Comments on: Help the FCC Craft A Realistic Broadband Policy

By: Michael Chaney

Michael Chaney — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:55:39 +0000

Here in Austin we have formed the Austin Broadband Interest Group, a collection of concerned citizens such as myself and small business owners. We’ve submitted our comments to the FCC, and I highly encourage other communities to organize and do the same. A few more comments like this and we could have a major impact on FCC policy.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6520220275

UPDATE: The actual close of the request for input period was June 8th….not July 8th, but there will be another chance during the request for comment period

By: Help the FCC Craft A Realistic Broadband Policy - DodgeBoard.com - Forums

Help the FCC Craft A Realistic Broadband Policy - DodgeBoard.com - Forums — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:07:00 +0000

[...] connectivity…. including wanting it FREE. It’s your voice so say what you want. From: Stop the Cap! Blog Archive Help the FCC Craft A Realistic Broadband Policy The Federal Communications Commission is accepting comments from citizens until July 8, 2009 as [...]

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:59:09 +0000

I say we confuse them even more. Let’s see, 2 bytes=1 word, 2 words=1 double word, 2 double words=1 quad word… jk

By: preventCAPS

preventCAPS — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:05:39 +0000

Back in the day I thought I’d never fill up my brand new 40MB hard disk (that was measured in powers of 2).

Needless to say, I hope that we don’t need to explain this to consumers as they will only need to understand one word, “unlimited” meaning limitless or without bounds; unrestricted.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:28:34 +0000

Back in the day, even the HDD’s, were measured in powers of 2. Now they are in powers of 10 and say so in fine print. Yes, people can get confused with bits and bytes. Luckily, they haven’t thrown in a nybble or nibble, whatever you prefer, to even inspire more confusion. But you have a valid point in that which system will they use, the power of 10 or 2? Most likely, they will go with the lower figure to suit their purposes, ie power of 10. Want to throw your ISP for a loop? Call up one of their tech support guys and ask that question. I am sure it would be probably funny. Most tech support people are minimally trained.

By: Smith6612

Smith6612 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:05:22 +0000

It is 42,949,672,960 bytes for 40 Gigabytes (GB) as data in Bytes is measured in a series of 1024 bytes per Kilobyte. The 1000 rule would apply if you’re talking about Bits, in which case 1,000 bits would equal a kilobit, in which case 40,000,000,000 bits would indicate 40 Gigabits (40Gb). Also, since there are 8 bits to a byte, 1000 bits would equal 125 bytes. This becomes more complex as you begin moving from Binary to decimal, where with bytes, Binary would be the number 1024, where as Decimal would be 1000, but bits remains the same 1000. In computing these days, we often refer to the size of things in Binary, as that is how data is stored often times.

It’s as simple as learning the metric system, where it’s all based upon a single basic number so to speak.

As per 32bit vs 64-bit, it’s as simple as taking 2 to the power of whatever you’re looking for, taking the bits and converting it to bytes using the bit to bytes, and then finding the amount of Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes, higher? that the computer can take, in this case with RAM.

By: preventCAPS

preventCAPS — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:01:21 +0000

I know the difference – what I am really asking is, are the caps in miltiples of 10 (like hard drives are advertised) or powers of 2? And how do you explain it to less knowledgeable consumers? is 40GB cap 40,000,000,000 bytes or is it 42,949,672,960 bytes? That’s a difference of 2,949,672,960 bytes, or roughly 8%

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:00:07 +0000

When talking about memory and addressing that memory, a cpu for instance, then the 1024 unit is used or powers of 2. 32 bit CPU’s for instance, are able to address up to 2^32 power of memory or 4,294,967,296 bytes but we humans just say 4GB of RAM instead just to be simple. But if you run a memory test on 4GB of RAM, it will test the amount 4,294,967,296.

By: preventCAPS

preventCAPS — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:55:54 +0000

Excellent description Phil. I think it would be anice addition to STC to have a dictionary, or introduction to broadband terms or get educated section. One thing I would add is that there are 8 bits in a byte. I would also point out that CAPS are traditionally measued in a form of BYTES and speeds in BITS making it even more complicated for consumers. Then there is the power of 2 issue. Is 1k 1,000 or 1,024 units?

By: Phillip Dampier

Phillip Dampier — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:47:36 +0000

Actually, if you have Standard Road Runner service here in Rochester, it will probably be slower on Road Runner, which only offers 384kbps for uploads. Those with “Turbo” for an additional $9.95 a month enjoy 1Mbps upload speed, which I personally think is too slow (many other cities have 2Mbps upload speed for Road Runner).

DSL is highly variable from Frontier. It depends on how far away you are from the phone company equipment in their office. Their nominal upload speed is 512kbps, but your results will vary.

Time Warner will be promoting the fact they now have “boosted” speeds for regular standard service customers with the Powerboost gimmick. It provides a very short burst of faster speed for a few seconds at the outset of the download (doesn’t work for uploads). The faster speed is not sustained (it lasts 3-5 seconds a lot of the time), however, so it only has moderate benefits for subscribers.