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The US Broadband Thread of "I can't believe these effers" (Page 2)
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The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 7, 2014, 12:40 PM
 
Verizon and AT&T Are The Only Wireless Carriers Using 'Perma-Cookies' | WIRED
It’s called the ““perma-cookie.” As we told you last week, Verizon Wireless has embraced this privacy-busting digital marker, which could give marketers a way to track what you do online whether you want to be tracked or not. Basically, the U.S. wireless carrier is slipping the cookie onto the smartphones that tap the net via its celluar and data network, and most phones owners don’t realize it.
Verizon's 'Perma-Cookie' Is a Privacy-Killing Machine | WIRED
According to Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis, there’s no way to turn it off. She says that Verizon doesn’t use the UIDH to create customer profiles, and if you opt out of the company’s Relevant Mobile Advertising program (you can do this by logging into your Verizon account here), then Verizon and its advertising partners won’t be using it to create targeted ads. But that’s beside the point, says Hoffman-Andrews. Because Verizon is broadcasting this unique identifier to every website, ad networks could start using it to build a profile of your web activity, even without your consent.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 7, 2014, 12:42 PM
 
It's raining news the past few days
Colorado communities override state law limiting public broadband | Ars Technica
Colorado is one of 20 US states that impose limits on cities and towns seeking to build their own broadband networks. The Colorado restriction is less severe than ones in many other states, though. To offer Internet service, a city or town just has to pass a ballot question.

Seven counties and towns did just that during Tuesday's election
Colorado and Washington are quickly becoming my favorite states.
     
Cap'n Tightpants
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Nov 8, 2014, 04:32 AM
 
Our law says municipalities can't, but there's nothing against a homeowners' group from forming a co-op and doing it themselves.
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The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 10, 2014, 12:08 PM
 
Obama: Treat broadband—including mobile—as a utility | Ars Technica

I won't hold my breath that anything comes of it.
     
subego
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Nov 10, 2014, 01:40 PM
 
I love these post midterm, second term presidencies.

The mad scramble to fend off a legacy of suck.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 10, 2014, 01:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
I love these post midterm, second term presidencies.
I don't think it's that. He was alluding to this well before the midterms.
     
subego
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Nov 10, 2014, 02:03 PM
 
Which would have been a horrible time to move it forward.

Much better to wait for a shellacking.
     
Cap'n Tightpants
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Nov 10, 2014, 02:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by subego View Post
Which would have been a horrible time to move it forward.

Much better to wait for a shellacking.
Word. If the Ds had taken up the banner for Net Neutrality in unison, they would have gotten most of the 20 and 30-somethings off the couch to vote.
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The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 10, 2014, 02:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants View Post
Word. If the Ds had taken up the banner for Net Neutrality in unison, they would have gotten most of the 20 and 30-somethings off the couch to vote.
Alright my mistake for posting this in here.Start a thread in the PL if you want to make this an election issue.
     
Cap'n Tightpants
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Nov 10, 2014, 02:23 PM
 
I don't, but I DO believe it would have made a tangible difference, it was a huge missed opportunity to get younger voters motivated.
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subego
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Nov 10, 2014, 02:26 PM
 
It wasn't a mistake posting it here, it was a mistake challenging the notion the decision has anything to do with merit.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 12, 2014, 10:03 AM
 


He's just so unlikeable.
     
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Nov 12, 2014, 11:09 AM
 
Convicted monopolist says more regulation is unnecessary. News at eleven.

(And before any of you quibble about the "convicted" bit: a) Yes I know it was a civil case and not criminal,but the format requires that sort of condensed wording, and b) The findings of fact and law were upheld on appeal by an appeals court full of GOP appointees. What was reversed was the sanctions, as the judge had not shown that they would be effective and appropriate.)
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 12, 2014, 12:42 PM
 
ANY reason they can find.
AT&T to “pause” 100-city fiber buildout because of net neutrality rules | Ars Technica
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said today that his company will "pause" investments in fiber networks until the net neutrality debate is over. The statement came two days after President Obama urged the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify broadband as a utility and impose bans on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.

