Internet in America

[yaydod]

This is not ANOTHER SOPA thread, this is about the ISP's (Internet Service Provider) in the states.

I live in France, where in any region you can choose between a minimum of 3 different ISP up to a max of about 7. Each offer is about the same : for 20 ~ 30 euros a month you can have unlimited internet,TV and telephone.

My sister just moved to America ad over there she could not choose her ISP since there is only one in the area (California, not too far from LA).
I found that a bit strange since usualy the United States encourage high concurrence on almost any market. Then i reseached a bit and in fact that was an act of the goverment to break the monopole of a company who was the only ISP at the time (cant remeber the name ), so they divieded the country in diffenrent "zones" wich they would give to 1 ISP.

This seems a bit retarded since this will not break monopole it will only create micro monopole on different areas and letting them place the prices as they want since you can only go throught the ISP of your "zone" for interent. Unfortunatly the same goes for the phone subcribtion.

In france for unlimited internet+tv+phone it cost me 25euros a month and for my mobile with 6h call time, unlimited text messages and unlimited access to internet wich cost me around 35 euros a month, so for all that i pay 60euros per month.

In the states i would pay around 150$ per month for all that, and that is only if i send message only to people with the same ISP as me.


So tell escapist, what do you think about this?

 

[Slaanesh]

Whats the name of her ISP? In the east coast(USA) I have 2 to 3 options for an ISP. In CA I would assume there would be a range of ISPs people could choose from.

 

[Jodah]

I wish I had more than one option. Mine is absolute garbage but it's all I can get. There are two options smack in the middle of the city but if you get into any kind of rural territory you are lucky to get one. Until a couple years ago dial-up was the only option.

 

[MrTub]

I pay 20euro for 100/100mbit/s unlimited, and you can even get 250mbit (unlimited) & phone & tv for around 30-35euro.

Must sucks for people that only can get one isp :/

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I'm on the east coast as well, and we've got at least 3 ISPs (Verizon FiOS, Brighthouse cable, and whatever the local DSL company is) to get high speed internet from, plus a few dialup providers that are hanging in there, plus cell phone internet and satellite internet. Granted,it does seem like there's only one high speed provider of each type in the area; I think that's a result of the fact that the cable and fiberoptic systems actually /are/ local monopolies in the U.S.. The phone companies are as well, but there's a law on the books that keeps them from refusing to let you use their line to connect to another ISP, which is why there's so many dialup and DSL providers in any given area.

As for the way it's bundled, most companies do give the option of anything from internet only, to phone, internet, and cable combined. I'm not too sure on how much it costs (my parents pay for it at home, and I have yet to live anywhere else that didn't include WiFi as part of the rent), but bandwidth limits are practically unheard of in the states. High speed internet is really easy to find on the east coast and on the west coast, but the middle of the country is kind of a wasteland as far as internet goes. That's why you see so many people from Florida, Texas, New York, and California, but so few from, say, Wyoming or Wisconsin. There's also patches in states that otherwise have solid access that are rural enough that there's no such thing as high speed internet. Basically, the US has good internet -- as long as you live in a relatively populated area. Otherwise, you may be out of luck.

 

[MrTub]

"but bandwidth limits are practically unheard of in the states"

Are you sure about that? since I thought that pretty much every isp in canada & usa had limits?

ATT bandwidth cap [http://gigaom.com/video/att-bandwidth-cap-netflix/]

How bandwidth caps us all to become network cops [http://gigaom.com/2011/04/08/how-bandwidth-caps-force-us-all-to-become-network-cops/]

Bandwidth Caps for Residential High-
Speed Internet in the U.S. and Japan
US bandwidth gets new caps [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/06/charter_and_time_warner_bandwidth_caps/]

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

"but bandwidth limits are practically unheard of in the states"

Are you sure about that? since I thought that pretty much every isp in canada & usa had limits?

ATT bandwidth cap [http://gigaom.com/video/att-bandwidth-cap-netflix/]

How bandwidth caps us all to become network cops [http://gigaom.com/2011/04/08/how-bandwidth-caps-force-us-all-to-become-network-cops/]

Bandwidth Caps for Residential High-
Speed Internet in the U.S. and Japan
US bandwidth gets new caps [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/06/charter_and_time_warner_bandwidth_caps/]

It might be common practice for American DSL companies, but DSL is so slow compared to cable and FiOS, and so similar in price, that I don't know anyone who voluntarily gets DSL unless their only other option is dialup. Canada has a big problem with bandwidth caps, but not so much the US.

