Comments on: The Digital Divide Will Ensure a Broadband Ghetto http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/ Fri, 24 May 2013 02:04:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: The Rich Get Richer: Verizon Ups FiOS to 150 Mbps: Tech News « http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-519844 Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:43:08 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-519844 [...] Mbps up. For folks like myself still stuck on first generation DOCSIS cable or plain old DSL, the digital divide grew by a couple of feet. But for the lucky 12.5 million people living in an area where [...]

]]> By: Murray Wilson http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-270769 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:07:55 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-270769 We have developed an innovative approach to e-waste that tackles three problems at once. Re-Use of old PCs and UBUNTU to empower the less fortunate, using at-risk youth as the labor force – TEDxCreativeCoast – Murray Wilson – eWaste and the Social Landfill http://bit.ly/bDu4hM

]]> By: Eli http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245382 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:14:15 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245382 As usual, I have questions about who to believe. I haven’t studied this much, and it seems no matter what the subject, there are always many “with the facts” who actually take those facts out of context and reinterpret their meaning or slant them one way or the other for whatever purpose…

So I don’t know whether Stacey is right or all her critics — but here is what I do know: I am in Texas. I have broadband. It costs enough. And I have yet to find a broadband service here that could be called remotely reliable and that can consistently live up to the given company’s sales hype.

Some may need more speed, but what I’d really like is to find, at reasonable cost, the speed and reliability I’ve already been promised.

Stacey, do I need to move to New York for that?

]]> By: Eli http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245381 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:03:06 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245381 Brett, this is the USofA. Everyone has the right to bellyache, even as you have just demonstrated.

]]> By: Martha Hyde http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245380 Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:10:51 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245380 I find the pie chart above interesting with 78% having only 2 providers. I strongly suspect that for many homes with “2″ providers, those 2 providers are in actuality only one. For instance, AT&T and Suddenlink provide my community with broadband. However AT&T owns Suddenlink and “both” companies offer exactly the same plans at exactly the same costs. If the FCC claims that 95% of Americans have access to broadband, that seems to be a bit skewed since by their own assessment this year that 50% of the rural areas do not use or do not have access to broadband. Access means you can afford it if available and most people in rural areas earn far less than those in the cities, meaning that broadband access, if available, is usually priced out of their means. Furthermore, many may not use the internet at all because dial-up is so incredibly much slower than it was when it first came out, precisely because of the demand for greater bandwidth by those living in cities. One internet TV watcher can displace 30,000 dial-up users because of the sluggish internet highway.

For that reason I support ISPs charging more for greater bandwidth use. Our internet highway has reached the state of not being able to handle any more users as it is. However I do not support ISPs being able to limit access to particular websites, even if they are high bandwidth users, as long as the user pays for them.

]]> By: Oboewan http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245379 Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:44:37 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245379 I would give ANYTHING to get basic DSL here.

]]> By: Richard Bennett http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245378 Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:13:54 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245378 Mr Deans says: “…the selective use of market data produces some very interesting results.”

The data I presented are measured speeds of actual users in actual markets. The data show the fastest services that are available and are being used. This is the real truth, in other words. This is simply by way of taking stock.

BTW, nobody wants a symmetrical service, so it’s a waste of money to design networks to provide it.

]]> By: David H. Deans http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245377 Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:17:10 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245377 Richard, understood, the selective use of market data produces some very interesting results.

However, as I’m sure you know, the highest speed (highest price) service tiers represent a small fraction of the total broadband subscribers in each of those cities.

In contrast, I’m suggesting raising the expectation for all “mainstream” subscribers, and with symmetrical data rates (10Mbps up/10Mbps down) — to gain some degree of parity with the global market leaders.

Let’s not delude ourselves any longer, but instead agree on an acceptable level of mediocrity that all U.S. stakeholders will support as a meaningful short-term objective for progress.

We can do this together, but first we must move beyond denial.

]]> By: Richard Bennett http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245376 Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:49:43 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245376 The average download speed of the highest speed service tiers in use in America’s ten largest cities today is 25.67 Mbps, per Speedtest.net measurements. I don’t think reducing this rate down to 10 Mbps would be in the nation’s best interests, David.

New York 58.19
Los Angeles 20.21
Chicago 26.39
Houston 25.72
Philadelphia 18.55
Phoenix 20.01
San Antonio 12.59
San Diego 30.66
Dallas 21.89
San Jose 22.49

Go to http://speedtest.net/global.php#0 and see for yourself.

]]> By: JD http://gigaom.com/2010/03/27/the-digital-divide-will-ensure-a-broadband-ghetto/#comment-245375 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:36:53 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=108653#comment-245375 I assume you are a rep. and think that company’s should be allowed to run there company any way they want with no regulation what so ever, well if that’s the case then you can keep on paying more than double for half the speed.

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