You’re overpaying for slow internet.

from JoeUser Forums

 

Long suspected as much. Not only do you pay more, you get slower speeds, as well.

The New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, compared Internet service in the US: Kansas City, Missouri (pop. 467,000), San Francisco and Bristol, Virginia (pop. 17,835) -- with large European and Asian metropolises, including London, Seoul, Paris, Tokyo, and Copenhagen. You can view the report here: http://www.newamerica.org/downloads/OTI_The_Cost_of_Connectivity_2014.pdf

While the city size might not be exactly comparable, some glaring facts did emerge:

  • 25 mb/sec London-$24/mo,
  • Kansas City-$41/mo,
  • Seoul, Paris, Tokyo, Copenhagen and Prague<$40/mo.
  • Lafayette, LA- $50/mo.
  • Washington, D.C. $52/mo.

This report also implied that about 75% of American homes have only a single source for an ISP. That means that there’s no competition for that essential infrastructure. In Europe? Quite different: Governments try to encourage rivalries between ISPs by requiring them to share infrastructures. That doesn’t happen here.

Also, broadband in the foreign cities listed above is about 10x faster than equally priced U.S. plans. At least we aren’t in Mexico City. What I can’t believe is that such a critical necessity for education, science, technology and commerce isn’t incentivized nor encouraged.

I believe things should change.

There are plenty of Graphs on the report which is quite thorough. A small sample:

Source:

http://www.infopackets.com/news/9402/americans-pay-too-much-slow-internet-report

116,058 views 41 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Ain't that the sad truth. Yesterday I read an article that the cable companies are raising the prices on their internet connections because of cord cutters. Who is the cable industry not a utility.. I don't know.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Oh, boo hoo.

Average connection speeds in Oz...6.0 Mbps.

That's why you don't see Australia in those lists.

You'll have something to cry over when you're paying $69 a month for snail pace....;p

The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

It sucks, have no cable, no fios so my choice is satellite.  My $46 get me 5.27 download and 2.32 upload.  Its called greed.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Average connection speeds in Oz...6.0 Mbps.

That's why you don't see Australia in those lists.

End of quote

There's only so much space on the freight ships to carry bits down there and back, after all.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quote kyro, reply#4:

Average connection speeds in Oz...6.0 Mbps.

That's why you don't see Australia in those lists.

There's only so much space on the freight ships to carry bits down there and back, after all.

End of quote

And a lot of it falls overboard when the ship docks upside down.  ;)

Meanwhile, back on topic......$29.99 a month for 6.70 Down, .70 Up (on DSL) It's well over 55 dollars a month for a faster (averaged 30Mbs) cable connection that is now out of reach on our budget.......but I'm here and the Wife has her FB. 'Nuff said.

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

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Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

LMAO @Doc's post.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I am sure I am overpaying. Not sure how much I pay for internet, since my services are bundled.

 

EDIT: Actually, I called. I pay 60 dollars a month for my internet alone. Would be higher if I were not using a bundled package.

 

 

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I know a lot of people in Bristol Va. Bristol, Tn. being my hometown. All my family lives there. None of them ever heard of, or know anyone getting anywhere near the reported 352.5 Mbps.

 

Just saying...

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

those statistics only count if you can get 25-50MB/s others might pay the same price for a lot less speed
I can only get 8MB/s where i live and i pay 45€ for it a month, while i know others that are still limited to 1-2MB/s still

 

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

"I know a lot of people in Bristol Va. Bristol, Tn. being my hometown. All my family lives there. None of them ever heard of, or know anyone getting anywhere near the reported 352.5 Mbps." RnD #9

Jim, that's the average speed for plans priced over $50. What plans are your relatives on? Also, there might be very few places with that type of speed for specialized reasons, paying specialized rates. It could also be that we're looking at "throttling". At any rate, why not write to the folks who produced the report, if it diverges from what you believe to be the case?

 

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I don't really care, Doc. I was just stating a point of view. I'm not aware of the exact price plans of my relatives, but I do know at least two of them would have the fastest speed available to them and they don't even get the speed I get.

 

The reported speed in the chart must be for business, or some special tier of service.

I don't care enough to contact anyone who produced the report. My comment is just discussion, nothing more.

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

-We pay $ 67 for 500 Mbit internet Plus TIVO And 100 channels -Good deal for Swedes :star:

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Exactly...but, how much do you pay in taxes? Is your internet subsidized at all by the government, Andy?

Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top

from my VERY limited (approx 100 customers(majority age pensioners) in my region of australia) the common speed is between 512kbit/sec and 1.5mbit/sec with costs of approx $70-100/month and about 1gb data (this is in a region that is DSL only with some if it in the process of being converted to the NBN( supposedly fibre, but likely to be 'multimode' or copper wire/dsl update) with the nbn prices ADDING $20-$50/month for the same 10gb/month.

personally I have one of the faster speeds at a lower price ,in the region due to lots of research between the various isp's regarding connection speed/download limits/price, AND I WANT the speeds/price that the us cities are offered, and would KILL to get the asian or european speeds/prices

Harpo the NON-subscriber

Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

harpo....all those eff-wits who voted for Abbott can be blamed for the fuck-up that is the [now] NBN.

The Liberals watered it down to the point we will ALWAYS be playing catch-up with what is [these days] a seriously important infrastructure.

Clearly they are all-to-a-man technologically ignorant.

...as is their voter base.

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Prices for things vary according to what country you are in.

So, internet here is half the price, but, petrol and diesel are double the price...

You aren't comparing similar economic systems.

Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top

What Fuzzy Logic said and I would also add that it can and does even differ greatly between regions in a country (rural vs urban).

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top

Yeah, Australian internet is slow as ass. And forget about large uploads, our upload speed is horrible!

 

To be fair Jafo, Oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them.
Labor was a total mess of in fighting, backstabbing and candidate swapping along side the default of broken promises (Which is a default for ALL politicians as far as I am concerned)

It's no surprise they failed to win the election.


I've continued to email my local reps though about the NBN and signing petitions. Hopefully the Liberal Gov will realise that while they won the election, it wasn't due to their NBN policy.

Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Wouldn't worry too much about them....they're screwed come the next election.  Too many broken promises....and Putin will off the twat for 'shirt-fronting'....;)

 

Essentially we're still suffering the tyranny of distance....too many miles of infrastructure costed over too few people.

A quarter the pop of England and about a thousand times the land size....;)

 

Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I pay US$41 to AT&T for 3.0Mb/s download and 0.5Mb/s upload DSL. I live in Muskogee County Oklahoma outside of the city limits so I don't have access to cable, but I manage to get by just fine.

I have no sympathy for those who whine that 50Mb/s is too slow!

Reply #22 from Elemental Forums Top

This is what happens when Europe forces companies to compete, and the US/Canada/Australia allows them to collude.


One group you can blame in particular is ALEC for sponsoring legislation that banned communities in some states, such as North Carolina, from doing it themselves.

ALEC got several Senators elected to Congress this time, so the FCC overruling the states is DOA.

 

 

Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top

Well, I know for a fact in Australia that Telstra is restricted in their prices and are actually not allowed to lower them past a certain point to give the 'smaller' telco's a chance or whatever excuse they use.

So it always makes me laugh when Optus or biased opinion 'news' like Today Tonight say that Telstra has such high prices. They're actually forced to comply because they own the majority of the infrastructure (as a legacy of once being Government owned)

 

Either way, our phone and internet industry stinks. Australia tax is everywhere these days =P

Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top

You’re overpaying for slow internet.
End of quote

So what's new?  The paying public have been overpaying for goods and services for decades/centuries.  As somebody above mentioned, it's all about greed, governments and the mega-wealthy lining their pockets with more and more of our money.  Sadly, they control the markets of things we want or need, thus we keep paying through the nose so as not to be left behind.

Fortunately, I do not smoke, run a car or very often buy clothes, etc - not to mention that I'm as tight as a fish's bum when it comes to spending on groceries/essentials - so I manage to save quite a bit there and can afford a better internet connection when one is available.

@ Jafo.

As for Abbott and his cronies diluting the NBN, several experts provided reports to the parliament and the plan is on hold, with Labor and several other MPs blocking the move, telling the government it would defeat the purpose of 'high speed internet' and that consumers would outright reject the NBN should it be altered/watered down with copper to the premises.

You are quite correct, however, about Abbott and his cohorts not having a feching clue.  I questioned the Lib. member up here about the watering down plan and he dared to suggest that copper from the node could actually be faster and would save customers money.  What an effwit, no feching idea at all.

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top

@Fuzzy - 

While it's true there is a comparison being run on differing economic systems, I stated in the OP:

"This report also implied that about 75% of American homes have only a single source for an ISP. That means that there’s no competition for that essential infrastructure. In Europe? Quite different: Governments try to encourage rivalries between ISPs by requiring them to share infrastructures. That doesn’t happen here."

Also on reply #14:

"Exactly...but, how much do you pay in taxes? Is your internet subsidized at all by the government"


The wisdom of these subsidies and laws becomes apparent when discussing the importance of the internet and infrastructure...as well as the apportionment of profits and taxes towards improving that infrastructure. I'm really glad you responded to that, as that was one of the thrusts of the source and I think it should be considered.