Read this article @ work today in my trusty newspaper. I finally found a reason to move abroad again!!! 61Mbps download!!! WOAH!!!

The median U.S. download speed now is 1.97 megabits per second — a fraction of the 61 megabits per second enjoyed by consumers in Japan, says the report released Monday. Other speedy countries include South Korea (median 45 megabits), France (17 megabits) and Canada (7 megabits).

"We have pathetic speeds compared to the rest of the world," CWA President Larry Cohen says. "People don't pay attention to the fact that the country that started the commercial Internet is falling woefully behind."

Read the entire article @ USA Today

Wow! I bet that would solve the "jitters"

Especially for us Brits coming into US servers and vice versa.

I always thought it was the whales smacking into the transatlantic link that caused the jitters??

Give it time, in another year all the major cable providers will be offering 100Mbps service in the same catagory as the current Road Runner 10Mbps service. The Tech already exists, however ISPs are waiting for the net neutrality issue to be resolved. Depending on whether Net Neutrality is upheld or overturned, ISPs will have to structure their service differently for each scenario.

Net Neutrality is upheld = same as always internet, huge profits for ISPs and equal internet speed for all packets.

Net Neutrality is overturned = Network TV type internet, stupid crazy profits for ISPs and biased internet service favoring the ISPs tie in services and the largest internet companies that can pay large amounts for their own internet fast lanes.

Basically the ISPs have spent billions upgrading their pipes and now want to be able to charge a case by case premium for that service rather than just turning it on. Either way we're getting a new tier in internet service, question is will it be a "always on" speed that applies to all websites as we have now. Or will it be a "pay to play" toll booth system with the faster speed only applying to the web sites that can afford to pay a premium.

Usually I'm a free-market capitalist but this particular issue has me PO'ed to say the least. It would be the same situation if the power company told you that you would be charged more for plugging in appliances that were not made by Company X. Or if your cell phone company charged you more to call someone who used Competitor X's cell phone service.

Rant Over

I'm sorry, but I'm not on the bandwagon. Sure, faster internet is nice, but you DON'T need it. Downloading movies or something maybe. My old neighbor worked for Westwood Studios with a cable modem, and for that alone DSL was the decision. But unless you're doing something like that you do NOT need it, and will likely not use much of it. The providers need to take that bandwidth to increase their customers or decrease the equipment they need, thus decreasing costs. That leasd to cheaper rates. Of course, I also favor stopping CPU speed increases and instead control heat, so feel free to just think I'm crazy!

necigrad wrote:...you do NOT need it, and will likely not use much of it.

But, I DO need it!!! Sorry, I had to quote you out of context, but being the net junkie I am, I feel the NEED 4 SPEED (even if I hear what you're saying). I... must... have...

Japanese cars are better, and evidentally their internet is in hyperspeed compared to ours too... Hmmm...

Did anyone ask how much yen it costs the average user in Japan? In Canada I pay $56/m + 14% tax for 6mbps/800kbps

Lawndart wrote:

necigrad wrote:...you do NOT need it, and will likely not use much of it.

But, I DO need it!!! Sorry, I had to quote you out of context, but being the net junkie I am, I feel the NEED 4 SPEED (even if I hear what you're saying). I... must... have...

Japanese cars are better, and evidentally their internet is in hyperspeed compared to ours too... Hmmm...

Japanese cars are better??? I hope my General Lee and Bandit didnt just hear you...

Lawndart wrote:

necigrad wrote:...you do NOT need it, and will likely not use much of it.

But, I DO need it!!! Sorry, I had to quote you out of context, but being the net junkie I am, I feel the NEED 4 SPEED (even if I hear what you're saying). I... must... have...

I'm with LD on this one lol

I need faster speeds to upload websites that i'm creating.
It takes over twice the amount of time to upload to a US server than a UK one for me here in London.

Also, have you tried connecting to a US server in a game played in the UK, ping times are very high and some game servers limit the ping entry.

