By choosing to put Value over price Microsoft has once again shot itself in its foot. Or should i say Ballmer needs to throw another chair around the room. Value is what Ubuntu gives me. Forget the price. I get a Quality OS that has multiple levels of operation. If Gnome screws up, i can still drop down to command prompt and get things done. The GUI is only a cover to Ubuntu. Unlike Windows where GUI is the OS. I cannot drop to command line to unfreeze or shut down the system if GUI freezes. That is bad.
When the mere act of sharing a NSL Letter with my lawyer is treated as a crime, when the mere act of having a FlashMob party with my friends at the local Pub becomes a crime, when the mere act of refusing to pay taxes on blank CD/DVDs AND paying a fine to local RIAA for downloading music to my PC becomes a crime, when the congressmen and MPs who were elected by me refuse to listen to me and instead obey the diktats of Moneybags and pass an act that makes it a crime to high-five my friends at school, when the local Town Hall reduces the time between Yellow & Red to a mere 0.3 seconds thus causing me to fender bender another car and refusing to accept responsibility for the crime, that is when i become a criminal. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Great American Jurist said: "Criminals are NOT born. They are made." They are made when the powers that be decide unilaterally to obey moneybags and NOT ME the one who votes for them. They are made when the local police beat to death a peaceful protester and escape responsibility for crime via technicality. They are made when RIAA forces changes laws which force me to pay pirate-taxes on blank CD/DVDs for loss of income from piracy and then charge me with a $5000 settlement fee when i download for free music. Who defines who is a criminal? The police? Since when has a cop been charged with speeding by another cop? The courts? Since when has a judge questioned the legality of the law? The Law as passed by congressmen who consider themselves above the law? Since when was the last time a congressman was given a parking ticket or a speeding ticket by a cop? Since when has congress voted to let the voters approve of pay raises to themselves? Since when has the Government been convicted of violating a law: NSA? Bush? Bush had Beatles on his iPod. Did RIAA due him, convict him? Explain all that to me, before you open your pie-hole.
VISA Prepaid cards don't have a Billing Address. They are meant to be used ONLY at PoS terminals: meaning electronic purchases only. No online crap. If you try using them online, it gets rejected. I used a Citibank prepaid card at my Holiday Inn. Every single damn time you need to have the card present to make a debit. No online, no CNP transactions.
An author sells rights to publish his/her work to different publishers in different countries, and there's often either legal protection or trade agreements to prevent parallel distribution of editions from other regions.
...which was great during the Victorian Era, but not today. Why can't RIAA/MPAA/Publishers realize that their world has changed? Are they that stupid and dumb? An author usually listens to his publisher and is always interested in the Largest audience possible simultaneously (possibly before word gets around that his book stinks). Instead of moving with the tide, these guys try to break the internet on the assumption that on the internet somebody cares you are a US resident.
Nope. Probably you have forgotten about a small law known as PATRIOT Act. It makes sure that for a banking relationship to be established between you AND a US-based bank, you MUST have a US residence. Proof Needed including but not limited to Federal ID and/or Passport of any nation which US has recognized (which means no Taiwan passport), and residence proof by way of lease agreement and/or DMV non-driving ID. In short, you MUST be a lawful US resident to get a US-issued Credit Card.
