I tried the Wal-Mart service earlier in the year, and unless they drastically can improve their delivery times, Netflix doesn't have anything to worry about for quite a while.
I had used Netflix for about 2 years, and generally was decently satisfied with their service, although their constant changing of rates was annoying and off putting.
As an example, if I rented a DVD from NetFlix that had immediate availability, I would recieve the DVD approximately 2 days later. Not a bad turn around.
Contrast that to Wal-Mart, which first, must have a drastically smaller inventory (or not as friendly of a reservation system to new buyers as Netflix) because almost all DVD's had a long wait. On movies that were available now, the EARLIEST I ever recieved a DVD was 5 days after I had ordered.
Now I realize that proximity to distribution centers probobly greatly affects transit time, but for myself the inventory of Netflix coupled with quicker deliver time made me switch back.
Our Fiber connection comes from NoaNet (www.noanet.com) and uses the existing BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) infrastructure. The pricing we recieve is based on 95th percentile billing, so you aren't charged on what your actual use is, but on what your average use is.
Most end customers use very little bandwidth, but then burst when they are downloading a large file, demo, etc...
Currently we have no plans to clamp or cap as you refer to it bandwidth. We do charge more as your usage increases, but at under $2 a GB, it is fairly reasonable.
I would agree with you that Mason County is in the middle of BFE, being that I live in Shelton, Mason County's metropolis of 6,000 people.
BUT, the reason Fiber is here has nothing to do with Schools. It has to do with the Electric company (Mason County PUD 3) using BPA Fiber and making it available to their customers.
This is dead wrong. Mason County does not have any Hydro generation at all. The Cisco rep may have been thinking of Grant County in Washington, which has 3 Hydroelectric dams. They are also doing a fiber to the home project as well.
Slashdot Mirror
I tried the Wal-Mart service earlier in the year, and unless they drastically can improve their delivery times, Netflix doesn't have anything to worry about for quite a while. I had used Netflix for about 2 years, and generally was decently satisfied with their service, although their constant changing of rates was annoying and off putting. As an example, if I rented a DVD from NetFlix that had immediate availability, I would recieve the DVD approximately 2 days later. Not a bad turn around. Contrast that to Wal-Mart, which first, must have a drastically smaller inventory (or not as friendly of a reservation system to new buyers as Netflix) because almost all DVD's had a long wait. On movies that were available now, the EARLIEST I ever recieved a DVD was 5 days after I had ordered. Now I realize that proximity to distribution centers probobly greatly affects transit time, but for myself the inventory of Netflix coupled with quicker deliver time made me switch back.
Our Fiber connection comes from NoaNet (www.noanet.com) and uses the existing BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) infrastructure. The pricing we recieve is based on 95th percentile billing, so you aren't charged on what your actual use is, but on what your average use is.
Most end customers use very little bandwidth, but then burst when they are downloading a large file, demo, etc...
Currently we have no plans to clamp or cap as you refer to it bandwidth. We do charge more as your usage increases, but at under $2 a GB, it is fairly reasonable.
I would agree with you that Mason County is in the middle of BFE, being that I live in Shelton, Mason County's metropolis of 6,000 people.
BUT, the reason Fiber is here has nothing to do with Schools. It has to do with the Electric company (Mason County PUD 3) using BPA Fiber and making it available to their customers.
This is dead wrong. Mason County does not have any Hydro generation at all. The Cisco rep may have been thinking of Grant County in Washington, which has 3 Hydroelectric dams. They are also doing a fiber to the home project as well.
Juyst to clarify, Donobi is just one of many ISP's on our fiber network. The Fiber itself is being laid by Mason County PUD3.
The PUD website is http://www.masonpud3.org
There you can find a complete list of retailers, and more information on the Fiber project.