Right now in a lot of states Verizon has a monopoly on symmetrical internet service. I can’t ever switch ISPs because I can’t get 400/400 anywhere else.
Comment on FCC to propose a minimum 100mbps to qualify as broadband, with a future goal of 1gbps
irotsoma@lemmy.world 10 months ago
We really need some upstream minimums as well. That causes so much lag for me. Most plans are 1 up even with 100 down. I have a 200/10 plan now and it’s difficult to do work with the maybe 5 that I get in practice if I’m lucky, especially after overhead from VPN.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 10 months ago
irotsoma@lemmy.world 10 months ago
God I wish we had that here. We are pretty much stuck with Comcast as the only option. DSL is too slow in most places. Like I think I can only get 100/1 where I am now, but the last place I was at which was not exactly rural at all, was max 12m/768k. In my current place I do have one other option which is another cable provider. They offer the exact same as Comcast for slightly less money, but the primary reason I use them is because they don’t have a monthly data cap. With my wife and I working from home plus our personal streaming, we would exceed the cap and have to pay a significant amount to increase it.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yeah ISPs are doing rural America really dirty. I didn’t even know monthly data caps existed with home internet until somebody from a rural town mentioned it. The only internet with monthly data caps around here is cell service and even then that’s usually unlimited now.
runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
Yar harr? Or wfh programmer?
irotsoma@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yeah I mean right now I’m in a relatively major city in the US (like 750K population), and the previous place I was just inside a major suburb (like 150K population). Rural is just plain screwed.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Is that the Verion 5G modem?
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Fios, it’s fiber.
bamboo@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I have Verizon 5g with the ultra wideband service. Tower is on a light post on the street corner, speeds max out around 700/70 for me. 400/400 sounds like Fios which is a fiber service.
uis@lemmy.world 10 months ago
How is this possible? Most of network hardware is symmetric. It doesn’t make sense.
austinfloyd@ttrpg.network 10 months ago
Cable Internet / DOCSIS splits bandwidth in a way that greatly prioritizes download over upload.
uis@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I mean network hardware between providers.
botengang@feddit.de 10 months ago
It’s a last-mile thing. Artificially boosts the download numbers which most customers look at.
loudambiance@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Doesn’t DOCSIS 4.0 support 10gbps down and 6gbps up?
mild_deviation@programming.dev 10 months ago
The biggest benefit of DOCSIS 4.0 is the ability to dynamically reallocate bandwidth between upload and download.
irotsoma@lemmy.world 10 months ago
In addition to cable being the primary means of providing service in the US which does allow for this, there are two reasons for doing it. First, down is all that is advertised. Up is only mentioned in small print usually. And second, the major ISPs and the content companies have merged so it’s an anti-“piracy” measure. It significantly impacts torrent seeding and hosting sites using residential Internet service.
vividspecter@lemm.ee 10 months ago
That can’t be right. I thought Australia’s 100/20 plans had pathetic upload but that’s unreal.
Lesrid@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Most broadband access in the US is via coax. And the coax companies refuse to let cable TV, and the packages they can bundle, die. So the portion of the coax that would allow for symmetrical service instead brings all the channels you didn’t buy because everyone streams now.
yuknowhokat@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I have Spectrum here in the southeast of the United States. My plan is 300 down 12 up. That pathetic upload speed needs to change for the better.
bratosch@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Here in Sweden most people have optic fiber with AT LEAST 100/100 speeds. You gotta try if you want lower than that / if you want asymmetrical speeds.
Demdaru@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Central Europe. 300 mbps is pretty much base, not much pricier than 100mbps. If you get 300 mbps on paper, you are entitled to it fully. Not sure how with rural as they are based on mobile internet more.
Data cap is abstract concept for wired internet here, I was literally shocked to hear it is in place in USA :|