Which is exactly what i do. None from RIAA/MPAA and the Book Publishers Association have truly realized that the Internet is a blessing for them. They STILL fight it because: 1) They still think in old terms: shipping of CDs, books hardcover and paperback etc. as a way to calculate sales. 2) They still think regional agreements with publishers is essential to control price: which is why you see two prices in Playboy's back: USD and Canadian Dollar (twice as USD) 3) They still hope the internet thingy goes away or is controlled by the Government, so that these morons can decide what people can read/listen/see when these morons decide the date & time. The same was applied when Movies came out first and started destroying roadshows and plays performed on streets. And how Records started mauling Live Concertos. These Live dumbsh1ts started controlling Records and Movies by limiting geographical distribution. Which is exactly what today's RIAA/MPAA/etc are trying to do. And which is bound to fail ultimately. Only a few companies have recognized the ultimate distribution media. Apple did that, but is hobbled with its stupid agreements with RIAA which prevents me from using an India-issued Credit Card for buying Music from iTunes USA store. So what do i do? I download it via torrents or from Russian site. Who's the loser? Not Me. Same with books and ebooks. Some stupid publishers STILL try to limit the ebook mobipocket version i can buy. What do i do? Download from RS or ML. When iam willing to pay for a legal content and these morons refuse to take the money, i don't accept their artificial restrictions: i get them for free. ImpulseDriven and Stardock are two progressive companies. I bought Gal Civ II and Political Machine 2004/2008 the moment it was launched. Why did i buy them? BECAUSE Stardock allowed me to buy them. Not because it did not have DRM (although it was a factor), but because stardock realized that selling people what they wanted is MORE important than artifically restricting their distribution... Way to go Stardock: which is why i bought my Company of Heroes Tales of Valor from them, instead of Steam (steam doesn't allow me to use Indian cards).
IANAL, but i have studied contract law as applicable to financial instruments. Get a Justice of Peace to sign an infringement finding against the provider. Or better yet file a case in small claims court with your proof. Get a judgment against them for violating a contract and asking for enforcement of old contract. Make sure you keep the copy with you, and the judge sends a copy by Normal post to their Registered Office where it is discarded unread. Wait till next month for a violation (they send you a metered bill). Approach the SAME judge and show them the bill, along with record of his past order. This proves the company did not obey a court order. Now you have a variety of choices: Ask the judge to uphold the original contract and force the company to provide you unmetered access and also get the judge to make them NOT disconnect you for enforcing a contract. Or ask them judge to rule against them for financial compensation.
Nice how they just change their agreement with your contract whenever they damn well fell like it.
No, they can't. One of the first Act in Contract laws is that the contracts are immutable. They CANNOT be changed unilaterally by one party. That void the contract. Even if the contract says one party can change terms, it has to be done only after giving due written notice. Posting the same on an obscure site is invalid as has been upheld by courts. Simply state in your letter that since they violated the terms of their contract, you are terminating it and ask for financial compensation.
Australia is a British Commonwealth. Britain and Australia have the same Head of State. Its no wonder that the Orwellian attitude of the Britain is rubbing on its penal colony, which seeks to outlaw free speech under the guise of unAustralian speech. How come when Himmler did this you guys shouted foul? I used Vodafone 9 years ago in Australia and i continue to use Vodafone in every country i go. My friend had Telstra in Sydney and he kept shouting at them every month for billing issues.
Australia??? The land where Telescum is the provider of crappy broadband experience, and where Optus sucks?? Where the Government has plans to engage in gagging free speech at a level that will make Himmler jealous? Seriously??
You just have to hope that they're more benevolent than the other guys trying to do the same
Benevolent Dictator? Adolf Hitler was also benevolent: to his Aryan race. He was the most benevolent leader the Germans ever had (from 1933-1941) Hell they loved him very much. But to get the real picture you have to ask Jews and Poles and Slavs. Google may not be Hitler, or it may be. Remains to be seen.
The Rot started with Nixon. If stupid Gerald Ford hadn't pardoned Nixon, none of this would happen. The mood of the nation at that time was fury at Nixon. He should have been jailed for breaking the law. Ford's pardon showed to future Presidents and Vice-Presidents that they can escape away with breakig the law. Stupid Ford. It serves him right he was defeated in next election.
The comment is fun, but the questions it raises are not. Somehow Google has amassed more information about more people in a period of time that is the quickest in the world. I bet even Gestapo did not have such detailed maps, photos, addresses and names of people it monitored. So much is owned by so Big a company with so little oversight...
Google's response to such limitations was to cease uploading altogether. "We have a bias in favor of freedom of expression and are committed to openness," YouTube Asia spokeswoman Lucinda Barlow, told Yahoo. "It's very important that if users want to be anonymous that they have that chance."