Edit: As for the articles you linked about cable companies with bandwidth caps, first of all, I've never actually heard of any of that, and the article is from 2009, so it's possible htat it was one of those short lived movements that got stopped by the FCC. Second, though, those were all for the absolute cheapest possible plans. That one with the 1 GB cap, for example, is probably a service tier that people who use the internet to do more than "download muffin recipes," as one current commercial puts it, go out of their way to avoid buying.

Edit Edit: It is, however, common practice in Satellite internet -- which is just another reason why people don't buy it unless they absolutely have to have internet in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, that stuff is expensive.

 

[MrTub]

"but bandwidth limits are practically unheard of in the states"

Are you sure about that? since I thought that pretty much every isp in canada & usa had limits?

ATT bandwidth cap [http://gigaom.com/video/att-bandwidth-cap-netflix/]

How bandwidth caps us all to become network cops [http://gigaom.com/2011/04/08/how-bandwidth-caps-force-us-all-to-become-network-cops/]

Bandwidth Caps for Residential High-
Speed Internet in the U.S. and Japan
US bandwidth gets new caps [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/06/charter_and_time_warner_bandwidth_caps/]

It might be common practice for American DSL companies, but DSL is so slow compared to cable and FiOS, and so similar in price, that I don't know anyone who voluntarily gets DSL unless their only other option is dialup. Canada has a big problem with bandwidth caps, but not so much the US.

Edit: As for the articles you linked about cable companies with bandwidth caps, first of all, I've never actually heard of any of that, and the article is from 2009, so it's possible htat it was one of those short lived movements that got stopped by the FCC. Second, though, those were all for the absolute cheapest possible plans. That one with the 1 GB cap, for example, is probably a service tier that people who use the internet to do more than "download muffin recipes," as one current commercial puts it, go out of their way to avoid buying.

The article about AT&T is from Mar. 14, 2011.


"Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States"


"Comcast broadband has a controversial 250-GB-per-month cap on downloads, which went into effect on October 1, 2008.[33] This policy is also reflected in Comcast Network Management page. The cap combines both upload and download for the total limit. If a user exceeds the cap, on a first offense, a warning email and/or phone call will be issued with information on how to track bandwidth usage by suggesting software monitoring programs. On the second offense within the next six months, the customer's residential services are terminated for one year. The monitoring window is from the first to last day of each calendar month.[34]
Wiki Comcast [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast#.22Excessive_bandwidth.22_Policy]



"AT&T

AT&T is one of the latest companies to impose bandwidth restrictions on its user base, with the second-largest subscriber count in the country behind behemoth Comcast. As of May 2, AT&T users on the company?s DSL service?capping out at a $20/mo cost?only get 150 gigabytes of downloaded data per month"

"Comcast

Enter, the giant. Comcast was one of the first, and largest, of the American ISPs to launch a bandwidth-capping initiative overtop its previously marketed ?unlimited? Internet service. The company?s cap for its cable Internet packages sits at 250 gigabytes of downloaded or uploaded data per month"

"Cox

This might sound like a broken record by now, but high-speed Internet service from Cox Communications follows Comcast and AT&T?s footsteps with bandwidth limits. Regardless of which Internet plan you sign up for"
how bad do we really have it bandwidth caps around world Posted 06/16/2011 at 1:20pm [http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_bad_do_we_really_have_it_bandwidth_caps_around_world]

"Come Monday, AT&T will begin restricting more than 16 million broadband users based on the amount of data they use in a month. The No. 2 carrier?s entry into the broadband-cap club means that a majority of U.S. broadband users will now be subject to limits on how much they can do online or risk extra charges as ugly as video store late fees."
AT&T caps from Wired April 29, 2011 [http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/04/att-broadband-caps/]

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

"but bandwidth limits are practically unheard of in the states"

Are you sure about that? since I thought that pretty much every isp in canada & usa had limits?