"We can't go out and invest that kind of money deploying fiber to 100 cities not knowing under what rules those investments will be governed," Stephenson told investors, according to Reuters. "We think it is prudent to just pause and make sure we have line of sight and understanding as to what those rules would look like." Stephenson was speaking at a Wells Fargo event.
     
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Nov 12, 2014, 01:44 PM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post


He's just so unlikeable.
Plus, he has a proven track record of missing pretty much every important technology trend since Windows XP.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
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Nov 12, 2014, 04:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
Since AT&T didn't increase their wireline budget when they announced their fiber upgrades, this is another toothless press release. They can't pause a rollout they never funded in the first place.
     
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Nov 12, 2014, 04:07 PM
 
It's about as useful as me saying I'm going off my planned diet because I don't like the uncertainty of produce prices.
     
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Nov 12, 2014, 05:18 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
Since AT&T didn't increase their wireline budget when they announced their fiber upgrades, this is another toothless press release. They can't pause a rollout they never funded in the first place.
I was just about to say this, it was a paper upgrade to keep in their back pocket just in case they needed to suspend it, for this very reason. From a neutral perspective, it's really impressive. These guys have perfected the art of fabricating and promoting bullshit.
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Nov 15, 2014, 01:54 AM
 
How Much Money Big Cable Gave the Politicians Who Oversee the Internet

Democrats and Republicans alike received over $8 million from the four major telecom companies and their trade group in the 2014 election alone. For some context, the top five pharmaceutical groups spent only half as much in the same cycle.

It's no big surprise that corporations throw their monetary weight around. But it is especially worrying when the FCC is already cozy with the very industry it's supposed to regulate. Who, in turn, is supposed to make sure the FCC does its job? Why, that's your elected officials of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet and the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology—almost all of whom have received campaign funds from cable giants.
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The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 18, 2014, 05:20 PM
 
^ That should probably go in the NN thread if you want to discuss it.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut…
Frontier service is so unreliable customers wish they still had AT&T | Ars Technica
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Nov 18, 2014, 05:58 PM
 
Yeah, we've covered this a few times.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Nov 20, 2014, 05:07 PM
 
Any takers?
https://customer.comcast.com/help-an...lans-launching
In this trial, XFINITY Internet Economy Plus customers can choose to enroll in the Flexible-Data Option to receive a $5.00 credit on their monthly bill and reduce their data usage plan from 300 GB to 5 GB. If customers choose this option and use more than 5 GB of data in any given month, they will not receive the $5.00 credit and will be charged an additional $1.00 for each gigabyte of data used over the 5 GB included in the Flexible-Data Option.
     
Cap'n Tightpants
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Nov 20, 2014, 05:26 PM
 
A whole 5GB? What's not to love about that? That would take, what, 45 minutes to cap? What a deal.
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Nov 20, 2014, 08:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants View Post
A whole 5GB? What's not to love about that? That would take, what, 45 minutes to cap? What a deal.
I could hit that cap streaming in a couple hours.
     
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Nov 21, 2014, 03:57 PM
 
     
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Nov 21, 2014, 04:29 PM
 
It will be a problem everywhere if not addressed. They don't want to spend money on maintenance, on upgrades, or customer service. They want to ditch the copper service regs, and not have service regs (old or new) on the replacement IP service. They don't even want a service guarantee on 911 calls. Or a service guarantee at all. Buy service at your own risk, with no one to complain to who can force a repair.
     
