Two-thirds of Americans surf the Web at less than 10Mbps

[ThrashZone]

The problem in the US is that decent high speed service is very expensive. In Germany where I live half of the year I pay appr. $20 for DSL 6000. In the US I pay $37 for DSL3000. That is about twice as much for half of the speed. No wonder people stay on the low cost sevices.

I heard that,
To tell the truth I can not tell the difference between the high priced plans and the lowest plan available for the u-verse service,
It's all dollars to the isp and of course they push the higher plans on the illusion of them delivering such a service and when a user doesn't receive it they "isp" say it's peak hours.... seems every time of the day is peak traffic hours

 

[lehnerus2000]

Agreed

Incidentally, the "4K" moniker is stupid. It artificially inflates the "resolution" of the video by switching from measuring vertical height as was the case with 720p/1080p to measuring horizontal width. Going by prior standards, 4K content is actually 2160p.

Agreed 100%.

Marketing.

 

[Computer0304]

I ll wait until there is a bypass for that for getting a 4k display.

 

[whs]

The problem in the US is that decent high speed service is very expensive. In Germany where I live half of the year I pay appr. $20 for DSL 6000. In the US I pay $37 for DSL3000. That is about twice as much for half of the speed. No wonder people stay on the low cost sevices.

I heard that,
To tell the truth I can not tell the difference between the high priced plans and the lowest plan available for the u-verse service,
It's all dollars to the isp and of course they push the higher plans on the illusion of them delivering such a service and when a user doesn't receive it they "isp" say it's peak hours.... seems every time of the day is peak traffic hours

There we have an advantage in the EU. Customer protection is very high on the EU agenda. They have a big agency where you can go and complain and they will do something about that. They issue stiff fines - like MS once had to pay nearly a Billion Dollar for not adhering to an agreement.

 

[GARoss]

I envy all those who have internet speeds 10mbs & faster. Like many here, I live in the country where providers will not invest $$$ where so few live. Can't blame them.

Our DSL is between 5-6mbs tops. Plenty fast enough web browsing but not nearly fast enough for streaming Netflix HD. There is a company that offers wireless 4G-like service but I'm not so sure we are within range to receive it. They guarantee 10mbs & offer no data limit packages.

 

[whs]

4G is often only in the metropolitan areas. They need cell towers that are close to you. 4G is fast but as far as I have seen also expensive. Verizon seems to have the best coverage.

Comparing 4G coverage | Dialed In - CNET Blogs

 

[GARoss]

4G is often only in the metropolitan areas. They need cell towers that are close to you. 4G is fast but as far as I have seen also expensive. Verizon seems to have the best coverage.

Comparing 4G coverage | Dialed In - CNET Blogs

I'm just quoting their rep from a phone conversation. Perhaps he said "4G-like" (???).

Their tower is some 7 miles away. The rep said they transmitted tower to tower for now & they are planning on offering 30mbs service once direct cables are routed to this tower later this year.

My iPad is Verizon 4G compatible & we cannot receive 4G at our home. I don't know if Verizon uses the same tower as this internet company. I do know our iPad will receive 3G at our home but it's a weak signal. This company offers several plans. The least expensive service has a data limit but premium service does not.

 

[carwiz]

4G is often only in the metropolitan areas. They need cell towers that are close to you. 4G is fast but as far as I have seen also expensive. Verizon seems to have the best coverage.

Comparing 4G coverage | Dialed In - CNET Blogs

LOL... That list looks like it was compiled from a Verizon list and the others were just filled in.

 

[Computer0304]

4G is often only in the metropolitan areas. They need cell towers that are close to you. 4G is fast but as far as I have seen also expensive. Verizon seems to have the best coverage.

Comparing 4G coverage | Dialed In - CNET Blogs

Not here in los angeles though...

 

[whs]

4G is often only in the metropolitan areas. They need cell towers that are close to you. 4G is fast but as far as I have seen also expensive. Verizon seems to have the best coverage.

Comparing 4G coverage | Dialed In - CNET Blogs

Not here in los angeles though...

That is amazing. Are you sure. You would think that the LA area would be a prime target. Maybe some ecologists did not want the towers, LOL.

 

[TanyaC]

And if you're in Australia, 90% of you surf the web at less than 5mbps.

 

[Ranger4]

That's definitely right TanyaC, I am lucky to get more than 3mbps, with wireless broadband in a country area.

 

[GARoss]

At home our DSL internet is 5-6mbs. Checking my iPad with 4G speed while shopping in local towns 13 & 25 miles away from home (pop 4,500 & 15,000 respectively) internet is 19mbs & 36mbs. Where I need the fastest internet, I can't get it. Where I don't need it, I do! :mad2:

 

[lehnerus2000]

Agreed

And if you're in Australia, 90% of you surf the web at less than 5mbps.

Agreed.

