9 ms·

“Most of America” as in most people, or most land area? I have lived in cities my whole life and have never had less than 3 choices of provider at purchase time

“Most of America” as in most people, or most land area? I have lived in cities my whole life and have never had less than 3 choices of provider at purchase time.

wtallis 9y ago
Are you counting wireless ISPs? They're not a viable alternative at scale.
- drdaeman 9y ago
  What's wrong with wireless? (Unless that means LTE or WiMax or some broadband tech like that) I've always had FTTH, but at current residence (non-US) I have a radio bridge for the last ~500 meters - there's a railroad nearby so my ISP can't lay fiber directly to my house. I've expected worse (esp. in a bad weather), but have zero problems whatsoever. Besides an extra half millisecond to what it could've been - which is insignificant - I have no issues.
  - wtallis 9y ago
    Broadcast wireless (including LTE and WiMax) obviously doesn't scale. Point to point wireless can make far better use of the spectrum, but requires a lot more equipment at the endpoints and doesn't scale to large numbers of customers as easily as broadcast wireless. It's much closer to wired connections both in terms of cost and performance, but is fairly rare because it doesn't have a compelling business case except in cases like yours where the simple straightforward reliable wired solution is unavailable.
nugi 9y ago
7 states in 8 years. Only 3 of 7 homes did I have more than one option for high speed, many with 1.5down on a good day. Outside developed and high income areas, the situation is still quite dire in the USA. Oddly, I found suburbs to be much better served than rural or downtown areas. One rural area had no options at all (beyond hughesnet and dialup), and I was forced to find a different area. When we complain about rural folk being backwards, and extending none of the future to them, we only have ourselves to blame. Quit forgetting about the rest of the country that does not live in cities.
gumby 9y ago
Most people. Here in Palo Alto, for example, my choice is Comcast or AT&T, but AT&T offers only dsl and, having tried it, the fastest I could get was 768kbs even though I’m less than a mile from the CO. My vacation house offers the same choice: Comcast of AT&T but, like the cheese shop, I can’t actually choose AT&T, only Comcast. And that’s in town.

“Most of America” as in most people, or most land area? I have lived in cities my whole life and have never had less than 3 choices of provider at purchase time.

wtallis 9y ago

Are you counting wireless ISPs? They're not a viable alternative at scale.

drdaeman 9y ago
What's wrong with wireless? (Unless that means LTE or WiMax or some broadband tech like that) I've always had FTTH, but at current residence (non-US) I have a radio bridge for the last ~500 meters - there's a railroad nearby so my ISP can't lay fiber directly to my house. I've expected worse (esp. in a bad weather), but have zero problems whatsoever. Besides an extra half millisecond to what it could've been - which is insignificant - I have no issues.
- wtallis 9y ago
  Broadcast wireless (including LTE and WiMax) obviously doesn't scale. Point to point wireless can make far better use of the spectrum, but requires a lot more equipment at the endpoints and doesn't scale to large numbers of customers as easily as broadcast wireless. It's much closer to wired connections both in terms of cost and performance, but is fairly rare because it doesn't have a compelling business case except in cases like yours where the simple straightforward reliable wired solution is unavailable.

nugi 9y ago

7 states in 8 years. Only 3 of 7 homes did I have more than one option for high speed, many with 1.5down on a good day. Outside developed and high income areas, the situation is still quite dire in the USA. Oddly, I found suburbs to be much better served than rural or downtown areas. One rural area had no options at all (beyond hughesnet and dialup), and I was forced to find a different area. When we complain about rural folk being backwards, and extending none of the future to them, we only have ourselves to blame. Quit forgetting about the rest of the country that does not live in cities.

gumby 9y ago

Most people. Here in Palo Alto, for example, my choice is Comcast or AT&T, but AT&T offers only dsl and, having tried it, the fastest I could get was 768kbs even though I’m less than a mile from the CO. My vacation house offers the same choice: Comcast of AT&T but, like the cheese shop, I can’t actually choose AT&T, only Comcast. And that’s in town.