Outrageous US internet

[wonderboy1953]

I'm trying to figure out why (according to a tv show I watched), as compared to the US, the internet is so much faster overseas (up to 20 times faster per the program) and much less (around $6 to $10)? I've heard that the US wasn't too competitive, but that's ridiculous.

 

[Unquestionably]

Different places have different practices and customs.

Overseas, it's probably more about customer satisfaction. In the US, it's allways about the money and cost-cutting.

 

[StrangleHold]

Its the opposite on how many people have a internet connection % wise for population. Alot of people in the US have the capability of having higher bandwidth but choose not to pay for it because they rarely download big files, so they dont pay for it.

US 77%
Africa 10.9%
Asia 21.5%
Europe 58.4%
Middle East 29.8%
Latin America 34.5%
Australia 61.3%

 

[Twist86]

I dunno most people I meet have bandwidth caps over seas, so whats the point of having a 10x faster connection when you can only download 100GB a month? I can easily download 400-500GB a month on my little 20mb connection.

 

[Dropkickmurphys]

As far as I was aware, the US has better internet than here in the UK.

At home we pay something like £15 a month for a 20Mb connection (of which we only get 6Mb thanks to using a copper phone line). We get a 10GB a month (or something stupidly small) download limit every month. If we exceed that 3 times we automatically get bumped up to the next package (which we then have to start paying for).

Thank god I don't currently spend much time at home (I'm at uni), as I can download 10GB in a day...

To get unlimited download and a good speed here you have to go with Virgin Media and pay extra for their unlimited download otherwise they throttle you really bad.

(I kinda wish I lived in Sweden or Japan or something for internet! lol)

 

[jgoff14]

Now in all fairness I do pay over $100 per month but I heart it. (With the exception that my wifi is being dumb right now)

 

[PohTayToez]

The US has it's population spread over such a wide area, it makes it much more expensive to provide higher speeds to more people. Lack of competition is also a factor in prices, usually you only have one big cable provider in an area, and that lets them slack on the quality of service they provide.

Countries like Japan and Korea are densely populated as well as being technologically advanced allowing them to easily provide everyone with high quality internet. I believe that some countries also have government provided or subsidized internet.

 

[tlarkin]

The US has it's population spread over such a wide area, it makes it much more expensive to provide higher speeds to more people. Lack of competition is also a factor in prices, usually you only have one big cable provider in an area, and that lets them slack on the quality of service they provide.

Countries like Japan and Korea are densely populated as well as being technologically advanced allowing them to easily provide everyone with high quality internet. I believe that some countries also have government provided or subsidized internet.

Ding ding ding we have a winnar!!!!1!!!1!

The USA is a massive country. Germany is like the size of Kansas. It is easy to run fiber all across Germany, it is a small country compared to the USA. Also the USA government, specifically the FCC lets telecom companies bend the consumer over, and it may get worse. Anti-Net neutrality and things like Google and Verizon merging are NOT good for the consumer. This stuff is being debated in government right now.

Also the last head of the FCC quit their job to jump ship to Comcast after deregulating something for Comcast to allow them more money.

 

[wonderboy1953]

A few more thoughts

In response to Twist86, at some point in the future, the internet may be so fast that nobody may care (e.g. downloading something in 1/10 of a second as opposed to a second - my understanding is that the internet can potentially be 100,000 times faster than it is now).

I'm speculating that foreign governments may be subsidizing the internet.

 

[Troncoso]

As far as I was aware, the US has better internet than here in the UK.

At home we pay something like £15 a month for a 20Mb connection (of which we only get 6Mb thanks to using a copper phone line). We get a 10GB a month (or something stupidly small) download limit every month. If we exceed that 3 times we automatically get bumped up to the next package (which we then have to start paying for).

Thank god I don't currently spend much time at home (I'm at uni), as I can download 10GB in a day...

To get unlimited download and a good speed here you have to go with Virgin Media and pay extra for their unlimited download otherwise they throttle you really bad.

(I kinda wish I lived in Sweden or Japan or something for internet! lol)

you know, aside the 10gb a month limit, you get a great deal. I'm paying around $60 for 7mb. While it is unlimited, I get throttled badly. I never see speeds above 1.5mb d/l.

and I'm just waiting for the internet to be a standard non speed -issued thing to have.

