[Gslug-general] ISPs

[Derek Simkowiak]

Paul B:
>> In greece, and
>> probably elsewhere in the world, I can get 20mbit/1mbit ADSL for less
>> than $30 a month. (20 euros).


    Just catching up on some old mail here, but had to throw in my $0.02 
(EUR0.01):

Paul B> /When competition exists, the people simply do better, but when 
companies have monopolies, it simply hurts the people./   

    Agreed 100%.

    Thanks to a neutered FCC, the U.S. telecoms have spent the last few 
years merging together.  AT&T, after multiple mergers (Cingular, 
BellSouth, SBC, etc.), is now almost as big as it was in the Ma Bell 
days.  Because of conglomeration, phone service is more expensive (as 
was predicted in 2004 by The Phoenix Center).  The consumer price for 
SMS text messaging has doubled in the last three years.

    Another example: the number of major media companies in the US has 
gone from 50 in 1983 to about 6 today (with some fuzziness, depending on 
your definitions of "major" and "media").  That says something about why 
~40% of Americans still believe Saddam Hussein had something to do with 
9/11.

    Comcast's Terms Of Service are horrible.  So are Verizon's.  Comcast 
recently (arbitrarily) blocked a port on me.  I'd love to have more 
competition for net access.

RijilV> And fwiw I'd sign up for govt run health care :)


    So would I, but that's because a greater risk pool means lower 
costs.  (Some things, like schools, roads, police, and defense, belong 
in the commonwealth.)


--Derek

Paul Bartell wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 9:48 PM, RijilV <rijilv at riji.lv> wrote:
>   
>> 2009/1/14 Paul Bartell <paul.bartell at gmail.com>
>>     
>>> Eh. Well.. .Verizon is no angel company either. Frankly, i think
>>> blocking inbound port 80 traffic is a crime, even if its not a
>>> business plan. Bascially, they are all evil. Speakeasy might be more
>>> expensive (IS more expensive) but well worth it.
>>>       
>> Yeah, I use speakeasy.  Normal ADSL interleave issues (eg: high ping times),
>> I think it costs too much, but eh, they don't filter and I know alot of cool
>> guys working there.
>>
>>
>>     
> agreed. For seattle at least, they are pretty much the best choice.
>
>   
>>> Frankly, im saddened that ADSL2 hasent caught on. We dont need fiber
>>> networks yet, and upgrading to fiber is an un needed cost. I cant see
>>> people needing more than 24mbps (downstreme), at least in the next 7
>>> years. (after that all bets are off and the internet will probably be
>>> so congested it will be unusable.)
>>>       
>> Is that kinda like the "640k is enough" story :) ?   Seriously though,
>> doesn't MPEG2 @ 1080P have a max bit rate of 40mbps?
>>
>>     
> Right... I knew that would come up. But i can't see how even FiOS
> could handle that reliably (we all know how wonderful verizon is in
> fufilling their contracts.
>
>   
>>> I think this thread attests to the US' telecom problem. In greece, and
>>> probably elsewhere in the world, I can get 20mbit/1mbit ADSL for less
>>> than $30 a month. (20 euros). There are so many ISPs to choose from
>>> that there is actually competition. This contrasts to a few years ago
>>> when DSL was limited to being provided only by the state owned telecom
>>> (which is no longer state owned), and in which speeds were much lower.
>>> When competition exists, the people simply do better, but when
>>> companies have monopolies, it simply hurts the people.
>>>       
>> Eh, we don't have many if any ISPs that give customers  NAT'ed addresses.  I
>> don't have numbers handy, but I know in various contries they do..  And fwiw
>> I'd sign up for govt run health care :)
>>
>>     
> err actually.. .They are Dynamic, but not NATed.
>
> loosely translated from http://www.hol.gr/default.asp?pID=23&ct=6&itmID=51&la=1
>
> under addons
>
> Static IP.
>
> So really, they offer more than ISPs here would offer.
>
> It still baffles me that this can be possible.
>
>   
>> Cheers!
>>
>> .r'
>>
>>     
>
>
>
>   

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