 

[crankypenguin]

You guys should move to Poland. The competition here is so fierce with cable providers; there is literally like 10 in my area, they will literally call you up and ask what speed you have and if you would like a faster service. I currently have around 30/7~ internet, cable with around 100 channels ( I do not watch TV, but the other person who resides here does ) and phone with unlimited international calling for about 45 dollars a month. Now tell me that is not a sweet deal? I checked my bandwidth usage, it exceeds 4tb a month down and 400gbs up. That is on average.

 

[TanyaC]

You guys should move to Poland. The competition here is so fierce with cable providers; there is literally like 10 in my area, they will literally call you up and ask what speed you have and if you would like a faster service. I currently have around 30/7~ internet, cable with around 100 channels ( I do not watch TV, but the other person who resides here does ) and phone with unlimited international calling for about 45 dollars a month. Now tell me that is not a sweet deal? I checked my bandwidth usage, it exceeds 4tb a month down and 400gbs up. That is on average.

We basically have 1.5 companies here is Aus. Telstra and Optus. Optus's share is so small it doesn't really count. With almost no competition Telstra gives customers the worst service they can. If they complain, they just keep charging them fees as punishment for reporting problems.

There is no legislation protecting customers, the mediating body (The Telecommunications Ombudsman), is gutless and controlled by the ISPs. There is nowhere for us to go...

</ENDRANT>

 

[yowanvista]

10Mbs? That's way better than my crappy 1mbs connection, all internet packages here are damn expensive. Consider yourselves lucky.

 

[crankypenguin]

You guys should move to Poland. The competition here is so fierce with cable providers; there is literally like 10 in my area, they will literally call you up and ask what speed you have and if you would like a faster service. I currently have around 30/7~ internet, cable with around 100 channels ( I do not watch TV, but the other person who resides here does ) and phone with unlimited international calling for about 45 dollars a month. Now tell me that is not a sweet deal? I checked my bandwidth usage, it exceeds 4tb a month down and 400gbs up. That is on average.

We basically have 1.5 companies here is Aus. Telstra and Optus. Optus's share is so small it doesn't really count. With almost no competition Telstra gives customers the worst service they can. If they complain, they just keep charging them fees as punishment for reporting problems.

There is no legislation protecting customers, the mediating body (The Telecommunications Ombudsman), is gutless and controlled by the ISPs. There is nowhere for us to go...

</ENDRANT>

Wow, I would be up at night climbing the cable poles outside my house *doing things* lol to get better speed.

 

[Joan Archer]

There are still areas in this country that don't have service, or if they do it's probably dial up speed. My broadband is via phone line the most download I ever get is just below 4mbps and the upload is a steady 0.38mbps.

I have unlimited usage for broadband and that along with line rental and anytime unlimited usage of the phone costs are about £36 a month. Some parts of the country do have fibre which gives better speed but that's not something that's likely to happen in the area I live.

The speed I get works for me at present as streaming live movies or music and other high usage activities is not something I do. I do use iPlayer on the odd occasion to watch a program I missed and that goes for Sky player as well.

My usage for a months broadband is usually between 10 to 20 GB.

 

[strollin]

You guys should move to Poland. The competition here is so fierce with cable providers; there is literally like 10 in my area, they will literally call you up and ask what speed you have and if you would like a faster service. I currently have around 30/7~ internet, cable with around 100 channels ( I do not watch TV, but the other person who resides here does ) and phone with unlimited international calling for about 45 dollars a month. Now tell me that is not a sweet deal? I checked my bandwidth usage, it exceeds 4tb a month down and 400gbs up. That is on average.

We basically have 1.5 companies here is Aus. Telstra and Optus. Optus's share is so small it doesn't really count. With almost no competition Telstra gives customers the worst service they can. If they complain, they just keep charging them fees as punishment for reporting problems.

There is no legislation protecting customers, the mediating body (The Telecommunications Ombudsman), is gutless and controlled by the ISPs. There is nowhere for us to go...

</ENDRANT>

Wow, I would be up at night climbing the cable poles outside my house *doing things* lol to get better speed.

Climbing cable poles wouldn't do you any good where I live, there are no cable poles. There's a difference between having faster service available but not using it and having no better choice.

My guess is that you live in a city, which is why you have so many choices. Some of us live in rural areas. Where I live there is no DSL, no cable, no FIOS available because the companies don't want to spend the money to bring those services here since there aren't enough customers to subscribe for them to get a return on their investment. My connection is wireless (essentiallly long-range wifi), I have an antenna on the roof of my house that points to an antenna on a mountain on the other side of the valley from me.

The US government wants everyone to have broadband available to them and provides money to ISPs to expand their service. My ISP has told me that they are in the process of trying to receive funding to be able to bring a much faster connection to my house. However, whenever I ask for a time frame as to when I will see that happen, they tell me 18-24 months (they've been telling me this for at least 18 months now) so I'm not counting on it anytime soon.