AT&T Says Gaming is Not a "Core Broadband Service"

[samsonguy920]

They are sweettalking Congress, because once again AT&T is reaching the point that not so long in the past, it got disintegrated into all its parts that only recently is now back in control of more than 80% of. They are using a new tactic now, where they keep their costs down, and instead just provide so-so service.
Makes me happy I am not under that umbrella.

Spoiler

I feel your pain, but then I went ahead and upgraded my system which didn't even cost the price of a game, and got better speed out of Steam. I still get frustrated over the constant updates, but at least they don't last a regular day's shift at work.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

Broadband itself used to be aspirational too. Don't plan for what you have, thats purely reactionary, you need to plan for the future instead.

Today's aspirations are tomorrow's drivers.

I'm in accord with the last paragraph - what AT&T describes as "aspirational" broadband services are also the services that actually call for broadband access (including VoIP - "real time voice"). And yes, they are luxury items. For that matter, I could live without my Internet connection too - I don't have a single required service or product that can't be had without it.

Something to note, they actually list VoIP and Video Conferencing as not necessary right now. They say that they could be required later.

Of course, over time, services that are too costly to deploy today may become more practicable even in hard-to-serve areas. And the basic services that Americans need may evolve to the point where, for example, meaningful participation in the economy is not possible without real-time IP video or voice. As such evolutions occur, the baseline definition of broadband should evolve as well, as the Commission recognizes in the Public Notice.5 But the notion of continuing evolution should not immobilize policymakers today: Industry, anchor institutions, and government can capitalize on the best of today?s technologies, and the innovation and services that can be provided using those tools, to bring immediate and significant advances to communities across America. This is the most concrete and prompt means of pursuing the universal connectivity the Recovery Act mandates?and after achieving this immediate goal, the Commission can and should evaluate on an ongoing basis whether the time has come to modify the definition of broadband for purposes of the Plan and the Act, so that it continues to capture the evolving standard of service that Americans will expect and need in the years to come.

This isn't in regard to upgrading existing broadband, it is about expanding broadband to places where it isn't currently. They want it to evolve, but, again in the context of FCC broadband plan relating to the Recovery Act, some things simply aren't necessary. They recognize that they could and probably will be eventually, but they're saying we should focus on getting a baseline down for what we need now, then upgrade.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

My concern is what does this mean? I still remember them trying to clamp bandwith holds and rate hikes on us, they got beat somehow. This seems like a scam to raise my rates by saying gaming isn't a service they offer.

 

[Narcogen]

Okay, I can understand making a priority out of durable mail servers and decent web infrastructure... but these really aren't the reasons consumers get broadband access. Email and web access are doable by dial-up; that's how I got on for years. You don't need high-speed Internet connections for Wikipedia and AIM.

You do need low-latency connections for gaming, though. And for audio and video streaming for that matter.

If AT&T truly thinks that gaming is not a core broadband service they should save themselves a fortune in infrastructure and stick with 128kbaud... but if they did so their customers (who do see music streaming and gaming and VOIP and YouTube as core Internet applications) would very quickly let them know if they tried.

-- Steve

You have to look at these statements from an operator's perspective. Especially in a situation where operators are positioning themselves for stimulus packages that have to do with enabling the US to increase its Internet household penetration, which is woeful by the standards of other first world countries.

They are definitely going to want to avoid a hearing in Congress where they are accused of using stimulus funds to allow kids to harass each other on Xbox Live. That's what it'll look like. So they define a "core" of services (what we really mean by "what people use Internet for" and we design network rollouts to support those services, and then we apply stimulus funds to implementing those rollout plans. I don't think it's more complicated than that. It doesn't mean dialing back (pun intended) to 128Kbps (that's painful at times even for regular browsing these days, nevermind multimedia or interactivity).

In other words "core" has a specific political, rather than technical meaning, in this context, and shouldn't be perceived by gamers, game developers, or game publishers as meaning "something that isn't important" or "something that operators don't support" because it doesn't mean that.

Does that mean gaming won't work on those networks? Or VOIP? Of course not.

Operators' attitudes towards VOIP is another kettle of fish entirely, of course...

 

[thenumberthirteen]

I read the average Broadband speeds in those countries and cried. Here in the UK the Government are just starting to bring us into the Broadband era. We're a small, wealthy, industrialised nation. How come it takes us so long to catch up. I read about S Korea's broadband system (on the Escapist btw) and how the government struck a deal with the telecom company to provide super fast internet to the countryside. Why can't we do that here?

 

[LoopyDood]

Spoiler

I feel your pain, but then I went ahead and upgraded my system which didn't even cost the price of a game, and got better speed out of Steam. I still get frustrated over the constant updates, but at least they don't last a regular day's shift at work.

The difference between you and me is that I don't have that luxury. Dialup is the only kind of internet available where I live; AT&T and other broadband companies should focus on bringing broadband to rural areas rather than passifying the spoiled, whining masses. Seriously, most people take high speed internet for granted.

 

[cobrausn]

Dear Christ this is an old thread. For a second I thought it was recent news.

Dude must really hate AT&T to search for topics about them and complain about them.

 

[MrTub]

Hopefully this official declaration will make developers realise that not everyone will have access to the kind of broadband speeds that they have at their offices (probably some super-duper industrial T1 business package), and make them think twice about abandoning the 'average Joe' customer who only has dial up and prefers the more traditional way of gaming, hard copies which aren't reliant on an internet connection.

I actually dont know anyone that havent got broadband, even my granddad got a 10mb/s connection.