As part of the Comcast/NBC deal, Comcast is required to let Netflix provide content on its network, license NBC show to online video providers, and provide an Internet plan that isn’t bundled with cable TV service. It would be nice to have real regulation of cable/telephone Internet oligopolies, but if we can’t have that, at least the Obama administration used a moment of leverage to get a few concessions from Comcast.
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Gin & Tonic
Slightly better than nothing. But $50/mo for 6Mbps is still completely ridiculous.
Odie Hugh Manatee
The presstitutes are doing what they are paid to do for their rich corporate masters who own the M$M. It’s “unions bad, Walker GOOD!” and that’s the lines they have been trained to parrot. The few voices on MSNBC are a puzzle though. Maybe their masters are using them to humor themselves and to see if anyone even listens to them.
Fuck the M$M, preferably with the rustiest pitchforks that can be found.
christian mistermix
@Gin & Tonic: That one was strange – Time/Warner sells 10Mbps for $45 here, and Comcast has the same for $30/mo (for 6 months).
Turbulence
@christian mistermix:
Ah, but is that a real 10Mbps or is that just the maximum burst they’ll sustain for 10 seconds before throttling your connection back down to 200Kbps? That’s the main reason I’m still on Verizon DSL: for $40 I get 3Mbps that is actually 3Mbps. I can saturate the line all day, so I know what I’m getting.
Steeplejack
What speed test do you guys use? I use the Speakeasy one, which I found after doing some searching a few years ago. Don’t know why I settled on it, but it seems pretty accurate.
Here in NoVa I consistently get 15-20 Mbps (down) from Cox Cable. This is the fastest Internet connection I have ever had in my home, and I am well satisfied. I do pay out the wazoo for it (bundled with a semi-tricked-out cable TV package), but I justify/excuse it because it is almost my only “entertainment” expense every month.
Kryptik
@Turbulence:
Same here. I learned my lesson with Comcast and cable internet in general a while ago. It’s also why I’m loathe to do anything crazy like look into FIOS either, as from what I have heard and scene, it generally acts the same as cable.
Steeplejack
FYWP! Just dropped down the moderation hole, and I have no idea why. No soshulism, no boner pills. I did use the word wazoo, though.
All I did was ask which Internet speed test people use and say that I use the one at Speakeasy.net. I consistently get 15-20 Mbps (down) from Cox Cable. Me likey.
Comrade Javamanphil
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I suppose it’s too much to hope that a few union members behind the scenes accidentally leave mikes hot, capture some off-color moments on film or otherwise just capture the talking heads at their most honestly vapid.
Gin & Tonic
@christian mistermix: I’m just quoting from TFA — I’m not in Comcast territory and have no idea what they charge. But the real problem, as you point out, is the duopoly, and no opportunity to unbundle transit from access.
Maude
@Steeplejack:
What do I do when it shows -Mbps?
Good to see you here.
I did a clean install on an old Gateway computer for someone. What a pain it was. It runs nice, now.
My Sony Vaio is running like a charm. It is an oldie.
Brian S (formerly Incertus)
I’m on Comcast because AT&T couldn’t get DSL to work at my current home. I was not pleased. But notice how fucked up the options are–AT&T or Comcast. I hope–with no reason to believe this is actually true–that the options are better when we move to Des Moines this summer.
christian mistermix
@Turbulence: Time-Warner generally runs at about 15 Mbps on a speedtest, but at busy times, it’s 10 Mbps.
Zifnab
And that’s more or less why we’re so pissy. When the party you voted for gets the White House – and by extension the better part of the US regulatory body – it’s annoying as all hell to see “Meh, better than nothing” as the morning’s headlines.
I dream of a world where “Compromise with the big business to let them turn an obscene profit while we hand out minor concessions to other big businesses and end the more obnoxious commercial practices” is the moderate conservative viewpoint. Not the fringy leftist wing viewpoint.
jeffreyw
@Gin & Tonic: I’d kill a kitten for 6Mb/s, paying twice that for 1.5 Mb/s on a good day. Usual is .5Mb/s. Sucks to live in the fucking boonies
13th Generation
Very important to keep net neutrality in our sights.
Also, too, gotta say I’m pretty happy with my Time Warner service. Even with the fake “burts” I’m still getting pretty consistent speeds in the 7-10 mbps range. Plus cable is always good (unless they’re doing work on the lines) and digital land line is necessary for the alarm system and cell phone coverage is very spotty where I am.
Just can’t knock my cable company (yet)
Gin & Tonic
@jeffreyw:
You probably can’t walk to the grocery store, either. Unfortunately, these are tradeoffs people make all the time.
