaneous users using 1.5 mbit each to max the pipe. Since that probably will never happen I would estimate that it's enough to support approximately 8,000 users decent bandwidth. A lot of the world still doesn't have high speed internet available to it, so for them this is big news.
I agree with you 100%, but in really big companies the marketing department gets the majority of the say. They convince a top VP, who says do it that way and that's how stuff happens. The engineers end up trying to implement what someone else decided on for the most part.
I Am a Network Engineer For A Major Cable Company...
Most broadband companies has a TOS or AUP (Terms of service/Acceptable Use Policy) which defines the conditions the service is to be used under. Typically when you are installed with service you sign some paperwork that says you agree to blah, blah, blah. Which typically includes not running a server of any kind, violating copyright agreements, and excessive use of bandwidth. Usually that's defined as whatever the company feels is excessive. In my case, continously maxing the upstream for several days will cause an alert to show up in our monitoring utilities. Typically I don't really care as long as it doesn't affect the performance of other customer's service, if it does then I will contact the customer and give them a warning about it. If they continue to abuse the service they will be turned off for a week. They then can have service after a month but if they again abuse the service then they are permanetly turned off. Now I read some concerns about loosing customers due to a policy such as this, but in order to provide high speed internet access at a competitive price it's all about maintaing a ratio between available bandwidth to number of customers. If the ratio breaks due to 1 or 2 customers using too much of the service then the risk occurs that all remaining customers would leave. So it's really about loosing 1 customer in order to keep 50. It might suck, but that's how it goes.
Jesus, the original WTC bombing happened in the early 90s. There were plenty of other incidients prior to this. Doesn't anyone on slashdot know about American history?
I know slashdot hates a conflicting opinion but...
They are claiming that Netcraft does not acurately measure physically machines, instead that it counts domain names. So a machine that may be running Apache or IIS and hosting several sites might be evalulated incorrectly. I don't know how Netcraft checks, but if it is based on domain name then it is a representation of internet sites running a particular webserver/os not machines as a whole.
Not that it matters much, but it's nice to know the whole truth.
I firmly believe that the only way Linux will make it's way to the masses that would normally use Windows or Mac is for the desktop to be unified. They need an interface that everyone else will know when they need help, not one that looks different.
From glofish.com: Where do fluorescent zebra fish come from?
Fluorescent zebra fish were specially bred to help detect environmental pollutants. By adding a natural fluorescence gene to the fish, scientists are able to quickly and easily determine when our waterways are contaminated. The first step in developing these pollution detecting fish was to create fish that would be fluorescent all the time. It was only recently that scientists realized the public's interest in sharing the benefits of this research. We call this the GloFish (TM) fluorescent fish.
I am all for getting 3rd world countries on the internet. I've grown bored of the current 'nature videos' and would like to see the 'nature videos' from places like Sri Lanka, Yemen, and Belize. I can only imagine what can be done with a nose ring, a walking stick, a camel, and a 2 liter pop bottle.
(errr...... did I just type that? shit.)
But you need to offer a service that someone wants in order to make money. I think people would pay for linux, it's a great OS, but when its perfectly legal to just download it and install it for free why would you pay for it? Only if the incentive for purchasing it was good enough. There's been plenty of companies that have tried to make a profit selling linux, but only a few have come out ok. I know everybody is going to bitch about the spirit of free software and all that crap, but the people at Red hat have families to feed too. Sometimes I wish linux was cheap not free. $50 for an enterprise class system is a damn good deal.
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So the people they give jobs takes away from the economy? The money that people spend to use their services is bad? Geez your absolutely right!
I'm all for a city fiber Lan where your specific city is responsible for maintaining it. However, I think the cities service should end at the city. If you want actual access to internet then you need to pay a larger fee for using the POP which would be provided by a major telecom. I don't know about the rest of you but I wouldn't want to loose all the funding that telecoms put into communities. Almost all of them give government buildings free service, which incluces libraries, police departments, city hall, schools, etc, and they employ local people to maintain the system.
Cable companies don't make a whole lot of money from offering cable internet. Consider the type of bandwidth necessary to offer 100,000 customers 2mbit service. Sure it is oversold as not everyone will be using it at the same time but you are still looking at having multiple OC-3s to support that kind of customer base. Most of the cost for your service goes right back into supporting that same system.
Digital cable boxes are authorized by the MSO. So even if you have one or manage to get a pc card that can work with it you still need to get them to enter it into their system. Pretty unlikely.
Most vehicles have a switch under the dash that lets you turn off the alarm once in the vehicle.
Paul Allen owns & started Charter Communications. He may also own shares of Comcast. It's fun when your boss its like the 4th richest person in the world.
Obviously you haven't heard of the 3 free deal where you get 3 recievers and a dish. Want another box? Gotta get a new dish coz it only supports 3.
Next time some script kiddy walks into a cybercafe and uploads MyDoom.C to the net it will be on video and they can be arrested. Bubba in cell block D will make their life the same hell that ISP admins who have to clean up their shit is. Fuck I'm even Pro-mandatory anal rapings for people who are convicted of global virus creation/release. Don't like it? Don't do it.
Cable - Good
------------
Video On Demand
(Awesome service, like having a movie store at your fingers)
Subscriber Video on Demand (Same as above but content is based off of premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, etc.)
Telephony (Voip is here to stay)
DVR (Cable has them too, love mine.)
Local Channels (Weather, news, school closings, community channels)
Local employees (Most satellite companies don't have offices in your town.)
Cable in the classroom (Cable provides free service to schools, and goverment buildings (police, fire, city hall))
Local contracts (Your town signs a franchise agreement with the cable company stating the conditions the service needs to maintained in)
Cable Modems (Do I need to say more?)
