9 ms·

I'm actually somewhat content with my broadband options. No, I'm not ecstatic and am glad this is happening but PLEASE someone disrupt the damn cell phone busin

I'm actually somewhat content with my broadband options. No, I'm not ecstatic and am glad this is happening but PLEASE someone disrupt the damn cell phone business. My ISP doesn't install software on my computer, doesn't hit me with mystery fees, and doesn't tell MS or Apple what to do, but cell carriers do all these things and more. >and endless efforts to further "monetize" me through harassing phone calls trying to sell me more stuff, Never happened to me, but all carriers text subscribers "deals" and other marketing garbage. > intrusive DNS systems that redirect me to their crappy web sites, etc. Never noticed and if I did its trivial to change DNS. Cell phones on the other hand do all these things. I mean, Verizon just told google that its Wallet NFC stuff simply isn't allowed. Imagine if Comcast said "You can't install LibreOffice on your computer because we're thinking of entering the office game." I won't even go into uninstallable carrier apps, commercial spying, mystery charges, and billing fraud. Maybe Google Fiber will the the backend for a future wireless roll out. One can hope.

kennon 14y ago
> My ISP doesn't install software on my computer, ... Not for lack of trying. I recently helped my friend set up Comcast and part of the installation process included downloading a required suite of "configuration" software. We were able to figure out a way around it but most people probably just click through without a thought.
- Periodic 14y ago
  Maybe it's because I'm always setting up with a home router, but I haven't had to install anything for my last three internet setups. I wasn't even asked to for this last one I believe. The tech just made sure the modem was working properly and he could get a solid connection from it, and then I plugged in my router and was good to go.
  - firebird84 14y ago
    I recently upgraded my Fios connection and when the tech replaced my router he asked to install some software. I was currently booted into my Linux partition at the time, so he basically said "oh, well" and everything worked fine out of the box. It's likely bloatware.
    - elarkin 14y ago
      Comcast installs a piece of software that drops shortcuts to comcast.net and stuff on your desktop. It also installs whatever antivirus thing they have a contract with. McAfee? However, they only have Windows and Mac versions of the stuff.
      - mitchty 14y ago
        They tried installing that stuff on my computer when I joined too. A simple, nope, not installing any software I haven't actively tried to acquire sufficed. That or I could just have logged into my freebsd router off the serial port and said have at it, good luck, but that would be mean to the tech.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Tell me about it. I just got a comcast connection a couple of weeks ago and comcast has been, seemingly at random, kicking me into a captive portal that tries to scare you into installing their software. The worst part is that it only keeps me in the captive portal just short enough that I haven't been compelled to figure out how to make dd-wrt stop it yet. I'll be sitting there putzing around on the Internet, try to google something and hit their portal. A few refreshes later and I'll be back in business.
guelo 14y ago
Google tried to disrupt the cell phone industry by bidding $4 billion on the old TV frequency auction but they were cockblocked by the shitty Bush-era FCC and collusion between ATT and Verizon. Makes you wonder how things would have been different, would Apple have sold the iPhone on the Google network?
- ars 14y ago
  As I recall they were simply outbid - and by a lot. Refresh your memory: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMbsPSv2vatAVvbz_8n0xU3Mfvnw http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMbsPSv2vatAVvbz_8n0xU3M... The FCC did everything google wanted, and there was no collusion. Are we reading the same news articles?
- zmonkeyz 14y ago
  I always thought that was a feint to try to get whitespace access.
- fossuser 14y ago
  Google wanted to lose that bid - that was a gamble to get free whitespace access and have verizon pay enough money for it. You can read more of the details in this book:http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Plex-Google-Thinks/dp/1416596585 http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Plex-Google-Thinks/dp/141659658... Additionally Google did try to disrupt the cellular companies a little by selling their phones unlocked through their own webstore, but the American market didn't buy them. Yes there really is only one network that gave you a deal if you did this (T-Mobile), but Americans seem to prefer subsidized phones with absurd monthly plans rather than paying for the phone up front and being free to choose the network.
  - raldi 14y ago
    "Prefer" is a stretch. It's not like consumers were presented with a choice between two carriers that were similar in every way except that one went with the subsidized model and the other did not. The choice consumers had was either a crappy carrier, or one which forced you to go with absurd monthly plans.
- 14y ago
aswanson 14y ago
Right. I hope so as well. Maybe they can use that as the wired backend for the white space spectrum, and bypass the cell networks: http://mashable.com/2011/01/28/google-white-space-fcc/ http://mashable.com/2011/01/28/google-white-space-fcc/
mtgx 14y ago
At least there is some net neutrality for regular ISP's. There is none for carriers, and very soon they will be very aggressive about pushing their own services and charging extra for stuff like Facetime, Skype, etc on top of what you pay for the data you're using. Watch it closely. It will happen.
csmeder 14y ago
Maybe once you have tried Gigabit (GIGABIT!) internet, on a daily basis you won't feel the same. Cloud storage and a bunch of other things will now feel very different. - Why own a computer when you can just vpn into a cluster through a thin client? - Why own a game system... - Stream 4k HD movies - A whole bunch of ideas not thought of yet. 0r maybe your right and it wont be that different, I would like the chance to see if it does make a big difference. The current telcos were not in that game, google is.
- xenophanes 14y ago
  Why own a game system? Ping. You may have a point with the rest, but response time is a really big deal with many games and a large amount of bandwidth doesn't actually mean a super amazing ping. And actually the speed of light presents ping issues that are meaningful to games so you will never ever be able to just locate computers anywhere and connect to them to play.
- Kerrick 14y ago
  > Why own a game system... There's actually a service called "OnLive" that streams games, it seems pretty cool. It's a mashup between Steam and Netflix; you don't have to have a gaming PC to render the frames, just a fast Internet connection to stream them.
  - ferongr 14y ago
    Not until we can push data across distances faster than the speed of light. The input and video latency makes it impractical for all but the slowest-paced of games.
    - andybak 14y ago
      Errr. Have you tried it? I've spent several playing first person shooters and it's easy to forget you're not playing locally.
      - karlshea 14y ago
matwood 14y ago
For the most part I agree, but experience with broadband differs greatly depending on what area you happen to live. Even within the same company like Comcast, broadband in one state can be great and one state over can be horrible. Cell companies on the other hand are basically crooks. Every other month I get 'services' added to my bill that should only get added if I respond to a spam text. Of course I never respond to the text, but somehow "Fact of the Day" for $9.99/month keeps getting added to my bill no matter how many times I call I tell them I will never subscribe to this so stop letting them attempt to fraud me. After a little research it turns out that the cell company can get 30%-40% of the subscription fees on these bogus services. So, of course they turn a blind eye on what isn't much better than stealing through fraud.