 

[Twist86]

you know, aside the 10gb a month limit, you get a great deal. I'm paying around $60 for 7mb. While it is unlimited, I get throttled badly. I never see speeds above 1.5mb d/l.

That is a combo of a crap ISP and poor lines (aka old). I would search for another solution if possible as most cities in the US have 3 providers normally. This new place I pay $60 for a 20mb line and for a 12mb line = $45 (if you bundle) I get 95% of the connection promised and during RARE times I will drop to 70% on peak. With Comcast I had the beta 50mb line and I only got 25mb which after some major complaints they cut my price down and they cringed as they did it.

 

[Troncoso]

That is a combo of a crap ISP and poor lines (aka old). I would search for another solution if possible as most cities in the US have 3 providers normally. This new place I pay $60 for a 20mb line and for a 12mb line = $45 (if you bundle) I get 95% of the connection promised and during RARE times I will drop to 70% on peak. With Comcast I had the beta 50mb line and I only got 25mb which after some major complaints they cut my price down and they cringed as they did it.

It's all crap ISP. The lines are less than a year old. They were put in after I moved here. But I've never seen anyone with Timer Warner's Road runner get more than 1 to 2 mbs. I considered comcast but they aren't in my area.

 

[jgoff14]

When I first got my comcast 50, they had the wrong boot file in their system for my account and couldn't get it changed. I was only getting the 20mb connection, until they erased me as a customer and readded me. Every time they tried to reset my boot file it kept defaulting to 20 for some reason. As you can tell they got it worked out, and I'm more than happy!

 

[boo-boo]

I have a 20mb connection through mediacom which is $40 for the first year and $55 after. I usually get between 20 and 30 mb and during the busiest times it goes under 20. This is in a small town in minnesota with 1500 people in it. There is also 5 other ISP's i could have chosen but went with mediacom cause it is the cheapest and fastest in the area.

 

[linkin]

I pay $90 for whatever my line supports (in this case, 8mbps cause I'm 3KM cable length from the exchange) and 200GB. then it's 512kbps after that. I also pay $10 extra for a static IP and unmetered uploads

What are your data limits over there?

 

[boo-boo]

I pay $90 for whatever my line supports (in this case, 8mbps cause I'm 3KM cable length from the exchange) and 200GB. then it's 512kbps after that. I also pay $10 extra for a static IP and unmetered uploads

What are your data limits over there?

I dont think there are any data limits in the US if there is its rare we can download as much as we want to.

 

[jgoff14]

I believe, I read somewhere that Comcast has a 250gb limit per month. They say if it is exceeded 2 times you get your service canceled. They didn't tell me this but I had searched before I signed up. I don't know the validity to it. I don't go near it, so it doesn't matter to me. The most I have downloaded is 72gb in any one month but typically 20 - 40 at most.

 

[Motorcharge]

I believe, I read somewhere that Comcast has a 250gb limit per month. They say if it is exceeded 2 times you get your service canceled. They didn't tell me this but I had searched before I signed up. I don't know the validity to it. I don't go near it, so it doesn't matter to me. The most I have downloaded is 72gb in any one month but typically 20 - 40 at most.

Pretty sure they just throttle you without telling you if you peak their unofficial limit.

As for our average, pretty sure it gets dragged down by rural areas that are still stuck with dial up and satellite. Iirc co-axle cable is only good for around 3000 feet (roughly 3/4 of a mile) before you need a signal booster. That gets insanely expensive to run out in the country where you have people who live several miles apart.

 

[tremmor]

They will choke ya off. Had issues with comcast in the past. Said im using all the bandwidth and slowing everybody else down in the neighborhood. On the otherhand the only option was ATT Uverse but i do have fiber optics. and i pay about the same a hundred. but i do call and complain about price, will are you going to give me a price break. i also have the cable tv, phone service. Threaten to switch to comcast and dropped my price. but thats why i quit comcast because they also raised prices. i will switch if needed.
My total is $244.00 a month. I do have some cheap cell phone. $40.00 a month.

 

[Motorcharge]

I've had issues with Comcrap for years, they're such a shitty ISP it's not even funny. I'd soooo switch of there were other cable options here.