U.S. Internet Speeds Causing Digital Divide?

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What do you guys think? Are internet speeds across the country causing a digital divide? Let’s do an impromptu poll…what is your connection speed? How much do you pay? Provider? Where are you located? Put your answers in the comments section.

The big swing owes to the way broadband is deployed. In the U.S., it's basically up to individual companies to decide where to offer broadband. Big broadband players such as Verizon have tended to focus on densely populated areas, where they can get more subscribers. CWA says such disparities hurt consumers, and hurt bigger national aims.
 
GCI.net
Alaska
$69.99
Advertised speed is 10mbps / 1Mbps

I used speedtest.net to test (1400 miles):
http://www.****************************/netspeed.jpg
 
zoominternet.net
Pennsylvania
$59.99
Advertised speed is 10mbps / 1.5Mbps

548369190.png
 
$60/mo
Time Warner Road Runner Turbo
Milwaukee Area, Wisconsin
Download 23MBPS
Upload 1MBPS

Speeds are consistant no matter on time of day.
 
49.99

Cox - Southwest Texas

Download - 4MBPS
Upload - 512KBPS

Only option here, sucks a lot.
 
lol, imagine the reality that would hit this author once he realizes that everything in the world works like this... the closer you are in groupings the more cost effective it is... it's been this way since the first roads were paved (believe it or not, if you live close to the main highways your shipping rates and transportation is also cheaper)...

who woulda thunk it.
 
Comcraptic Interwebs
Denver metro area (80134)
$60/mo
Advertised: 8Mbit down, 1Mbit up
Actual average speeds: 12Mbit down, 1.6Mbit up
 
$49 for 6/512k with ATT DSL (formerly bellsouth)
$49 for 10/1 with charter cable
western NC(hickory)
 
10 megabits up, 10 megabits down
214 SEK a month (far over the price of a new music CD) = $30ish USD
Labs2 Sweden
Sweden

..yeah yeah Europe :rolleyes: but more and more countries in Europe are tech'ing up bigtime, providing fiberoptics in apartment complexes in countries you had no idea even hda apartment complexes, or computers. The US is a huge f'off country, the different states are slightly better at understanding and respecting each other than the countries in Europe, but what's keeping the companies from working like they've done over here for many a year? Real problems, or real money-making over everything decisions?

(On the other hand, as April 2000 I used pay-by-the-minute dialup access. Still got scars from the bills I rang up.)
 
Comcast Biz class
20Mbps Down
7Mbps Up
105$
Priority support is nice.
 
Comcast - NY

$55.95/Mo
Downloads up to 20Mbps, uploads up to 4Mbps with PowerBoost®. (Sustained I see around 10Mbps(D) 1.5Mbps(U) )
 
I have 3 cable modems rated at 15 / 2 ea. running tri-wan via pfsence for a total of 45 / 6.

I currently gift my cable co (TWC) $40 a month for a modem that sits in my closet. And I'm in Southern California.
 
Time Warner Cable Road Runner Turbo
Kansas City, MO
$39.99/mo
22mbps down / 1mbps up
 
This is unbelievable how standard the internet speed is across the world.
15 down/ 8 up comcrap
 
I am unable to receive broadband at my current residence in Rocky Mount, Va.

I have to share my landlords broadband since they dont have any trees blocking the wireless tower... :rolleyes:

1mb up :rolleyes:
1mb down :rolleyes:

$40 a month but the landlords and I basically split it. I give them an extra $25 on the rent for it.
 
Here's your digital divide - I live in a rural area outside of Houston. 7 years ago I signed up for ISDN (128kbps both ways) and it ran me $99/month, plus another $22/month for the ISP. About 4 years ago, AT&T screwed up and offered everyone out where I was DSL service. I signed up for it - $30/month for 1.5Mbps downstream. But I couldn't maintain sync more than 30 seconds at a whack. Had the techs out several times, and found out I was 2 miles past where they were supposed to stop selling DSL...