kennon 14y ago

> My ISP doesn't install software on my computer, ... Not for lack of trying. I recently helped my friend set up Comcast and part of the installation process included downloading a required suite of "configuration" software. We were able to figure out a way around it but most people probably just click through without a thought.

Periodic 14y ago
Maybe it's because I'm always setting up with a home router, but I haven't had to install anything for my last three internet setups. I wasn't even asked to for this last one I believe. The tech just made sure the modem was working properly and he could get a solid connection from it, and then I plugged in my router and was good to go.
- firebird84 14y ago
  I recently upgraded my Fios connection and when the tech replaced my router he asked to install some software. I was currently booted into my Linux partition at the time, so he basically said "oh, well" and everything worked fine out of the box. It's likely bloatware.
  - elarkin 14y ago
    Comcast installs a piece of software that drops shortcuts to comcast.net and stuff on your desktop. It also installs whatever antivirus thing they have a contract with. McAfee? However, they only have Windows and Mac versions of the stuff.
    - mitchty 14y ago
      They tried installing that stuff on my computer when I joined too. A simple, nope, not installing any software I haven't actively tried to acquire sufficed. That or I could just have logged into my freebsd router off the serial port and said have at it, good luck, but that would be mean to the tech.
jlgreco 14y ago
Tell me about it. I just got a comcast connection a couple of weeks ago and comcast has been, seemingly at random, kicking me into a captive portal that tries to scare you into installing their software. The worst part is that it only keeps me in the captive portal just short enough that I haven't been compelled to figure out how to make dd-wrt stop it yet. I'll be sitting there putzing around on the Internet, try to google something and hit their portal. A few refreshes later and I'll be back in business.