ATT bandwidth cap [http://gigaom.com/video/att-bandwidth-cap-netflix/]

How bandwidth caps us all to become network cops [http://gigaom.com/2011/04/08/how-bandwidth-caps-force-us-all-to-become-network-cops/]

Bandwidth Caps for Residential High-
Speed Internet in the U.S. and Japan
US bandwidth gets new caps [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/06/charter_and_time_warner_bandwidth_caps/]

It might be common practice for American DSL companies, but DSL is so slow compared to cable and FiOS, and so similar in price, that I don't know anyone who voluntarily gets DSL unless their only other option is dialup. Canada has a big problem with bandwidth caps, but not so much the US.

Edit: As for the articles you linked about cable companies with bandwidth caps, first of all, I've never actually heard of any of that, and the article is from 2009, so it's possible htat it was one of those short lived movements that got stopped by the FCC. Second, though, those were all for the absolute cheapest possible plans. That one with the 1 GB cap, for example, is probably a service tier that people who use the internet to do more than "download muffin recipes," as one current commercial puts it, go out of their way to avoid buying.

The article about AT&T is from Mar. 14, 2011.


"Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States"


"Comcast broadband has a controversial 250-GB-per-month cap on downloads, which went into effect on October 1, 2008.[33] This policy is also reflected in Comcast Network Management page. The cap combines both upload and download for the total limit. If a user exceeds the cap, on a first offense, a warning email and/or phone call will be issued with information on how to track bandwidth usage by suggesting software monitoring programs. On the second offense within the next six months, the customer's residential services are terminated for one year. The monitoring window is from the first to last day of each calendar month.[34]
Wiki Comcast [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast#.22Excessive_bandwidth.22_Policy]



"AT&T

AT&T is one of the latest companies to impose bandwidth restrictions on its user base, with the second-largest subscriber count in the country behind behemoth Comcast. As of May 2, AT&T users on the company?s DSL service?capping out at a $20/mo cost?only get 150 gigabytes of downloaded data per month"

"Comcast

Enter, the giant. Comcast was one of the first, and largest, of the American ISPs to launch a bandwidth-capping initiative overtop its previously marketed ?unlimited? Internet service. The company?s cap for its cable Internet packages sits at 250 gigabytes of downloaded or uploaded data per month"

"Cox

This might sound like a broken record by now, but high-speed Internet service from Cox Communications follows Comcast and AT&T?s footsteps with bandwidth limits. Regardless of which Internet plan you sign up for"
how bad do we really have it bandwidth caps around world Posted 06/16/2011 at 1:20pm [http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_bad_do_we_really_have_it_bandwidth_caps_around_world]

"Come Monday, AT&T will begin restricting more than 16 million broadband users based on the amount of data they use in a month. The No. 2 carrier?s entry into the broadband-cap club means that a majority of U.S. broadband users will now be subject to limits on how much they can do online or risk extra charges as ugly as video store late fees."
AT&T caps from Wired April 29, 2011 [http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/04/att-broadband-caps/]

Weird. AT&T does DSL, so they're not exactly a sought after company for internet anyway. Cox is a fairly small company; I don't even know what part of the country they're based in, although I hear them mentioned from time to time. Comcast is the more worrying one, because between Comcast and Brighthouse (which is the company that services my area) you have most of the country. I guess I should amend that statement from earlier to "bandwidth caps used to be unheard of," because this really is a new thing. There was a time when people had to pay for internet by the minute, but bandwidth caps was one of those things that I was sure wouldn't ever make its way here, like UK style TV Licenses.

 

[MrTub]

"but bandwidth limits are practically unheard of in the states"

Are you sure about that? since I thought that pretty much every isp in canada & usa had limits?

ATT bandwidth cap [http://gigaom.com/video/att-bandwidth-cap-netflix/]

How bandwidth caps us all to become network cops [http://gigaom.com/2011/04/08/how-bandwidth-caps-force-us-all-to-become-network-cops/]

Bandwidth Caps for Residential High-
Speed Internet in the U.S. and Japan
US bandwidth gets new caps [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/06/charter_and_time_warner_bandwidth_caps/]

It might be common practice for American DSL companies, but DSL is so slow compared to cable and FiOS, and so similar in price, that I don't know anyone who voluntarily gets DSL unless their only other option is dialup. Canada has a big problem with bandwidth caps, but not so much the US.

Edit: As for the articles you linked about cable companies with bandwidth caps, first of all, I've never actually heard of any of that, and the article is from 2009, so it's possible htat it was one of those short lived movements that got stopped by the FCC. Second, though, those were all for the absolute cheapest possible plans. That one with the 1 GB cap, for example, is probably a service tier that people who use the internet to do more than "download muffin recipes," as one current commercial puts it, go out of their way to avoid buying.