Bring on the speed and I'll fly along with it nicely

I currently pay around £40 per month for a 2Mb down/256k up
You guys over the pond have it sorted with costs of access.
We need a big shake up over here.

Sabertooth wrote:

Lawndart wrote:

necigrad wrote:...you do NOT need it, and will likely not use much of it.

But, I DO need it!!! Sorry, I had to quote you out of context, but being the net junkie I am, I feel the NEED 4 SPEED (even if I hear what you're saying). I... must... have...

Japanese cars are better, and evidentally their internet is in hyperspeed compared to ours too... Hmmm...

Japanese cars are better??? I hope my General Lee and Bandit didnt just hear you...

I am definitely not going to drive something were in the same country they make "KIA" vehicles. I drive a Lincoln Town Car and I will never drive a foreign made car.

Thing is about this whole BW thing, remember PING! Doesn't do you any good if you have a 200-300 ping!

="Rhino
I am definitely not going to drive something were in the same country they make "KIA" vehicles. I drive a Lincoln Town Car and I will never drive a foreign made car.

KIA cars just like Hyundai are made in South Korea and cannot be compared to Japanese cars. Sorry Rhino but LD is absolutely correct on this one.

Let's just agree that LD likes his new Acura TSX and leave it at that

Back OT, does anyone have an opinion on net neutrality? The more I read the more muddy the issue becomes. Sort of a double edged sword. If the ISPs behave themselves then doing away with net neutrality could provide us with a guaranteed top tier option for internet service. But then nothing, beyond market forces, is keeping the ISPs from misbehaving. They could downgrade service to the competition or deny it all together. The FTC just gave their official endorsement to net non-neutrality but their reason is not sound, they give the valid answer of if it ain't broke don't fix it. Saying that government control in a thriving market is a bad idea and they're right, it is a bad idea. However Net Neutrality has been the standard for all of the internet's growth period. It was a new piece of legislation enacted a year ago that allowed for net non-neutrality and started this entire debate.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/08/neutrality.shtm

IMO net neutrality benefits all of us. If you give ISP's or corporations the ability to play dirty pool, they will. They dont care about your surfing speed, they care about selling product. If they can sell more product by controlling your surfing habits they will. The problem with non net neutrality is that it destroys the free market for internet users. You can still choose to visit a certain website...but it might take you twenty clicks to get there, and when you do...you get dinged with lower access speeds. Just my .02.

~Thump

Leave it to some old Swedish lady to have the fastest internet on earth....and she only uses it to read NEWSPAPERS!

msnbc wrote: 75-year-old likely set Internet speed record
Her fiber-optic connection could be world's fastest home uplink
By Louise Nordstrom
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:46 p.m. CT July 18, 2007
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - She is a latecomer to the information superhighway, but 75-year-old Sigbritt Lothberg is now cruising the Internet with a dizzying speed.

Lothberg's 40 gigabits-per-second fiber-optic connection in Karlstad is believed to be the fastest residential uplink in the world, Karlstad city officials said.

In less than 2 seconds, Lothberg can download a full-length movie on her home computer —many thousand times faster than most residential connections, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, head of the Karlstad city network unit.

Jonsson and Lothberg's son, Peter, worked together to install the connection.

The speed is reached using a new modulation technique that allows the sending of data between two routers placed up to 1,240 miles apart, without any transponders in between, Jonsson said.

"We wanted to show that that there are no limitations to Internet speed," he said.

Peter Lothberg, who is a networking expert, said he wanted to demonstrate the new technology while providing a computer link for his mother.


"She's a brand new Internet user," Lothberg said by phone from California, where he lives. "She didn't even have a computer before."

His mother isn't exactly making the most of her high-speed connection. She only uses it to read Web-based newspapers.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19832184/wi ... ?GT1=10150

That's just wrong lol

We could do with that for VFAT 07