guelo 14y ago

Google tried to disrupt the cell phone industry by bidding $4 billion on the old TV frequency auction but they were cockblocked by the shitty Bush-era FCC and collusion between ATT and Verizon. Makes you wonder how things would have been different, would Apple have sold the iPhone on the Google network?

ars 14y ago
As I recall they were simply outbid - and by a lot. Refresh your memory: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMbsPSv2vatAVvbz_8n0xU3Mfvnw http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMbsPSv2vatAVvbz_8n0xU3M... The FCC did everything google wanted, and there was no collusion. Are we reading the same news articles?
zmonkeyz 14y ago
I always thought that was a feint to try to get whitespace access.
fossuser 14y ago
Google wanted to lose that bid - that was a gamble to get free whitespace access and have verizon pay enough money for it. You can read more of the details in this book:http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Plex-Google-Thinks/dp/1416596585 http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Plex-Google-Thinks/dp/141659658... Additionally Google did try to disrupt the cellular companies a little by selling their phones unlocked through their own webstore, but the American market didn't buy them. Yes there really is only one network that gave you a deal if you did this (T-Mobile), but Americans seem to prefer subsidized phones with absurd monthly plans rather than paying for the phone up front and being free to choose the network.
- raldi 14y ago
  "Prefer" is a stretch. It's not like consumers were presented with a choice between two carriers that were similar in every way except that one went with the subsidized model and the other did not. The choice consumers had was either a crappy carrier, or one which forced you to go with absurd monthly plans.
14y ago

aswanson 14y ago

Right. I hope so as well. Maybe they can use that as the wired backend for the white space spectrum, and bypass the cell networks: http://mashable.com/2011/01/28/google-white-space-fcc/ http://mashable.com/2011/01/28/google-white-space-fcc/

mtgx 14y ago

At least there is some net neutrality for regular ISP's. There is none for carriers, and very soon they will be very aggressive about pushing their own services and charging extra for stuff like Facetime, Skype, etc on top of what you pay for the data you're using. Watch it closely. It will happen.

csmeder 14y ago

Maybe once you have tried Gigabit (GIGABIT!) internet, on a daily basis you won't feel the same. Cloud storage and a bunch of other things will now feel very different. - Why own a computer when you can just vpn into a cluster through a thin client? - Why own a game system... - Stream 4k HD movies - A whole bunch of ideas not thought of yet. 0r maybe your right and it wont be that different, I would like the chance to see if it does make a big difference. The current telcos were not in that game, google is.

xenophanes 14y ago
Why own a game system? Ping. You may have a point with the rest, but response time is a really big deal with many games and a large amount of bandwidth doesn't actually mean a super amazing ping. And actually the speed of light presents ping issues that are meaningful to games so you will never ever be able to just locate computers anywhere and connect to them to play.
Kerrick 14y ago
> Why own a game system... There's actually a service called "OnLive" that streams games, it seems pretty cool. It's a mashup between Steam and Netflix; you don't have to have a gaming PC to render the frames, just a fast Internet connection to stream them.
- ferongr 14y ago
  Not until we can push data across distances faster than the speed of light. The input and video latency makes it impractical for all but the slowest-paced of games.
  - andybak 14y ago
    Errr. Have you tried it? I've spent several playing first person shooters and it's easy to forget you're not playing locally.
    - karlshea 14y ago

matwood 14y ago

For the most part I agree, but experience with broadband differs greatly depending on what area you happen to live. Even within the same company like Comcast, broadband in one state can be great and one state over can be horrible. Cell companies on the other hand are basically crooks. Every other month I get 'services' added to my bill that should only get added if I respond to a spam text. Of course I never respond to the text, but somehow "Fact of the Day" for $9.99/month keeps getting added to my bill no matter how many times I call I tell them I will never subscribe to this so stop letting them attempt to fraud me. After a little research it turns out that the cell company can get 30%-40% of the subscription fees on these bogus services. So, of course they turn a blind eye on what isn't much better than stealing through fraud.