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The FCC vs. the Internet.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Jimmy James, May 9, 2014.

  1. Nettdata

    Nettdata
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    Mr. Toast

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    At this point you're just being a troll.

    Banned for a day.
     
  2. Jimmy James

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    I wish to Christ that you weren't banned, just so I could hear the idiotic justification you have for fast internet not being a necessity. There is something seriously wrong with the free market for the internet when my phone has faster internet than the DSL that's available to my home. Not like I could use it, thanks to my provider throttling me after 2 gigs. So what does that leave me with? Comcast, the company so awesome they change the name of their customers to Super Bitch.
     
  3. Juice

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    Okay, we're moving forward with this thread. He was dealt with, no need to pile on. Topic-related posts from here on out.
     
  4. E. Tuffmen

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    I honestly don't understand why everyone says DSL sucks. I've been using AT&T U-Verse for several years now and I routinely get speeds of 15 mbps. My son is constantly online playing a pretty graphics heavy game, we routinely watch Netflix, and my other son watches WWE network, sometimes all at the same time and we never have a bit of lag. It has only gone out once since we've had it and when I called they fixed it the next day. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't get it.
     
  5. Nettdata

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    DSL capability is very closely tied to how close you are to the local demarcation point. If you're close, you can get amazing speed/bandwidth, and it's awesome. But the further away from that demarc you are, the worse the service, in a non-linear fashion. Most people experience the shitty DSL, so that's probably why most people don't have much good to say about it.
     
  6. dieformetal

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    Perhaps its just nightmares some of the older people (myself included) have of having to wait five minutes for that abominable shrieking-esque sound that was necessary before your AOL 2.0 connected...the last time I had DSL was roughly 2005, and that was when I literally lived on top of a mountain and cable/broadband could not/refused to go up there. While I can't remember it ever going completely out, it was slow as hell and choppy.
     
  7. Binary

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    As Nett said, it's definitely a question of where you're located.

    I'm in a fairly big city and my DSL (also U-Verse) is excellent, I get a steady 23-25 Mbps and no outages. However, DSL just isn't available for large swaths of the country, and at the edges of the service areas it gets pretty bad. They've got techniques to assist with the degradation over distance, but in practice that has just meant they've extended their service areas rather than just fixing their existing area.

    You know that DSL is not dial-up, right?
     
  8. Parker

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    Also, time for some nerdeducation. Regardless of the graphics, it really doesn't have any bearing on how much internet speed it takes up. A lot of the heavy lifting is left to the local computer. I can run League of Legends which is pretty heavy off my cellphone's tether. What really only matters is the ping which isn't tied to speeds. But the data pull from Minecraft really isn't that different than the data pull from Call of Duty.
     
  9. dieformetal

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    No...actually I did not know that. I'm sort of a luddite on these things.
     
  10. Mastro

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    I was introduced to this issue by non-other than John Oliver, as I'm not from the states. Perhaps worth a watch.

    Video below:



    It is a bit dated (June last year), but still relevant.
     
    #90 Mastro, Mar 4, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 27, 2015
  11. Robbie Clark

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  12. Binary

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    So... an internet media company is happy with the legislation enacted but ideally would have preferred that all of the ISPs collectively decide to not be obstinate dickheads and just play nicely?

    Color me shocked.

    Not sure how this supports your point.
     
  13. xrayvision

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  14. Nettdata

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    Yeah, it's not that they're unhappy with the outcome, they're more disappointed that it had to happen at all.

    Hell, they were the biggest proponents to get the Title 2 ruling in the first place, so of course they're going to be happy with it.
     
  15. Robbie Clark

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  16. xrayvision

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  17. Robbie Clark

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    This one's easy. The internet is not needed to live at all, and isn't even needed in a modern society like the US. I've never encountered a business where applications can't be hand delivered. I've bought a ton of shit from Amazon and Newegg and whomever, but neither was actually needed to obtain the items. I could have just as easily have gone to a store and purchased the items or ordered them by phone.

    I live in a rural area, and even DSL is not available to me. For a time, rather than having dial-up, I did without the internet for several months. As a working systems/network administrator. The couple times that there were issues on the weekend or overnight, I simply drove to work. The internet was not needed, just very helpful.

    Even now my home internet service is with a mobile hotspot. But I still don't think net neutrality should be enforced via unconstitutional FCC regulations or congressional legislation. And I oppose any federal subsidies for network infrastructure.

    The internet is a great thing, but it's not necessary to live or compete in a high tech world. Convenience isn't necessity.
     
  18. Binary

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    Wow, this is really, really wrong.

    Most companies now only post their jobs online. Many of those companies require you to submit your resume and application electronically with no provision to do it in person.

    The vast majority of home & apartment searching must be done online.

    Most education programs require you to have an internet connection and to participate partly or wholly online.

    Many jobs require a reliable, high speed internet connection, including a number at my company - unless you'd like to spend your "on-call" hours sleeping in the office.

    Also, I'm really glad you're all comfortable and middle class with reliable transportation in a white collar job whose hours are flexible, but not everyone is there with you. For many people, there is neither the daytime hours nor the reliable transportation to go door-to-door searching for apartments or jobs or education, and since much of the infrastructure that used to exist for such offline activities is gone.

    Lastly, please expand on "unconstitutional" and why you believe this regulation to be in violation of the constitution.
     
  19. Juice

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    In theory, I agree with you. But in practice, even the almighty Invisible Hand doesn't work 100% of the time. It's true, the Internet isn't a necessity nor is it a universal right as some suggest. But with wide broadband availability it crossed the threshold from luxury to basic infrastructure similar to roads, electricity, etc. And as with much of infrastructure, it eventually becomes an oligopoly. And oligpolies need to be regulated otherwise abuse almost always occurs.

    I'm not saying Comcast shouldn't have the right to be dominate in the market, but they shouldnt be allowed to throttle you for canceling your cable TV in favor of Netflix. I want free and open competition, but the competitive answer is Comcast delivering faster, better, and cheaper service through innovation, not punishing subscribers.
     
  20. Nettdata

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    You're like the Mennonite that's arguing that you don't need a car to get around... a horse is good enough.

    Sure, you don't physically need the internet to survive, but likewise, you don't need electricity... you could still boil water and heat your home with a wood stove.

    As a society we've adjusted our bar up a bit on what we consider to be "minimal requirements" for lifestyle, and internet access has made the list to a certain degree. More so for business than individuals.

    A number of other countries have legislated that internet is a necessity of life.