David Koch
10 Mbps! That’s a lot of internet porn. Gives new meaning to the word download.
stuckinred
@jeffreyw: Bush bunnies love the boonies!
Gin & Tonic
To all those “not unhappy with my cableco” commenters, J:Com cable in Japan sells 160Mbps down and 10 Mbps up for around $60/mo. Note that cable, whether US or Japan, is asymmetrical (significantly higher download speeds than upload.)
If you’re on Verizon FiOS in the US, note that the direct equivalent service in Japan gives you 100Mmps (symmetric) for about the same price as the FiOS 15/5.
Mike Kay (Chief of Staff)
Serious question, what are you guys downloading that demands greater bandwidth?
Legalize
@13th Generation:
I’m with you on that. I’d love to rail against TW, but I’ve used their cable internet for years and have no complaints whatsoever.
stuckinred
Can’t wait to get my new “Thunderbolt” MacBook Pro! It’s in Memphis on it’s way from Shanghia!
stuckinred
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff): Whaddaya got? I’ll download it! Someone sent me Hot Tuna’s greatest hits just yesterday.
stuckinred
Damn!
New York Times opinion columnist Frank Rich is leaving the newspaper after 31 years to join New York Magazine.
Steeplejack
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff):
I don’t need the bandwidth for tons of data; I just like to see the crisp, fast response when loading any Web page that you get with higher bandwidth.
I do a lot of database work, and occasionally I will have to download a big file from a colleague, but that’s about it.
And it will be good to have the big pipe when I finally get around to hooking up Netflix streaming to the big-ass TV.
Legalize
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff):
Music, music, music, music (all legal), and streaming Netflix.
Gin & Tonic
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff): Why do you need a terabyte hard drive? Why do you need 4 gigs of RAM? Why do you need a 2.8 GHz CPU? Why do you need 32 million colors? Why do you need a 160MB iPod? Who the hell could use all that? Why do you need HTTP, isn’t Gopher good enough? Shit, in my day…
Compute capacity, storage capacity, network capacity drive expectations, and drive what becomes available. Netflix streaming does not exist as a business model in the days of v.32 dial-up.
stuckinred
@Gin & Tonic: THUNDERBOLT!
Poopyman
@Steeplejack: I’m getting about 1.5 Mbps download and about 6 Mbps upload here at (large defense contractor). That sure is a lot of filtering.
I’m pretty much stuck with Comcast at home. We’re far enough in the boonies that DSL will probably never make it there. The other option is satellite, which isn’t much of an option at all, of course.
Having said that, I don’t really have a lot of complaints about our Comcast service, except that it’s about $60/month for 6 Mbps service.
Kryptik
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, I know about this. It’s why the whole anti-infrastructure bullshit we’re sold so often infuriates me. ‘Greatest country in the world’ and yet we can’t pull our head out of our asses to actually invest in any kind of fucking maintenance or upgrades for anything these days, save MAYBE highways.
BGK
I’m the odd man out with respect to my Comcast service, in that I have a good experience with getting my stated bandwidth (15/5 for $39) whenever I need it. Then again, I’m in a former Time-Warner territory which was “traded” to Comcast about four years ago. Users in a Comcast-from-the-start territory, which is directly adjacent to the one I’m in, have all the service issues everyone describes. There was no credible business internet provider in my town prior to Time-Warner, so they over-built their network. They never signed up many business customers, so we ended with with a fairly high-end network serving low-density suburban residential users, most of whom are retirees sending e-mail to family members and occasionally using “the Face Book.” Comcast tried to merge the two systems, but gave up after various high-profile disasters. So, there are neighborhoods not 500 feet from one another with different pricing structures, channel numbers and line-ups, and available internet bandwidth. For once, I didn’t get the short end of that stick.
Mike Kay (Chief of Staff)
When you order a movie on Netflix streaming, how long does it take before it appears on your tee vee?
I’ve got on-demand and that’s wicket fast. Click on a title, and booom, it’s on your screen in 3 seconds.
Mike Kay (Chief of Staff)
@stuckinred: ya know, I can see my porn collection is too big to fit down ya pipe hole. No use even trying to ram it down.
stuckinred
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff): It’s immediate, you just add it to your queue and it pops right up. I watched the first episode of Have Gun Will Travel just last night. I am running a Sony BluRay player btw.
stuckinred
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff): Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
singfoom
Hmmm. Giant content company merges with giant internet service provider who sucks at customer service (it’s core business) but controls most internet connections due to it’s monopoly status in many areas of the country. When your choice for ISP is Comcast or DSL, you’re going to choose Comcast, even though they rip you off.