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Nov 25, 2014, 01:21 PM
 
Verizon promises not to sue over net neutrality—if FCC avoids utility rules | Ars Technica
In response to Wheeler's statement, Verizon Executive VP Randal Milch e-mailed Wheeler to say Verizon won't sue if the FCC uses Section 706, even though that's exactly what Verizon did last time. Section 706 requires the FCC to encourage the deployment of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans, and it can be used to govern broadband providers' treatment of Internet traffic.
Given that Verizon now wants net neutrality rules based on Section 706, if only to avoid stricter utility regulations, the company probably wishes it hadn't sued to block the FCC's first attempt at net neutrality rules based on Section 706. Verizon's fellow ISPs wish the same. AT&T and Comcast reportedly tried to convince Verizon not to sue over the 2010 rules. ISPs are reportedly furious with Verizon now that it's "victory" in court could backfire in a spectacular way for all broadband providers.
I'd like to think Verizon is scared.
     
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Dec 11, 2014, 08:45 PM
 
The FCC has increased the rural broadband definition to 10 Mbps despite (big) ISP protests. The previous definition had been 4 Mbps down / 1 Mbps up.

I'll call that good news, except they didn't increase the upload part of the definition. They went from 4/1 to 10/1. Good thing rural residents don't need video calls, or remote backup options. Nor do they send many pictures or videos to family members. It's odd, you'd think things are more scenic in rural areas, so people would want to send more pictures. But apparently, they send less.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Dec 12, 2014, 09:40 AM
 
Rural broadband? Is the definition different in urban areas?

But finally, as many of you already knew, I now officially don't have broadband internet.
     
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Dec 12, 2014, 01:10 PM
 
The definition (for now) only applies to construction subsidies from the Connect America Fund. Which is used to bring broadband to rural areas. They're expected to update the general broadband definition, but haven't done it yet.
     
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Dec 12, 2014, 01:50 PM
 
On an opposite end of the spectrum I have a positive Comcast experience to report.

Comcast insisted I upgrade my modem to a new unit that serves as my wireless router as well, mostly to push their Xfinity Wifi hotspots in as many locations as possible, but they also told me I'd see faster speeds as well...yeah right...

Well turns out my internet is indeed faster. Previous max speed was around 2.3MB/sec, last night I saw 3.5MB/sec, which is actually a pretty decent increase to be honest.
     
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Dec 18, 2014, 04:21 PM
 
Time Warner Cable doesn’t want to face TV competition in Lincoln, Nebraska | Ars Technica
"The city isn’t playing fair with the proposed cable franchise agreement with Windstream, according to its sole cable provider Time Warner," the paper reported. TWC lawyer Bill Austin said during a public hearing on Monday that the Windstream franchise violates a requirement in Time Warner's franchise agreement that new franchises may not be "more favorable or less burdensome when taken as a whole” the report said.
TWC may not be wrong. They likely worded their agreement for just this contingency.

"We’re simply asking that other franchisees compete on a level playing field," Time Warner Cable spokesperson Rich Ruggiero told Ars. "Our franchise with the city of Lincoln requires other entrants to meet the same requirements we do when it comes to service area, contributions to the city’s fiber system, and PEG [public educational and government programming] access."
i.e., unless you can afford to serve everyone from the get-go GTFO




Verizon on a roll. Would love the see the anti-trust hammer taken to their asses. By far the loudest and most litigious provider.
Verizon to FCC: You can’t stop Netflix-like interconnection payments | Ars Technica
Verizon told the Federal Communications Commission yesterday that it has no right to regulate paid interconnection deals like the ones Netflix struck with Verizon and other Internet providers.

Even reclassifying broadband service as a utility or common carrier service will not give the FCC that power, Verizon VP and Associate General Counsel William H. Johnson wrote in a filing in the FCC's net neutrality proceeding.
Verizon argued that Netflix and Cogent were to blame. "Internet players such as Netflix and Cogent have called for the Commission to reach beyond the last mile and regulate interconnection points or the terms of interconnection, on the ground that congestion at those points can affect the speeds that end users experience when accessing content," Verizon wrote.

