4 ms·
> If consumers don't appreciate 10ms more lag when accessing youtube, or similar minor degradations, they can switch to another ISP. Except they often don't ha
by aaron_m04 9y ago
> If consumers don't appreciate 10ms more lag when accessing youtube, or similar minor degradations, they can switch to another ISP.
Except they often don't have other ISPs to choose from. The selection is extremely limited here in the US.
- grandalf 9y agoIf you include cable, DSL, and wireless providers most non-rural consumers likely have 2 or three to choose from. If there is need for antitrust action then an ISP behaving in a non-neutral way would seemingly provide the perfect evidence that intervention was needed.
- 0xffff2 9y agoAt this point, DSL and wireless are a joke compared to cable. I live in Silicon Valley. Theoretically I have several options, but Comcast is literally 4 times faster than the fastest DSL option, and 8 times faster than any wireless option.
- magila 9y agoFor technical reasons, fixed wireless and DSL are un-competitive with cable for most people. Wireless suffers severely from limited capacity due do a shared transmission medium. Cable has this problem as well but less so because coax supports much greater bandwidth and it is easier to split a cable node than to build more wireless stations. DSL suffers from limited bandwidth and spotty coverage due to loop length limits. In practice few people are able to get DSL service at speeds exceeding 20 Mbps. That leaves cable as sole practical option even for many people in urban areas.