The article about AT&T is from Mar. 14, 2011.


"Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States"


"Comcast broadband has a controversial 250-GB-per-month cap on downloads, which went into effect on October 1, 2008.[33] This policy is also reflected in Comcast Network Management page. The cap combines both upload and download for the total limit. If a user exceeds the cap, on a first offense, a warning email and/or phone call will be issued with information on how to track bandwidth usage by suggesting software monitoring programs. On the second offense within the next six months, the customer's residential services are terminated for one year. The monitoring window is from the first to last day of each calendar month.[34]
Wiki Comcast [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast#.22Excessive_bandwidth.22_Policy]



"AT&T

AT&T is one of the latest companies to impose bandwidth restrictions on its user base, with the second-largest subscriber count in the country behind behemoth Comcast. As of May 2, AT&T users on the company?s DSL service?capping out at a $20/mo cost?only get 150 gigabytes of downloaded data per month"

"Comcast

Enter, the giant. Comcast was one of the first, and largest, of the American ISPs to launch a bandwidth-capping initiative overtop its previously marketed ?unlimited? Internet service. The company?s cap for its cable Internet packages sits at 250 gigabytes of downloaded or uploaded data per month"

"Cox

This might sound like a broken record by now, but high-speed Internet service from Cox Communications follows Comcast and AT&T?s footsteps with bandwidth limits. Regardless of which Internet plan you sign up for"
how bad do we really have it bandwidth caps around world Posted 06/16/2011 at 1:20pm [http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_bad_do_we_really_have_it_bandwidth_caps_around_world]

"Come Monday, AT&T will begin restricting more than 16 million broadband users based on the amount of data they use in a month. The No. 2 carrier?s entry into the broadband-cap club means that a majority of U.S. broadband users will now be subject to limits on how much they can do online or risk extra charges as ugly as video store late fees."
AT&T caps from Wired April 29, 2011 [http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/04/att-broadband-caps/]

Weird. AT&T does DSL, so they're not exactly a sought after company for internet anyway. Cox is a fairly small company; I don't even know what part of the country they're based in, although I hear them mentioned from time to time. Comcast is the more worrying one, because between Comcast and Brighthouse (which is the company that services my area) you have most of the country. I guess I should amend that statement from earlier to "bandwidth caps used to be unheard of," because this really is a new thing. There was a time when people had to pay for internet by the minute, but bandwidth caps was one of those things that I was sure wouldn't ever make its way here, like UK style TV Licenses.

Well seems to becoming quite normal

56% of americans have internet data caps fcc asked to investigate By Nate Anderson | Published 8 months ago [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/56-of-americans-have-internet-data-caps-fcc-asked-to-investigate.ars]


And since Brighthouse are using Road runner which seems to trying to push caps as well
(Road runner is part of Time warner)

"Despite raising prices of its Internet service within the previous year, Time Warner Cable announced in February 2009 that it would expand its bandwidth caps and overage fees into four additional markets by the end of the year."
source [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Runner_High_Speed_Online#Bandwidth_caps]

Which they later canceled since people got mad but wouldn't surprise me if they tried to push it when caps get more common.



Here is a good list that shows isp with known caps (Possible that it doesnt have every isp)

http://skyangel.wikidot.com/doc:known-isp-bandwidth-caps

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

"but bandwidth limits are practically unheard of in the states"

Are you sure about that? since I thought that pretty much every isp in canada & usa had limits?

ATT bandwidth cap [http://gigaom.com/video/att-bandwidth-cap-netflix/]

How bandwidth caps us all to become network cops [http://gigaom.com/2011/04/08/how-bandwidth-caps-force-us-all-to-become-network-cops/]

Bandwidth Caps for Residential High-
Speed Internet in the U.S. and Japan
US bandwidth gets new caps [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/06/charter_and_time_warner_bandwidth_caps/]

It might be common practice for American DSL companies, but DSL is so slow compared to cable and FiOS, and so similar in price, that I don't know anyone who voluntarily gets DSL unless their only other option is dialup. Canada has a big problem with bandwidth caps, but not so much the US.

