Call on FCC to update definition of "high speed" Internet, from 25/3 Mbps to at least...

[Mr Majestyk]

Wow this is as bad as Australia where our criminally moronic government also claims people don't need anymore than 25/5. One minister famously said only pirates need faster speeds. I'm on 100/20 and that to me is the bare minimum I will accept but it costs an outrageous $99 pm.

 

[Clevenger23]

You have a Docsis Cable connection with 250Mbps uploads?

I wish I had that for my upload. I have 1Gbps/40Mbps with comcast. My download is using DOCSIS 3.1 using a single OFDM channel and 32 regular 256 QAM channels. But they have yet to use OFDM for upload. Only standard ATDMA QAM on 6 channels. Until they change that they can't offer much more upload. And that 40 Mbps is if I am lucky. If I could just get 1000/100 I would be much happier. Since I run VPN to my house when on public WiFi for protection. Free and still secure.

 

[captaincranky]

I know most of you aren't big fans of Verizon, but the fact of the matter is, they discontinued 25 Mb & 50 Mbs service years ago. !00 Mb is their lowest offering as of now. Of course, they never fail to insist, "we gave you a ;free upgrade' to 100 Mb", every time I call to renew my contract.

Then I ask them, "could you put me back on 25 or 50 Mbs for a lower price", and they say, "we don't offer those anymore"

In all fairness, when they discontinued DSL, I got the FIOS install and router completely free..

 

[silversea]

I have Spectrum here in NC, my connection speed is pretty consistent at ping between 11-14ms, download speed 200mbps, upload speed 12mbps, these are not great numbers but they have been pretty consistent for me over the years and it has been about 5 years now that I have had this service from them, time for an upgrade.

 

[Lionvibez]

I wish I had that for my upload. I have 1Gbps/40Mbps with comcast. My download is using DOCSIS 3.1 using a single OFDM channel and 32 regular 256 QAM channels. But they have yet to use OFDM for upload. Only standard ATDMA QAM on 6 channels. Until they change that they can't offer much more upload. And that 40 Mbps is if I am lucky. If I could just get 1000/100 I would be much happier. Since I run VPN to my house when on public WiFi for protection. Free and still secure.

I've never seen a cable connection with uploads that faster ever. I've seen 100mbps for a cable but that ISP has gone mid split. So I'm curious to know what ISP he has.

 

[Jpe1701]

How do ppl even work with just 3mbps upload speeds? O_o

The answer is I don't. I have to drive 5 miles down to a family members house for any kind of video call. I get 4/1 Mbps. It's pretty shameful. And the telecommunications companies just try to hide the areas like mine so that they aren't forced to upgrade their network. I recall a few years ago they were trying to get more funds in my state for faster internet in the parts that were already covered and our governor and senators had to set the fcc and feds straight because the telcoms were basically lying about what coverage they actually had.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Come on, this is the US government! Nothing gets done without lobbyists bringing the politicians involved some fat cheques first!

 

[Jpe1701]

Come on, this is the US government! Nothing gets done without lobbyists bringing the politicians involved some fat cheques first!

Yup isn't that the truth. I might have hope with starlink depending on whether amazon or another company has more money than space-x to lube up the fcc but we'll see I guess.

 

[Avro Arrow]

How do ppl even work with just 3mbps upload speeds? O_o

I have to assume that you mean 3Mbps (Megabits per second) because 3mbps is "three millibits (3/1000bps) per second" and yeah, nobody could work with that and I don't think that speeds that slow are even possible so my reply will be based on that assumption.

For most home users of the internet, upload speeds are more or less irrelevant because the only thing that they upload are clicks or keystrokes (like I am now as I'm typing this post) for which even 300 baud (bps) appears as instantaneous (which it was, back in the day) because you're sending one bit every time you click something or press a key. I don't know about you, but I can't type at 300 keystrokes per second and that's the slowest dial-up speed that has ever existed for PC to PC telecommunications.

Before I upgraded (for essentially the exact same price) to 50MBps/10MBps DSL, I was using 15Mbps/500kbps DSL without issue. The odd photo that I'd upload was never more than 20 seconds and typing characters was exactly the same as it was when I was involved in the BBS scene of the late 80s-early 90s.

There's no way that I could be a content creator with an upload speed like that, but very few people are so 3Mbps and slower upload speeds work fine so that's how they work.

 

[Puiu]

I have to assume that you mean 3Mbps (Megabits per second) because 3mbps is "three millibits (3/1000bps) per second" and yeah, nobody could work with that and I don't think that speeds that slow are even possible so my reply will be based on that assumption.

For most home users of the internet, upload speeds are more or less irrelevant because the only thing that they upload are clicks or keystrokes (like I am now as I'm typing this post) for which even 300 baud (bps) appears as instantaneous (which it was, back in the day) because you're sending one bit every time you click something or press a key. I don't know about you, but I can't type at 300 keystrokes per second and that's the slowest dial-up speed that has ever existed for PC to PC telecommunications.

Before I upgraded (for essentially the exact same price) to 50MBps/10MBps DSL, I was using 15Mbps/500kbps DSL without issue. The odd photo that I'd upload was never more than 20 seconds and typing characters was exactly the same as it was when I was involved in the BBS scene of the late 80s-early 90s.