If mob rule is so Great, why then does our congress and stupid fuck senate, consisting of "outbreds" do nothing except shovel our tax money to private companies without oversight? Is it because they are exceptionally brilliant having a combined IQ of 20,000+?
Oh, is it so? Then how come these moronic South Korean courts don't punish Samsung or Hyundai by imprisoning their execs when they played the markets? Just because they are HUGE corporates? Just because their leaders bowed deeply and said sorry to everyone? This is just because the blogger is a poor guy who has no money to defend himself with high powered lawyers against a corrupt system. While we are at that why don't we throw out democracy? After all the rule of Kings was much better: genetic intelligence versus mob rule.
I don't where you live and your local laws, but here in USA it is different: The constitution "guarantees" that your Home CANNOT be invaded without your permission without the due process of law. Which means that if you try to enter my home without my permission OR a warrant, am authorized to use "deadly force" a.k.a Your face would be peppered with the cold slug shots from my.38 magnum. And while you are singing your way to heaven on your Golden Harp, you will notice that no court in USA will convict me for defending myself & my property.
When they aren't available, we'll probably start buying new machines with Windows 7 or 8,
Nope. We will hack existing XP licenses to run them on new hardware. Why, for fcuk's sake would anyone want to move away from XP? Its one the the MOST stable OS Microsoft has ever produced (apart from NT 3.5.1, but noobs here would not know Helen Custer or NT 3.5 in its early days).
Any upgrade of a OS over an existing one is akin to putting on one condom over another and hoping that you don't catch HIV, while at the same time wanting to experience the pleasure of not wearing any condom at all.
No. The real solution is to strip away the immunity for CEOs and corporate executives who hide behind the veil of corporate bodies. If a corporation is charged with criminal offences, stick the CEO and the board with same criminal offence. If convicted, the entire board goes to jail: whether it is polluting the water supply or Grand Theft. Once one CEO and one board is sent to jail BECAUSE of corporate conviction, the rest of the baboons will get the message. Only when placed under a personal perspective does a person realize the after-effects of his actions.
Build up a lobby, seek donations and lobby your congressman for changing the law to audit them or pass a "use or lose" law. Money speaks my friend, and this is especially true in Washington halls. Build a movement, gather some real dollars, hire the best lobbyist your money can buy and get the law changed. Just writing to your congressman doesn't do any good, except to waste trees.
So, you mean to say that if i want to see one pound of Kellogs' corn flakes in my one pound box, i better pay full price of one pound? In other words, you mean that you would brand it as one-pound kellog corn flakes, but it actually contains only 1/3 pound for which i pay the price of one pound. Now, suddenly, if i wake up and measure it, and start demanding one pound for one pound, you say i need to pay the "actual" price? Wow! In ancient times it was known as coin-clipping, weight-pinching and bakers' dozen. They all met the same fate: Death at the Wheel. You say 30Mbps at $30/- a month. I say 30Mbps a month. You charge $300/- ???? I don't know how it is in US, but in India this is outlawed, and unlike US, the CEO really gets arrested for the same: http://www.thestandard.com/internetnews/002595.php/ No hiding behind the corporate veil crap here. In Saudi Arabia it is worse. I wish you use your funny logic in India. The Regulatory bodies here are itching for victims and politicians are looking to get elected by cracking down on corrupt companies...
True. In India, it is 50GB a month at 16 Mbps speed for US$100 a month. That includes 50 free telephone calls (you do not get naked DSL, because their billing system expects telephone number. But hey its free). Hell, the law states that providers of Cable TV, DTH and IPTV must provide channels on a-la-carte basis. No bundling of channels you don't want. Ya, the providers cried that this will make them suffer losses, the government asked them to shut shop and pay exit tax (!) before they leave the country.