Thanks a metric fucking ton, FCC and our other regulators. You got a tiny tiny fucking concession out of two giant companies that control a huge share of the market.
Fuck. Even if they weren’t merging, I would say it’s time to break up Comcast like Southwestern Bell was broken up in the early 80s. Let’s get some actual competition instead of captive markets.
I’m so fucking sick of the economic keys to our nation being given to those who already have so much.
This merger never should have been approved, period. More and more I’m convinced we’re heading to a Shadowrun (geek alert) like future minus the magic and mutants, where corporations are more important than nation states.
Oh wait, we’re already there…
Judas Escargot
My Comcast connection is respectably fast (12Mps)… when it works.
No internet or phone at home at the moment.
The Ratfucker Assigned To Balloon Juice
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff):
e-peni$es. Really big ones. Much bigger than yours.
Dennis SGMM
Verizon DSL here. I live about half a mile from the CO so the speed is good (3Mbps down, 784Kbps up) and it’s stone reliable. I don’t stream video so it’s fast enough for me and the price is right.
twiffer
@Steeplejack: i’ve got cox and tend to run around the same. i think the internet portion is around $50 a month, but i work from home regularly (not counting on call rotation), so it’s a necessary expense.
Mike Kay (Chief of Staff)
@The Ratfucker Assigned To Balloon Juice: that’s what you think. My has it’s own zip code.
twiffer
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff): maybe 5 seconds or so for netflix. not to mention a much larger selection than “on demand” and less expensive. as well as mobile.
i will pause a moment and proclaim my love for wi-fi as well. xbox + wi-fi + hi-speed cable modem = joy. get netflix and access to my personal library on my machine, all through the ether. magical times.
Xenos
How are we supposed to get a revolution if Obama keeps lowering the contradictions?
TR round two, but instead of trust busting we get watered-down net neutrality.
Trevor B
wow you all suck, I pay $45 a month for 1.5up 1.5 down, its the only thing a available when you live in a state of less than a million
terraformer
@Zifnab:
This. It’s always and forever some kind of mushy middle, whereby “middle” is always and forever to the Right of objectively fair.
Mike Kay (Chief of Staff)
@twiffer: mobile? how does that work?
DB Main
In my experience, these “merger mandates” are so easily avoided it’s laughable. I work in telecom and have seen them skirted for years.
When Ameritech and SBC merged, SBC consented to a National Local competition plan, where they were supposed to start “facility-based” competition in 30 cities outside their existing territories.
My company signed a contract with them to supply the material. Was supposed to be over $500M in revenue. Instead, they bought some racks, put them in wiring closets in 30 cities, then said to the FCC, “See!?! Competition!” Minimal compliance to get the merger approved.
THEN when SBC acquired AT&T, SBC conceded to a consent decree demand to offer “Naked DSL”, where I could buy DSL without bundled voice. For kicks, every few months I’d call SBC and try to order it. The responses from the sales agents were comical (“It’s not technically feasible”). When I escalated, they finally trotted out an $80 plan for DSL only. So, in short, it cost me more to buy Naked DSL than the voice+data bundle.
What’s even more bewildering is that they finally started offering a more reasonable Naked DSL package *after* the decree expired. It’s almost like they said, “If we’re being told to do it, we won’t.”
JGabriel
@Mike Kay (Chief of Staff):
Some of us stream netflix, others use bittorrent. Then there’s Hulu, Hulu+, and Youtube. Some people, like me, don’t have a TV and rely exclusively on the internet for all their audio and video distribution needs.
There are other high bandwidth apps, but those are the most common right now. Replacement of most big box stores for a/v, software, and other product distribution is the eventual paradigm, and you really want cheap high bandwidth everywhere for that model to work.
.
Steeplejack
@Maude:
There may be a (harmless) cookie that you have to download. And I believe there is also a link for something like “If the test doesn’t work.”
Just found another seemingly good set of tests at ISPGeeks.com. The results there were consistent with what I got from Speakeasy.
Miranda
As a past cable customer, I paid more money in one month’s service for the same amount I pay in three months with DISH. As a DISH employee, I can tell you that you wont get a better service for your money. DISH’s package of 120 channels starts at $29.99 and includes your first receiver and installation, when with cable, you pay for the service, AND the equipment. And the best part is, DISH Network is the only company that has a two room solution on the same receiver, saving you even more money per month.