Weather (Typically doesn't effect your service)
Analog Channels (Just plug into the coaxial and you got service on all the tvs in your home.)
Cable -- Bad
-----------
Outages (Not that it happens much, but it can and probably will. Sat. is a direct feed to your home, so if someone cuts a fiber 2 miles away it's probably not going to take your service down.)
Oversold Nodes (Too many subscribers, too little equipment. This isn't typically a problem either but it could be)
Sat -- Good
-----------------
Digital picture, digital sound (Looks good, sounds good)
Get it anywhere (Don't need to be on the plant)
DVR (Yep they got it)
Price (It may or may not be cheaper, especially if you start tacking on all the extras. If you got all 500 channels its over $1000 PER MONTH!)
Sat -- Bad
-----------------
Weather (Weather can and probably will effect service from time to time. Especially if you live in an area where it snows frequently.)
Clear Southern Exposure (Gotta have it to work)
Not upgradable (Invest now, if you want a new feature, gotta invest again.)
Local Channels (Most areas still don't have this, you pay an extra $5.00 a month, and reception may not be as good as cables (some sat services use an antenna on the dish to get the channels.))
Boxes needed (Each tv needs it's only box, and most dishes support 3 tvs. So if you have 4 tvs you need a bigger dish and 4 boxes.)
Internet (22,000 miles makes for a LONG ping)
Just my thoughts as I do this stuff for a living.
Typically they advertise as 'Up to x Mbps'. I'm not saying thats honest or correct, but it's apparently a legal loophole.
The key to unlocking this mystery is to decipher it via the sizzolator
John Von Neumann, the man with one of the strongest claims to the title of Father of Modren Computing.
Yuck. I am so not going to touch his keyboard.
If a laptop explodes while I'm on my way to Punta Cana in the Domican Republic next week I'm blaming you.
From the network info they provide it looks like this is a standard OC-3. In the days of high speed internet thats enough for about 103 simultaneous users using 1.5 mbit each to max the pipe. Since that probably will never happen I would estimate that it's enough to support approximately 8,000 users decent bandwidth. A lot of the world still doesn't have high speed internet available to it, so for them this is big news.
I agree with you 100%, but in really big companies the marketing department gets the majority of the say. They convince a top VP, who says do it that way and that's how stuff happens. The engineers end up trying to implement what someone else decided on for the most part.
Actually it's one page, and pretty easy to understand.
Sorry to reply to myself but the after a month line should be after a week.
I Am a Network Engineer For A Major Cable Company... Most broadband companies has a TOS or AUP (Terms of service/Acceptable Use Policy) which defines the conditions the service is to be used under. Typically when you are installed with service you sign some paperwork that says you agree to blah, blah, blah. Which typically includes not running a server of any kind, violating copyright agreements, and excessive use of bandwidth. Usually that's defined as whatever the company feels is excessive. In my case, continously maxing the upstream for several days will cause an alert to show up in our monitoring utilities. Typically I don't really care as long as it doesn't affect the performance of other customer's service, if it does then I will contact the customer and give them a warning about it. If they continue to abuse the service they will be turned off for a week. They then can have service after a month but if they again abuse the service then they are permanetly turned off. Now I read some concerns about loosing customers due to a policy such as this, but in order to provide high speed internet access at a competitive price it's all about maintaing a ratio between available bandwidth to number of customers. If the ratio breaks due to 1 or 2 customers using too much of the service then the risk occurs that all remaining customers would leave. So it's really about loosing 1 customer in order to keep 50. It might suck, but that's how it goes.
Jesus, the original WTC bombing happened in the early 90s. There were plenty of other incidients prior to this. Doesn't anyone on slashdot know about American history?
I know slashdot hates a conflicting opinion but... They are claiming that Netcraft does not acurately measure physically machines, instead that it counts domain names. So a machine that may be running Apache or IIS and hosting several sites might be evalulated incorrectly. I don't know how Netcraft checks, but if it is based on domain name then it is a representation of internet sites running a particular webserver/os not machines as a whole. Not that it matters much, but it's nice to know the whole truth.
I firmly believe that the only way Linux will make it's way to the masses that would normally use Windows or Mac is for the desktop to be unified. They need an interface that everyone else will know when they need help, not one that looks different.
From glofish.com:
Where do fluorescent zebra fish come from?
Fluorescent zebra fish were specially bred to help detect environmental pollutants. By adding a natural fluorescence gene to the fish, scientists are able to quickly and easily determine when our waterways are contaminated. The first step in developing these pollution detecting fish was to create fish that would be fluorescent all the time. It was only recently that scientists realized the public's interest in sharing the benefits of this research. We call this the GloFish (TM) fluorescent fish.
Isn't the internet illegal there?
I am all for getting 3rd world countries on the internet. I've grown bored of the current 'nature videos' and would like to see the 'nature videos' from places like Sri Lanka, Yemen, and Belize. I can only imagine what can be done with a nose ring, a walking stick, a camel, and a 2 liter pop bottle. (errr...... did I just type that? shit.)
But you need to offer a service that someone wants in order to make money. I think people would pay for linux, it's a great OS, but when its perfectly legal to just download it and install it for free why would you pay for it? Only if the incentive for purchasing it was good enough. There's been plenty of companies that have tried to make a profit selling linux, but only a few have come out ok. I know everybody is going to bitch about the spirit of free software and all that crap, but the people at Red hat have families to feed too. Sometimes I wish linux was cheap not free. $50 for an enterprise class system is a damn good deal.