1) No traffic shaping crap (disallowed under law). 2) No throttling (again disallowed under law: actually its a criminal offense to throttle a connection here, seems Vodafone tried it and a few thousand of their subscribers switched quietly to state provider. Vodafone got this law passed!) 3) No protocol blocking. I used BitTorrent to download Johnny Sokko & his Flying Robot series recently (its in open domain). My Steam powered games work great. Relic's Tales of Valor is able to use peer-to-peer patch downloading. 4) Clear bills detailing KB/MB/GB used per day. 5) VoIP (skype and other crap) allowed inherently, until this Government passed a law banning those. (highly unlikely considering the party will lose next elections if it does). 6) A State owned provider which is aggressive in pricing, servicing (i have two DSLs: state-owned provider at 2Mbps and a private one at 16Mbps, not because i use both, but because the state owned telephone i use gave me the DSL by default). This forces private operators to increase bandwidth and speed or die. And no, India does not provide bailouts of even state-owned companies. Hell, the state owned provider is so aggressive in expansion, that it has linked almost all small towns with 2Mbps connections. In cities, it has offers daily for new subscribers and if you are moving out of private provider, they are extra smiling) 7) No minimum contract period. The private providers experimented with 2 year contracts, but soon realized that the state provider dropped contracts from its clause, and with it gained a HUGE business. So now, no provider has any contracts. 8) Reachable customer service: You talk to a real person every single damn time. No automated menus crap to complain. You get a ticket number and if its not resolved within 3 days (again set by law), you don't need to pay your bill until resolved. 9) Every year the telecom regulator publishes a report detailing each provider's uptime/downtime, performance, quality, customer satisfaction, etc. This is submitted to public at their website: http://www.trai.gov.in/Default.asp/
The flip side? 1) Cities are HUGE markets here: stiff competition. In small towns & villages? Not so much. The state owned provider is the only provider. But they maintain their service quality at a high rate since their promotions depend directly on customer satisfcation in those villages. 2) Silent disconnection if bills not paid. No warning whatsoever. If you feel charges are expensive, complain and get a ticket number. If you don't have a ticket number and refuse to pay, DSL will be disconnected without warning. 3) Slow process of law. The law is quite advanced. In fact India was the first nation to regulate internet providers in 2000 with specific laws applicable to them: like digital contracts, etc.
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By choosing to put Value over price Microsoft has once again shot itself in its foot. Or should i say Ballmer needs to throw another chair around the room.
Value is what Ubuntu gives me.
Forget the price.
I get a Quality OS that has multiple levels of operation. If Gnome screws up, i can still drop down to command prompt and get things done.
The GUI is only a cover to Ubuntu.
Unlike Windows where GUI is the OS. I cannot drop to command line to unfreeze or shut down the system if GUI freezes.
That is bad.
When the mere act of sharing a NSL Letter with my lawyer is treated as a crime, when the mere act of having a FlashMob party with my friends at the local Pub becomes a crime, when the mere act of refusing to pay taxes on blank CD/DVDs AND paying a fine to local RIAA for downloading music to my PC becomes a crime, when the congressmen and MPs who were elected by me refuse to listen to me and instead obey the diktats of Moneybags and pass an act that makes it a crime to high-five my friends at school, when the local Town Hall reduces the time between Yellow & Red to a mere 0.3 seconds thus causing me to fender bender another car and refusing to accept responsibility for the crime, that is when i become a criminal.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Great American Jurist said: "Criminals are NOT born. They are made."
They are made when the powers that be decide unilaterally to obey moneybags and NOT ME the one who votes for them.
They are made when the local police beat to death a peaceful protester and escape responsibility for crime via technicality.
They are made when RIAA forces changes laws which force me to pay pirate-taxes on blank CD/DVDs for loss of income from piracy and then charge me with a $5000 settlement fee when i download for free music.
Who defines who is a criminal?
The police? Since when has a cop been charged with speeding by another cop?
The courts? Since when has a judge questioned the legality of the law?
The Law as passed by congressmen who consider themselves above the law? Since when was the last time a congressman was given a parking ticket or a speeding ticket by a cop?
Since when has congress voted to let the voters approve of pay raises to themselves?
Since when has the Government been convicted of violating a law: NSA? Bush?
Bush had Beatles on his iPod. Did RIAA due him, convict him?
Explain all that to me, before you open your pie-hole.
Nope. Not Electron.