There's no way that I could be a content creator with an upload speed like that, but very few people are so 3Mbps and slower upload speeds work fine so that's how they work.

It's not about working, it's about working reliably and fast. If I have to take a break of even a few minutes every time I need to download or upload something I'll never get things done. (not to mention that I like leaving youtube or twitch running)

At those low speeds you might have been fine with just one computer using the connection, but now you have multiple phones, multiple TVs, multiple PCs, etc.

 

[Avro Arrow]

It's not about working, it's about working reliably and fast. If I have to take a break of even a few minutes every time I need to download or upload something I'll never get things done. (not to mention that I like leaving youtube or twitch running)

At those low speeds you might have been fine with just one computer using the connection, but now you have multiple phones, multiple TVs, multiple PCs, etc.

Yes, but again, uploading is not something that most people do. If all you do is (like most people) surf/browse the internet and download stuff then the upload speed is irrelevant. As I said, the old 300bps speed is about 100x faster than most people need because nobody can type at 300 keystrokes per second so even that old speed would be more than fine for even multiple users with a typical internet use profile (and 3Mbps is 10,000x faster than that).

For your situation, clearly, you need faster upload speeds because you actually upload more than the odd picture. For the overwhelming majority of people, it's a non-issue and it has absolutely no bearing on the reliability of the connection.

 

[Puiu]

Yes, but again, uploading is not something that most people do. If all you do is (like most people) surf/browse the internet and download stuff then the upload speed is irrelevant. As I said, the old 300bps speed is about 100x faster than most people need because nobody can type at 300 keystrokes per second which would even be fine for multiple typical users (3Mbps is 1000x faster than that). For your situation, clearly, you need faster because you actually upload more than the odd picture. For the overwhelming majority of people, it's a non-issue and it has absolutely no bearing on the reliability of the connection.

A zoom meeting is "uploading". You can't really escape video calls now. Sending pictures/videos to grandma is also uploading.

 

[Avro Arrow]

A zoom meeting is "uploading". You can't really escape video calls now. Sending pictures/videos to grandma is also uploading.

That's quite true. If you do facecalling, then you do need a faster upload speed. I almost never do that because my family is mostly baby-boomers who can't even figure out how to update CCleaner (yeah, they're THAT bad). To get them to understand how to use Zoom, well, fugettaboutit.

I now see what you're getting at and for people that do it, I absolutely agree that you'd need at least 5Mbps of upload speed. Since I know that getting anyone in my family to understand how to use Zoom is a lost cause, I tend to lose myself in epic game titles that eat up hours like it's nobody's business. LOL

 

[wiyosaya]

In all fairness, when they discontinued DSL, I got the FIOS install and router completely free..

Interesting that Verizon even bothered. Then again, I suppose that they had many customers that would have been irate had they not done something like that. For my FTTH install, I had to pay $100 - a sum well worth it to finally be done with Spectrum for good.

 

[Knot Schure]

25 for me is fine for most things. Upload parity would certainly be a big lift even if the download wasn't raised. Even raising it to 10 mbs would be helpful.

After 13 months of fighting with my ISP for my paid-for-upload, I gave up, informed them that I was persuing the issue through Ofcom, and gave them the required verbal notice of doing so.

The ISP didn't care one bit. I cancelled them, was given my disconnect date, and informed I'd have to return the DOCSIS modem/router.

The following week, they offered to fix the issue, doubled my speeds, and dropped the bill by about 35% fixed for 18 months.

On that same day, the issue was resolved.

 

[captaincranky]

@wiyosaya Yeah well, for me Verizon is the lesser of two evils. My only other salient choice is Comcast, er excuse me, "Xfinity". I had 1 meg DSL which was guaranteed @ $17.99 for life. I didn't think they would pull optical here into "da hood". But, lo and behold, they did. So, my one 100 meg service is $44.99 a month now.

I did get sick of Big Red d*cking me around with putting charges on my phone bill that used to be free. I'm not even connected to a long distance carrier. I figure if anyone wants my money, they better have a toll free number.

BTW, I shop at B & H myself. Although, every few years Adorama comes up with amazing deals on Nikon refurbs

Further by the by,, I'm sending you a PM I think you'll find interesting.

 

[wiyosaya]

BTW, I shop at B & H myself. Although, every few years Adorama comes up with amazing deals on Nikon refurbs

Both B&H and Adorama definitely give Amazon a run for their money in a more honest way, IMO. I have also shopped Adorama, and I prefer them over Amazon, too.

 

[Athlonite]

This is why I'm happy to live in a country where the govt owns and operates the fibre in my street and leases access to all ISPs in New Zealand even the rural network has been getting in on the act. Shortly I'll be able to do 4Gbps downloads and 1Gbps uploads thanks to the govt owned Chorus network

 

[Danny101]

Th

After 13 months of fighting with my ISP for my paid-for-upload, I gave up, informed them that I was persuing the issue through Ofcom, and gave them the required verbal notice of doing so.

The ISP didn't care one bit. I cancelled them, was given my disconnect date, and informed I'd have to return the DOCSIS modem/router.

The following week, they offered to fix the issue, doubled my speeds, and dropped the bill by about 35% fixed for 18 months.

On that same day, the issue was resolved.

Yeah. That figures. They only fix things when you threaten to leave.