Edit: As for the articles you linked about cable companies with bandwidth caps, first of all, I've never actually heard of any of that, and the article is from 2009, so it's possible htat it was one of those short lived movements that got stopped by the FCC. Second, though, those were all for the absolute cheapest possible plans. That one with the 1 GB cap, for example, is probably a service tier that people who use the internet to do more than "download muffin recipes," as one current commercial puts it, go out of their way to avoid buying.

The article about AT&T is from Mar. 14, 2011.


"Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States"


"Comcast broadband has a controversial 250-GB-per-month cap on downloads, which went into effect on October 1, 2008.[33] This policy is also reflected in Comcast Network Management page. The cap combines both upload and download for the total limit. If a user exceeds the cap, on a first offense, a warning email and/or phone call will be issued with information on how to track bandwidth usage by suggesting software monitoring programs. On the second offense within the next six months, the customer's residential services are terminated for one year. The monitoring window is from the first to last day of each calendar month.[34]
Wiki Comcast [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast#.22Excessive_bandwidth.22_Policy]



"AT&T

AT&T is one of the latest companies to impose bandwidth restrictions on its user base, with the second-largest subscriber count in the country behind behemoth Comcast. As of May 2, AT&T users on the company?s DSL service?capping out at a $20/mo cost?only get 150 gigabytes of downloaded data per month"

"Comcast

Enter, the giant. Comcast was one of the first, and largest, of the American ISPs to launch a bandwidth-capping initiative overtop its previously marketed ?unlimited? Internet service. The company?s cap for its cable Internet packages sits at 250 gigabytes of downloaded or uploaded data per month"

"Cox

This might sound like a broken record by now, but high-speed Internet service from Cox Communications follows Comcast and AT&T?s footsteps with bandwidth limits. Regardless of which Internet plan you sign up for"
how bad do we really have it bandwidth caps around world Posted 06/16/2011 at 1:20pm [http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_bad_do_we_really_have_it_bandwidth_caps_around_world]

"Come Monday, AT&T will begin restricting more than 16 million broadband users based on the amount of data they use in a month. The No. 2 carrier?s entry into the broadband-cap club means that a majority of U.S. broadband users will now be subject to limits on how much they can do online or risk extra charges as ugly as video store late fees."
AT&T caps from Wired April 29, 2011 [http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/04/att-broadband-caps/]

Weird. AT&T does DSL, so they're not exactly a sought after company for internet anyway. Cox is a fairly small company; I don't even know what part of the country they're based in, although I hear them mentioned from time to time. Comcast is the more worrying one, because between Comcast and Brighthouse (which is the company that services my area) you have most of the country. I guess I should amend that statement from earlier to "bandwidth caps used to be unheard of," because this really is a new thing. There was a time when people had to pay for internet by the minute, but bandwidth caps was one of those things that I was sure wouldn't ever make its way here, like UK style TV Licenses.

Well seems to becoming quite normal

56% of americans have internet data caps fcc asked to investigate By Nate Anderson | Published 8 months ago [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/05/56-of-americans-have-internet-data-caps-fcc-asked-to-investigate.ars]


And since Brighthouse are using Road runner which seems to trying to push caps as well
(Road runner is part of Time warner)

"Despite raising prices of its Internet service within the previous year, Time Warner Cable announced in February 2009 that it would expand its bandwidth caps and overage fees into four additional markets by the end of the year."
source [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Runner_High_Speed_Online#Bandwidth_caps]

Which they later canceled since people got mad but wouldn't surprise me if they tried to push it when caps get more common.



Here is a good list that shows isp with known caps (Possible that it doesnt have every isp)

http://skyangel.wikidot.com/doc:known-isp-bandwidth-caps

According to the article about Brighthouse, they dropped it shortly afterward (and apparently before taking it past a couple of test markets) because of the public backlash (Which included a Senator and a US Representative threatening to write a law to ban the practice.) That's why it was surprising to me that it exists in the country, let alone that 56% of people here have one; it's not exactly well liked, and there's usually plenty of bandwidth cap free competition in the area, which makes it hard for a company to unilaterally introduce something like that[footnote]caveat: this does not mean I think the free market is self regulating. It means that once inertia gets going, it's hard to change it short of either multiple companies colluding to make a change, or the government adding or lifting a restriction. If all of the companies in the US had had bandwidth caps to begin with, we'd be having a very different discussion right now.[/footnote].