Just Citibank VISA prepaid card.
Probably because it was from Citi...
VISA Prepaid cards don't have a Billing Address. They are meant to be used ONLY at PoS terminals: meaning electronic purchases only. No online crap.
If you try using them online, it gets rejected. I used a Citibank prepaid card at my Holiday Inn. Every single damn time you need to have the card present to make a debit. No online, no CNP transactions.
Why can't RIAA/MPAA/Publishers realize that their world has changed? Are they that stupid and dumb?
An author usually listens to his publisher and is always interested in the Largest audience possible simultaneously (possibly before word gets around that his book stinks).
Instead of moving with the tide, these guys try to break the internet on the assumption that on the internet somebody cares you are a US resident.
Nope. Probably you have forgotten about a small law known as PATRIOT Act.
It makes sure that for a banking relationship to be established between you AND a US-based bank, you MUST have a US residence. Proof Needed including but not limited to Federal ID and/or Passport of any nation which US has recognized (which means no Taiwan passport), and residence proof by way of lease agreement and/or DMV non-driving ID.
In short, you MUST be a lawful US resident to get a US-issued Credit Card.
Which is exactly what i do.
None from RIAA/MPAA and the Book Publishers Association have truly realized that the Internet is a blessing for them.
They STILL fight it because:
1) They still think in old terms: shipping of CDs, books hardcover and paperback etc. as a way to calculate sales.
2) They still think regional agreements with publishers is essential to control price: which is why you see two prices in Playboy's back: USD and Canadian Dollar (twice as USD)
3) They still hope the internet thingy goes away or is controlled by the Government, so that these morons can decide what people can read/listen/see when these morons decide the date & time.
The same was applied when Movies came out first and started destroying roadshows and plays performed on streets. And how Records started mauling Live Concertos. These Live dumbsh1ts started controlling Records and Movies by limiting geographical distribution.
Which is exactly what today's RIAA/MPAA/etc are trying to do.
And which is bound to fail ultimately.
Only a few companies have recognized the ultimate distribution media. Apple did that, but is hobbled with its stupid agreements with RIAA which prevents me from using an India-issued Credit Card for buying Music from iTunes USA store.
So what do i do? I download it via torrents or from Russian site.
Who's the loser? Not Me.
Same with books and ebooks. Some stupid publishers STILL try to limit the ebook mobipocket version i can buy.
What do i do? Download from RS or ML.
When iam willing to pay for a legal content and these morons refuse to take the money, i don't accept their artificial restrictions: i get them for free.
ImpulseDriven and Stardock are two progressive companies. I bought Gal Civ II and Political Machine 2004/2008 the moment it was launched. Why did i buy them? BECAUSE Stardock allowed me to buy them.
Not because it did not have DRM (although it was a factor), but because stardock realized that selling people what they wanted is MORE important than artifically restricting their distribution...
Way to go Stardock: which is why i bought my Company of Heroes Tales of Valor from them, instead of Steam (steam doesn't allow me to use Indian cards).
IANAL, but i have studied contract law as applicable to financial instruments.
Get a Justice of Peace to sign an infringement finding against the provider.
Or better yet file a case in small claims court with your proof.
Get a judgment against them for violating a contract and asking for enforcement of old contract.
Make sure you keep the copy with you, and the judge sends a copy by Normal post to their Registered Office where it is discarded unread.
Wait till next month for a violation (they send you a metered bill).
Approach the SAME judge and show them the bill, along with record of his past order. This proves the company did not obey a court order.
Now you have a variety of choices: Ask the judge to uphold the original contract and force the company to provide you unmetered access and also get the judge to make them NOT disconnect you for enforcing a contract.
Or ask them judge to rule against them for financial compensation.
Nice how they just change their agreement with your contract whenever they damn well fell like it.
No, they can't.
One of the first Act in Contract laws is that the contracts are immutable. They CANNOT be changed unilaterally by one party. That void the contract.
Even if the contract says one party can change terms, it has to be done only after giving due written notice. Posting the same on an obscure site is invalid as has been upheld by courts.