I didn't cancel though; even though I couldn't VPN into the office or play online games, at least I was getting net 768kbps (1.5Mbps for 30 seconds followed by 0Mbps for 30 seconds = 768kbps, right?). Finally after Ike blew through, I claimed "it was working fine until Ike happened" - tech came out, checked it out, said "water must have gotten in the cable" and they laid a new cable down from the road to my house (2000+ feet). Still couldn't get 1.5Mbps access, but now I've got 768kbps downstream/384kbps upstream. $20/month. And naturally everybody at work is getting AT&T Uverse. I figure by the time they build enough infrastructure where I can stream HD out where I live, people will be signing up to join with the hive mind...

--KS
 
Dubios Telephone Exchange (DSL)
Baggs, WY
Advertised: 1.5/768k
Actual (on a good night) : 3/1
$69/month (includes basic phone :( )
 
Comcast business class(installed at my house), 99$ a month , Advertised speeds, 16 Meg down, 2 megs up. Actual speeds, 22 megs Down, 6 megs up.
 
I'm in mildly rural Iowa (< 2 miles from town) and after a $1400 investment in a 70' radio tower, and $50/mo, I get 3MB up/down. For the first couple of years with this setup, I got spotty coverage, terrible packet loss and needed do most of my own tech support when things got flaky. (The newest generation of WAN radio links is much, much better)

My neighbors are getting about 512k Up/Down from their provider at the same $50/mo, but only had a $300 up front install cost.

Rural internet options are pretty disappointing.

And to think, I live < 10 miles from the location where the first digital computer was built.
 
Verizon FIOS
Burke, VA (Fairfax area)
Advertised: 20/20
Actual: 20/15-20

The connection is the most reliable I've ever experienced (both on speeds and uptime). I can sustain downloads at 2.5MB/s and uploads between 2 and 2.5MB all day.

Hopefully, for the sake of the country, Verizon can take all of Comcast's business and bankrupt them.
 
Bethlehem, PA
RCN Cable
$35/mo
10/0.8 Mbps advertised (actual is usually pretty close, maybe off by a few percent)

 
Disclaimer: Alaska and Hawaii not taken into consideration of my post :>

(additional thoughts: Not enough nodes, routers, fat pipes, backbone spread through the states?)
 
Time Warner Cable Road Runner Turbo
Shawnee, KS
$39.99/mo
22mbps down / 1mbps up
 
Disclaimer: Alaska and Hawaii not taken into consideration of my post :>

(additional thoughts: Not enough nodes, routers, fat pipes, backbone spread through the states?)

Pretty much. The US is simply a big fucking country. It's impossible right now to cover everywhere without breaking ISP's wallet - but they do need to reach out more than they're doing right now. They're pocketing too much of their expansion money.
 
Cable prices mostly are a factor of competition. In places where there is more than one option prices tend to be lower. That's generally true no matter what the population density. That said, there's few smart things that people do that takes up lots of bandwidth. I don't think that people in rural places are missing much when ABC.com has to scale down the picture of the Lost episode they are watching.
 
Verizon FIOS
Burke, VA (Fairfax area)
Advertised: 20/20
Actual: 20/15-20

The connection is the most reliable I've ever experienced (both on speeds and uptime). I can sustain downloads at 2.5MB/s and uploads between 2 and 2.5MB all day.

Hopefully, for the sake of the country, Verizon can take all of Comcast's business and bankrupt them.

I used to live near Springfield and couldn't get FIOS because the f'ing apartment signed a deal with COX. All of the home owners nearby had FIOSy goodness and I had to deal with shitty techs and double billing.
 
We are on Dial-up. Only thing available as hills and trees block Wireless Internet and we do not have 3G so no Cell Wireless either.
 
Wide Open West
Trenton, MI (South of Detroit)
Download: 15Mbit
Upload: 2Mbit
Guaranteed 80% speeds (I get 90% to 105% all the time)
No bandwidth limits/caps.

Best internet service I've used residential. There's no throttling, no capping bs, no traffic shaping, no ports blocked, customer support and tech support is great/fast.
 
Here in New Jersey I have Verizon Fios as a package deal (HDTV, Phone, Internet) for $110 a month. Its rated at 25 mbps download/15 mbps upload.

NJ DSLreports.com reports my connect at 17814kbps down and 9811 upload but it maxes at 9999 kbps

NY Speakeasy reports 26115kbps and 4118kbps.
 
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