JavaScript is required to use Bungie.net

#Gaming

6/29/2013 1:04:00 PM
21

Susan Crawford on Why U.S. Internet Access is Slow, Costly, and Unfair

Thought I'd share this since some people are upset that Microsoft reversed their Xbox One DRM policy and this video talks about a pretty big reason the original policy sucked. Here's a couple of interesting bits. [quote]What's happened is that these enormous telecommunications companies, Comcast and Time Warner on the wired side, Verizon and AT&T on the wireless side, have divided up markets, put themselves in the position where they're subject to no competition and no oversight from any regulatory authority. And they're charging us a lot for internet access and giving us second class access.[/quote] [quote]It's fair to say that the U.S. at the best is in the middle of the pack when it comes to both the speed and cost of high speed internet access connections. So in Hong Kong right now you can get a 500 megabit symmetric connection that's unimaginably fast from our standpoint for about 25 bucks a month. In Seoul, for $30 you get three choices of different providers of fiber in your apartment. And they come in and install in a day because competition's so fierce. In New York City there's only one choice, and it's 200 bucks a month for a similar service. And you can't get that kind of fiber connection outside of New York City in many parts of the country. Verizon's only serving about 10 percent of Americans. So let's talk about the wireless side for a moment, you know, the separate marketplace that people use for mobility. In Europe you can get unlimited texting and voice calls and data for about $30 a month, similar service from Verizon costs $90 a month. That's a huge difference.[/quote]

Posting in language:

 

Play nice. Take a minute to review our Code of Conduct before submitting your post. Cancel Edit Create Fireteam Post

View Entire Topic
  • It's good that Google Fiber will eventually spread to more cities in the US. What's funny is that the service costs $70/month for 1 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up and even when it hasn't taken off yet in that many cities, there are areas in the world with faster internet. An example would be So-net entertainment, a Sony-backed Japan ISP which offers 2 Gbps down and 1 Gbps up for $50/month.

    Posting in language:

     

    Play nice. Take a minute to review our Code of Conduct before submitting your post. Cancel Edit Create Fireteam Post

You are not allowed to view this content.
;
preload icon
preload icon
preload icon