Simply state in your letter that since they violated the terms of their contract, you are terminating it and ask for financial compensation.
Australia is a British Commonwealth. Britain and Australia have the same Head of State.
Its no wonder that the Orwellian attitude of the Britain is rubbing on its penal colony, which seeks to outlaw free speech under the guise of unAustralian speech.
How come when Himmler did this you guys shouted foul?
I used Vodafone 9 years ago in Australia and i continue to use Vodafone in every country i go.
My friend had Telstra in Sydney and he kept shouting at them every month for billing issues.
Australia??? The land where Telescum is the provider of crappy broadband experience, and where Optus sucks??
Where the Government has plans to engage in gagging free speech at a level that will make Himmler jealous?
Seriously??
You just have to hope that they're more benevolent than the other guys trying to do the same
Benevolent Dictator?
Adolf Hitler was also benevolent: to his Aryan race. He was the most benevolent leader the Germans ever had (from 1933-1941)
Hell they loved him very much.
But to get the real picture you have to ask Jews and Poles and Slavs.
Google may not be Hitler, or it may be. Remains to be seen.
The Rot started with Nixon.
If stupid Gerald Ford hadn't pardoned Nixon, none of this would happen.
The mood of the nation at that time was fury at Nixon. He should have been jailed for breaking the law.
Ford's pardon showed to future Presidents and Vice-Presidents that they can escape away with breakig the law.
Stupid Ford. It serves him right he was defeated in next election.
The comment is fun, but the questions it raises are not.
Somehow Google has amassed more information about more people in a period of time that is the quickest in the world.
I bet even Gestapo did not have such detailed maps, photos, addresses and names of people it monitored.
So much is owned by so Big a company with so little oversight...
It's surprising that Google ejects South Korea while continuing to hand over its user information to Brazil and India and kowtowing to Chinese for Censorship .
Very odd.
If mob rule is so Great, why then does our congress and stupid fuck senate, consisting of "outbreds" do nothing except shovel our tax money to private companies without oversight?
Is it because they are exceptionally brilliant having a combined IQ of 20,000+?
Oh, is it so?
Then how come these moronic South Korean courts don't punish Samsung or Hyundai by imprisoning their execs when they played the markets?
Just because they are HUGE corporates? Just because their leaders bowed deeply and said sorry to everyone?
This is just because the blogger is a poor guy who has no money to defend himself with high powered lawyers against a corrupt system.
While we are at that why don't we throw out democracy? After all the rule of Kings was much better: genetic intelligence versus mob rule.
I don't where you live and your local laws, but here in USA it is different: .38 magnum.
The constitution "guarantees" that your Home CANNOT be invaded without your permission without the due process of law.
Which means that if you try to enter my home without my permission OR a warrant, am authorized to use "deadly force" a.k.a Your face would be peppered with the cold slug shots from my
And while you are singing your way to heaven on your Golden Harp, you will notice that no court in USA will convict me for defending myself & my property.
Nope. We will hack existing XP licenses to run them on new hardware.
Why, for fcuk's sake would anyone want to move away from XP?
Its one the the MOST stable OS Microsoft has ever produced (apart from NT 3.5.1, but noobs here would not know Helen Custer or NT 3.5 in its early days).
Any upgrade of a OS over an existing one is akin to putting on one condom over another and hoping that you don't catch HIV, while at the same time wanting to experience the pleasure of not wearing any condom at all.
No. The real solution is to strip away the immunity for CEOs and corporate executives who hide behind the veil of corporate bodies.
If a corporation is charged with criminal offences, stick the CEO and the board with same criminal offence.
If convicted, the entire board goes to jail: whether it is polluting the water supply or Grand Theft.
Once one CEO and one board is sent to jail BECAUSE of corporate conviction, the rest of the baboons will get the message.
Only when placed under a personal perspective does a person realize the after-effects of his actions.
Build up a lobby, seek donations and lobby your congressman for changing the law to audit them or pass a "use or lose" law.
Money speaks my friend, and this is especially true in Washington halls.
