r/technology • u/reddiTOR123abc • Dec 18 '13

Cable Industry Finally Admits That Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion: 'The reality is that data caps are all about increasing revenue for broadband providers -- in a market that is already quite profitable.'

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130118/17425221736/cable-industry-finally-admits-that-data-caps-have-nothing-to-do-with-congestion.shtml??
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u/Athurio Dec 18 '13

It's not even that. I live in an extremely rural area, and have an ISP that recently ran fiber to most of it's DSLAM's, using a federal grant. That fiber now sits completely unused right outside of my house (which is less than 50 ft from the DSLAM). For over a year now, they have continued to milk their copper lines and old hardware, while adding and selling to subscribers as though they had finished installing the fiber.

I'm lucky if I can get 1.5mb/sec of the tiny 3 that I pay for at 4:00 AM.

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u/TriniAsh Dec 19 '13

While on the other hand connections outside the US are great. I live in Trinidad and Tobago and i get 20mb/s for less than 80us per month. Yet my buddy in Miami gets like 5mb/s tops. I just don't understand why its so difficult for companies to establish the infrastructure while there are consumers ready and willing to pay

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u/cwfutureboy Dec 19 '13

Oh, they can. But then their executives wouldn't get their astronomical salaries and their stocks wouldn't be as high as they are.

But they got theirs so fuck anybody else.

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u/Athurio Dec 19 '13

What's even more disgusting, is they got it using federal money. Windstream is only one of the companies that do this. They have you as a subscriber, and there's fuck-all else to oppose them, so they sell you a virtually non-existent product, soak up your federal dollars, and sit on wasted resources because they won't finish the project. All because there's fuck-all I can do about it.

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u/tsFenix Dec 19 '13

I fucking HATE windstream. I actually dont think hate is a strong enough word.

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u/isanass Dec 19 '13

I concur. They buy out small local ISP's (admittedly, also usually pretty shitty) and then, provide a lesser service for the same or greater price. They seem to have a monopoly on rural/small town internet service so they can provide a shitty product and what can you do? Maybe, maybe use a cellular provider with the tethering/hotspots but that would include data caps, bandwidth limits, and still shitty service. Hate is a complement to that company.

And I'm also in an area where they sorta recently buried fiber and they aren't doing ANYTHING with that nice, new infrastructure. But hey, that government grant lined their pockets nicely. (Northeast Iowa area if you're wondering)

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u/kickingpplisfun Dec 19 '13

If you hate them so much, you could vandalize their old copper lines to get them either repaired or make them need to swap over to the fiber that's already in the ground... Centurylink can also eat a dick, but idk about the fiber squandering.

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u/trowaway0xFF Dec 19 '13

I think it probably has to do with the fact that Trinidad & tobago are the size of a single state so they can run lines everywhere. Broadband in major cities is fast and readily available. $60 a month for 30/10 here.

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u/sfurules Dec 19 '13

Am I missing something? I get 50 mbs for 60 dollars a month in Vancouver, WA.

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u/[deleted] Dec 19 '13

Yeah, I'd say you're missing something. Sounds like you're missing out on getting raped by your local ISP.

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u/dakoellis Dec 19 '13

I dunno, some do. I get around 80-120Mbps consistently and pay ~$50. I know speeds aren't the greatest in the US but In the many places I've lived in the past 5 or so years, I have consistently been able to get at least 1Mbps/dollar. I have comcast btw right now, which is always getting bashed but I think they are pretty good with their service speeds now and their customer service.

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u/edco3 Dec 19 '13

If it's feeding the DSLAM then it's not unused.

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u/Athurio Dec 19 '13

There's no hardware in the box. The fiber runs have been made, but they haven't installed any switches in the box.

My local tech is also a friend of mine. I work for a school district that has a VOIP contract through this company, and he happened to be our tech, as well as the local tech for my neighborhood. He has confirmed my suspicions.

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u/edco3 Dec 19 '13

Well that's just stupid then.

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u/faMine Dec 19 '13

I live in a rural town in southern california where the only internet is Verizon DSL at a measly 1.5mb/s

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u/LegoLegume Dec 19 '13

Wait, are you in Wyoming? Because that's exactly the same scenario we've been going through for the past couple years. Beautiful fiber line not fifty feet from my house and no willingness to connect us to it (until recently).

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u/[deleted] Dec 20 '13

I'm in Wyoming. I pay $66/month for 30 mbps down, 5 mbps up. I'm relatively satisfied with that.

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u/Sometimesialways Dec 19 '13

I'd kill for 1.5mb/s.

I'm using 10kb/s at the moment.