It takes zero effort to see how the government is embracing “aspirational broadband services” as a way to get news and information out to the public. It also takes zero effort to see how AT&T will fight as hard as they can to define broadband services as the slowest possible service they can provide.

We can’t have providers calling 128k or 256k broadband, it just isn’t in today’s age. That would be like calling a 22″ LCD a large screen TV, it just doesn’t make sense.

Games like WoW actually work a little like VOIP, they need low bandwidth and low latency. In fact, playing WoW on a sprint card would probably work so long as that’s all you did on it. 4 hours of game play generates less than 50MB of traffic.

Network applications are built around assumptions that the connection will stay relatively stable. If using a “too much” for 15 minutes will cause a penalty, a lot of software won’t be able to handle it. If I’m watching Netflix, it better work for more than 15 minutes.

And no, Google should not have to pay AT&T. I pay for access and a certain speed. Google pays for a certain speed and a certain amount of transfer. Charging someone because their packets are going over your wires (even though they’re someone else’s customer, not yours) is just a laughably bad idea.

Rather than trying to squeeze blood from a stone, AT&T should starting adding new tiers of higher speeds for consumers at premium rates. They’ll pay $100/month if you offer them 100 MBps.

The ultimate solution to these problems is technical, not financial. Rather than charging for latency, create protocols that allow the network to determine what priority a packet needs to be assigned. HTTP doesn’t need a 10ms round-trip time, games and voip(?) probably do. Video streaming falls somewhere in the middle, it needs to get to the target before the buffer runs out.

Finally, no, satellite isn’t broadband. Satellite internet belongs the same place as satellite phones – out in the wilderness where no other connection is available. Even for VOIP applications, a 1 second turn-around is noticeable.

They always have free installation promotions and they always have rebates or cash back. We didn’t have an issue getting our $200 rebate. It only took a month.

The Time Warner service in my area only offers speeds up to 10Mb/sec not 15Mb/sec. If they had that, I might of stuck with Time Warner or made me think twice about switching to Uverse. The real kicker for me was the upload speed. Time Warner, even on the elite plan, offers 512Kb/s max while Uverse is 1.5Mb/sec. I went with 12/1.5 because that was the minimum for the 1.5Mb/sec. They do offer a 18/1.5 but I really don’t need 18Mb.

They are trying to stay relevant. However, they are only putting off the inevitable. Eventually, they will have to do what Verizon is doing and run fiber to the home to compete because cable companies aren’t going to sit idly by.

I’m going to stop arguing with you. Please don’t count this as a victory, because the only reason I am not going to argue further is because you make too many points for me to research and rebut it the short time that I have before I must leave for work. This actually is your job, so you can talk all day about it and not get worries that you’ll get fired, but some of us are actual consumers, who have real life jobs.

If I thought I had a shot at changing your mind, I might make the extreme effort, but I know that as long as your are getting paid to say what you say, I shouldn’t bother.

In then end, all I know is that left to their own devices, the ISPs would take as much money as possible for the same or less service than they provide now. I really like speed, but I like uncapped internet more. If my ISP starts capping and there isn’t an alternative broadband provider by that time, I for one, am going back to dialup. Please don’t take this is a concession that dial up is in some way “competing” with TWC.

I am one of those small business employees whose very company’s existence relies both on the existence of the internet, and on normal every day internet users ability to get to our website. I will survive just fine without internet at home, but if everyone drops, I’ll be just another unemployed schmuck with a mortgage I can’t afford.