Build a movement, gather some real dollars, hire the best lobbyist your money can buy and get the law changed.
Just writing to your congressman doesn't do any good, except to waste trees.
So, you mean to say that if i want to see one pound of Kellogs' corn flakes in my one pound box, i better pay full price of one pound?
In other words, you mean that you would brand it as one-pound kellog corn flakes, but it actually contains only 1/3 pound for which i pay the price of one pound.
Now, suddenly, if i wake up and measure it, and start demanding one pound for one pound, you say i need to pay the "actual" price?
Wow!
In ancient times it was known as coin-clipping, weight-pinching and bakers' dozen. They all met the same fate: Death at the Wheel.
You say 30Mbps at $30/- a month. I say 30Mbps a month. You charge $300/- ????
I don't know how it is in US, but in India this is outlawed, and unlike US, the CEO really gets arrested for the same: http://www.thestandard.com/internetnews/002595.php/
No hiding behind the corporate veil crap here.
In Saudi Arabia it is worse.
I wish you use your funny logic in India. The Regulatory bodies here are itching for victims and politicians are looking to get elected by cracking down on corrupt companies...
True.
In India, it is 50GB a month at 16 Mbps speed for US$100 a month. That includes 50 free telephone calls (you do not get naked DSL, because their billing system expects telephone number. But hey its free).
Hell, the law states that providers of Cable TV, DTH and IPTV must provide channels on a-la-carte basis. No bundling of channels you don't want.
Ya, the providers cried that this will make them suffer losses, the government asked them to shut shop and pay exit tax (!) before they leave the country.
1) No traffic shaping crap (disallowed under law).
2) No throttling (again disallowed under law: actually its a criminal offense to throttle a connection here, seems Vodafone tried it and a few thousand of their subscribers switched quietly to state provider. Vodafone got this law passed!)
3) No protocol blocking. I used BitTorrent to download Johnny Sokko & his Flying Robot series recently (its in open domain). My Steam powered games work great. Relic's Tales of Valor is able to use peer-to-peer patch downloading.
4) Clear bills detailing KB/MB/GB used per day.
5) VoIP (skype and other crap) allowed inherently, until this Government passed a law banning those. (highly unlikely considering the party will lose next elections if it does).
6) A State owned provider which is aggressive in pricing, servicing (i have two DSLs: state-owned provider at 2Mbps and a private one at 16Mbps, not because i use both, but because the state owned telephone i use gave me the DSL by default). This forces private operators to increase bandwidth and speed or die. And no, India does not provide bailouts of even state-owned companies.
Hell, the state owned provider is so aggressive in expansion, that it has linked almost all small towns with 2Mbps connections. In cities, it has offers daily for new subscribers and if you are moving out of private provider, they are extra smiling)
7) No minimum contract period. The private providers experimented with 2 year contracts, but soon realized that the state provider dropped contracts from its clause, and with it gained a HUGE business. So now, no provider has any contracts.
8) Reachable customer service: You talk to a real person every single damn time. No automated menus crap to complain. You get a ticket number and if its not resolved within 3 days (again set by law), you don't need to pay your bill until resolved.
9) Every year the telecom regulator publishes a report detailing each provider's uptime/downtime, performance, quality, customer satisfaction, etc. This is submitted to public at their website: http://www.trai.gov.in/Default.asp/
The flip side?
1) Cities are HUGE markets here: stiff competition. In small towns & villages? Not so much. The state owned provider is the only provider. But they maintain their service quality at a high rate since their promotions depend directly on customer satisfcation in those villages.
2) Silent disconnection if bills not paid. No warning whatsoever. If you feel charges are expensive, complain and get a ticket number. If you don't have a ticket number and refuse to pay, DSL will be disconnected without warning.
3) Slow process of law. The law is quite advanced. In fact India was the first nation to regulate internet providers in 2000 with specific laws applicable to them: like digital contracts, etc.
scaring someone into signing a contract that they don't understand invalidates the contract.
Tell that to the thousands of single moms and students who "settled" with RIAA.