But Netflix, Cogent, and numerous other Internet players make decisions on their own networks that affect the speeds or performance that end users experience. Cogent, for example, has at times discriminated between wholesale traffic and retail traffic by dropping and then resending wholesalers’ packets. And Netflix, through its Open Connect program, has set up its own proprietary content delivery networks ("CDNs") that speed the delivery of Netflix traffic to the last-mile networks of certain broadband providers. Any argument to regulate interconnection arrangements therefore would apply equally to those arrangements, but Netflix and Cogent presumably would object to doing so because those decisions—like Internet interconnection—raise issues that are distinct from the delivery of traffic in the last mile. By conflating last-mile regulation with interconnection issues, these entities are baldly pursuing regulatory rents that would reduce the costs of their business models by shifting them onto broadband subscribers.
Trying to pull some MAD logic.
     
reader50
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Jan 13, 2015, 02:27 AM
 
Some possible good news. The FCC is tentatively planning to increase the general broadband definition to 25 Mb down / 3 Mb up. The current definition is 10 Mb down, 1 Mb up.

I'd like to see more symmetrical upload, but this is a big improvement anyway. You European citizens / Japan / Korea / Google fiber customers -- please don't laugh aloud.
     
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Jan 13, 2015, 03:53 AM
 
Actually the current definition is 4/1. The FCC was planning to increase to 10/1, but are now apparently planning 25/3. Of course all of this is trial balloons that are intentionally leaked to judge reactions.

25/3 is decent. I had 24/3 for many years while on DSL - it is the usual reported ceiling for ADSL2+. I'm sure they can stretch it to 25/3 by rounding creatively. ADSL2+ installations must be dirt cheap by now, considering how old the tech is.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Jan 13, 2015, 10:02 AM
 
Sextuple download, triple upload. Yeah...
     
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Jan 13, 2015, 10:11 AM
 
CenturyLink is our ISP. We have ADSL2+ 20M/896K. CL offers VDSL2 40/20 w/o Prism TV, 20/20 with out Prism in some areas. They are also supposed to be deploying 1GB in Phoenix "soon" I would be happy with getting faster upload speed. Uploading video to YouTube takes forever and a day. I put large videos on a thumb drive and use my computer at work. (50M up)
( Last edited by Chongo; Jan 13, 2015 at 11:58 AM. )
45/47
     
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Jan 13, 2015, 11:44 AM
 
I can get 60/20 from VDSL, but it is more expensive than the cable connection I have now - I can get 250/10 for the same money, 100/50 for significantly less or 250/50 for only a little more.

VDSL buildout is quite recent, though - we were stuck at ADSL2+ for a decade. I suspect that the quick dropoff of VDSL speeds with distance ISPs reluctant to spend the money, but the increased fiber buildout has forced them to wake up, and VDSL2 has better long distance performance as well.
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Jan 20, 2015, 03:28 PM
 
     
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Jan 20, 2015, 03:59 PM
 
Charter Cable this time. During outages in Mesa county, CO, customers called customer service. Answers they got:
If Mesa County didn’t whine so much, maybe something would be done,
we have excellent service and do not appreciate your complaint for one incident of interruption of service.
{about failed 911 call} that’s not our problem, get a cell phone like everyone else
There's more hubris in the linked story. I'm guessing Charter is the only broadband provider in Mesa.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Jan 20, 2015, 04:07 PM
 
Were all calls routed to the same asshole representative? I have a dim view of CS, but that is some absurd responses.
     
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Jan 26, 2015, 11:06 AM
 
No need for speed: Cable industry opposes 25Mbps broadband definition | Ars Technica

Customers do just fine with lower speeds, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) wrote in an FCC filing Thursday (thanks to the Washington Post's Brian Fung for pointing it out). 25Mbps/3Mbps isn't necessary to meet the legal definition of "high-speed, switched, broadband telecommunications capability that enables users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology," the NCTA said.
"Netflix, for instance, bases its call for a 25Mbps download threshold on what it believes consumers need for streaming 4K and ultra-HD video content—despite the fact that only a tiny fraction of consumers use their broadband connections in this manner, and notwithstanding the consensus among others in the industry that 25Mbps is significantly more bandwidth than is needed for 4K streaming," the NCTA said. "Meanwhile, Public Knowledge asserts in conclusory fashion that an 'average' US household constantly streams at least three high-definition movies simultaneously while also running various 'online backup services and other applications'—without providing any evidence indicating that such usage is at all 'average.'"

