FCC chair: Speed standard of 25Mbps down, 3Mbps up isn’t good enough anymore::Chair proposes 100Mbps national standard and an evaluation of broadband prices.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Here’s an interesting thing- we had Spectrum on copper and we’re semi-rural so it was only about 30/5. Then a local company came in and offered to install fiber in the neighborhood if 40% signed up. Suddenly our Spectrum speeds went up to about 80/10. Then the neighborhood told Spectrum to fuck off and now we have decent fiber speeds. I’m getting 400/400 now and I could get it even faster if I wanted to pay for it.

    • mr_tyler_durden@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Yep, typical. Spectrum in my area (like 5-7 years ago) suddenly over doubled everyone’s speeds almost overnight once competition came in. I loved telling them to pound sand as I got symmetrical gigabit installed.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Holy shit, there are people still using 25/3? How the heck can you function with that? I’m not entirely facetious: with trackers and ads and “web 2.0” nonsense and way over provisioning , I’ve seen “simple” web sites bog down on much faster connections.

    As one data point, my ex had Comcast’s, I think 50/5 or something, and my kids constantly complained about the network over there. Part of it is being spoiled by my true gigabit symmetrical, part of it is the worst company in America, but the reality is that it’s noticeable

    • regbin_@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      25/3 is perfectly usable for a single user, provided you don’t need to upload stuff. Watching 1080p60 on YouTube only needs slightly over 12 mbps.

      I’m not defending the current state of the internet services, just saying it’s not that bad.

    • FoulBeastie@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Best connection available in my town is a super overpriced 25/3, but what you actually get is more like 10/0.5. No fiber lines, no other providers around other than satellite, and no demand for more means it’s just stagnant here

    • ebits21@lemmy.ca
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      2 years ago

      I have this and find it fine 🤷🏻‍♂️

      I can watch video streaming fine, browse fine, multiple family members.

      Yeah fast would be nicer but I don’t really have issues.

    • Zarxrax@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I get like 20mbps down and it’s fine. Netflix only recommends 15 Mbps for 4k streaming. Lol, looking at websites and stuff is certainly not a problem. About the only time speed has ever been an issue is if I need to download a large game on steam. But I attribute that more to developers just being too lazy to actually optimize their games. I shouldn’t need to download 50 gigabytes to play some game when I’m just running at medium settings.

  • MisterD@lemmy.ca
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    2 years ago

    Yes, let’s pay them to just take the money… for the third time!

  • QubaXR@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Asymmetric speeds are a disgrace. Internet used to be about exchange of content, ideas and collaboration. You consumed, but also contributed. The overall focus on high download low upload is clearly the sign telcos want Internet to be just a troth of content, not much different from cable tv.

  • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 years ago

    Pathetic. The acceptance of this terrible service speed shows how the American public is so isolated they don’t know when they’re being shafted by big business and the politicians the rich and powerful own.

    No more lobbying. Institutionalized bribery is killing the American public. Healthcare, food, workplace rights and safety, and quality of services. Everything’s compromised.

  • FantasticFox@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I have 500Mbps in Spain. Is it that bad in the American cities or is it only like rural Montana that has these speeds?

    • dman87@sh.itjust.works
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      2 years ago

      Honestly, it’s highly variable. Generally speaking, more populated areas tend to have much better options for internet and in some large markets even have a degree of competition.

      In my case, I live in a town of only 180k or so people. At my home, I am able to get 1.2 gbps download from Comcast. They are the only option in my direct vicinity with this much bandwidth. The alernative is AT&T with only DSL as an option. I don’t remember the top tier. But, it’s considerably slower at maybe 100 mbps or something like that.

      • FantasticFox@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Wow, that’s pretty good for a town of that size. I live in a city of 1.6 Million. I think I might be able to get 1 gbps if I shop around, but I don’t think much more than that is available to normal consumers at least.

    • Asifall@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      The issue is mostly that it’s highly variable, hard to change without moving, and hard to predict before you actually live somewhere.

      The comcast rep will happily take your money to put you on a 200mb plan, but it won’t do shit if the infrastructure in your area is bad, and Comcast (or whoever the isp is) has absolutely zero responsibility to actually provide the promised services. Now you add in that 95% of the population including most of the phone reps working for the ISPs don’t even know the difference between a bit and a byte and it becomes a total crap shoot.

      • FantasticFox@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        That’s the same here too. My first apartment only had ADSL. In 2015.

        I couldn’t even watch Netflix without it stopping to buffer.

        I really wish they would put internet speeds on apartment offers etc.

      • Demdaru@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        …wow. That’s so shit. Where I live, your internet provider has to have the ability to provide the service or like with every other service provider it’s really open for lawyer action.

        This also makes so that internet providers are at the same time keeping their own infrastructure around which in turn makes that yet another selling point (“we have up to 1 gbps in your area!”) and makes them keep it in top-notch condition.

    • JiveTurkey@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I live in middle America and oddly enough the rural areas have started getting fiber from utility companies. I live in a town of about 40,000 and the best you can hope for is either DSL from AT&T which is maybe 25Mbps with perfect conditions or Optimum Cable internet which is sold as “Gigabit” that never breaks 400Mbps and cost about $120/mo. I’ve also had to file multiple complaints with the FCC to have issues resolved. My connection for about 6 months was completely unusable when it rained and even after “fixing” the issue I have severely reduced speeds when it rains. It’s an absolute joke and nothing is in place to protect consumers from any of this BS.

  • KiloPapa@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I live in hotels. A good week is when I can measure in Mb and not Kb. A great one is when it’s more than 3mbps on a regular basis.😢

  • harbo@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I want fiber internet so bad, I live in a relatively big city for Christ’s sake it shouldn’t take this long

  • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Ajit Pai never raised download speeds? Nooo. You don’t say. Asshole who was against net neutrality didn’t do anything to increase quality of network. Can’t be.

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    They considered that a standard? 25 meg?

    Jesus wept. I haven’t had internet that slow in well over a decade here in the UK!

    How do they manage things like 150GB game downloads over there, or 3 or 4 people all using the connection at the same time…

    • Perhyte@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Not so much a standard as in “everyone should actually use the internet at this speed” but more as in “the bare minimum level, everyone should have at least this speed available (and we’ll help pay to upgrade people stuck at slower speeds)”, I believe.

      It was still a low speed for that of course. It apparently hadn’t been raised since the Obama administration (2015).


      Rural internet speeds are often… not comparable to more densely populated areas, shall we say. My (European) perspective: I had about ~3 Mbit down (over ADSL) until I moved about a decade ago (on a good day, while paying for “up to 40 Mbit” (IIRC) that the line apparently just could not physically deliver to my house). Meanwhile, 1 km along the road people in town had cable internet (~100 Mbit down).

      Luckily, both populations have since benefited from a fiber rollout by a smaller telco, but people in town still got that upgrade about 5 years sooner and without paying a ~€2k connection fee. AFAIK there are still areas in my country where ADSL is the best available…

    • antijava@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I’m in a hotel in London now and am getting less than 10/10. So not necessarily better. I’m an American who normally suffers under Comcast and have 60/25 or so at home.