"Only a small amount of people stream 4k! If that's because only a small amount of people have good Netflix connections and are willing to pay our crazy prices is beside the point!"

What feels lost in all this, to me, is why they are opposed.
     
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Jan 26, 2015, 01:20 PM
 
Of course they oppose it, they're still painting the illusion that bandwidth is some type of limited commodity, like gas or electricity. Once it's found they've been lying and milking their customers all this time, there'll be hell to pay and they'll lose all those cap overage fees (after they're sued into oblivion).
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Jan 29, 2015, 12:46 AM
 
Comcast once again. A couple in financial difficulty. The wife called to turn off the TV portion of their service. Instead of cancelling it, she was transferred to a retentions specialist, who offered her a new 2-year contract. Lisa Brown declined. They were charged a $60 cancel fee, and her next Comcast bill included a name change at no charge.
Lisa Brown, a volunteer for a missions organization in Spokane, Wash., contacted me yesterday because of a billing problem with Comcast, her local cable provider. The issue? The name on their bill had been changed from her husband’s name, Ricardo, to “Asshole” Brown.
DSL Reports coverage
Ars coverage

Once the press started asking questions, Comcast offered generous refunds. And to fire the CSR who did it. Not one word on changing the sales quotas on their retention specialists. Nothing that would actually solve the customer service problem.

And oh yeah. Lisa Brown tried to get the name changed back at her local Comcast office, and via calling. Nothing happened until the press got involved. Remember, Comcast cares.
     
Cap'n Tightpants
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Jan 29, 2015, 02:29 AM
 
Speechless here.
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Jan 29, 2015, 06:49 AM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
No need for speed: Cable industry opposes 25Mbps broadband definition | Ars Technica



"Netflix, for instance, bases its call for a 25Mbps download threshold on what it believes consumers need for streaming 4K and ultra-HD video content—despite the fact that only a tiny fraction of consumers use their broadband connections in this manner, and notwithstanding the consensus among others in the industry that 25Mbps is significantly more bandwidth than is needed for 4K streaming," the NCTA said. "Meanwhile, Public Knowledge asserts in conclusory fashion that an 'average' US household constantly streams at least three high-definition movies simultaneously while also running various 'online backup services and other applications'—without providing any evidence indicating that such usage is at all 'average.'"

"Only a small amount of people stream 4k! If that's because only a small amount of people have good Netflix connections and are willing to pay our crazy prices is beside the point!"

What feels lost in all this, to me, is why they are opposed.
What nobody says is that the FCC is pushing for 25Mbps because everyone knows that, at least with DSL, you can expect to get about half of what they advertise unless you're close to the switching station. Public Knowledge probably says 3 simultaneous HD movies so that you'll always get one and have a little bandwidth left over to check your mail.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Jan 29, 2015, 09:55 AM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
And oh yeah. Lisa Brown tried to get the name changed back at her local Comcast office, and via calling. Nothing happened until the press got involved.
That's the galling part. Why does it take corporate to change an obvious name problem? How much effort could it have involved?
     
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Jan 29, 2015, 09:25 PM
 
Broadband in the USA is now classified as 25Mbps, as per the FCC, by a vote of 3-2 today.
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Feb 2, 2015, 11:25 AM
 
     
OreoCookie
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Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hilbert space
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Feb 2, 2015, 11:47 AM
 
At this point anthrax is more popular than the big cable companies in the US.

I have this dream where all the IT companies (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, etc.) meet and decide to pour money into an ISP of their own -- which also gave them the opportunity to streamline the network. I know that this dream has a snowball's chance in hell, but still, it'd be nice. And arguably, that'd be good use of Apple's money.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Feb 2, 2015, 11:57 AM
 
More overpriced: Apple hardware or Broadband? The answer may surprise you!
     
 
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