Apparently 25, 50, and 100 Mbps down is <br>offered, and up to 15 Mbps up, but FiOS<br>is not offered very many places yet. There<br>are also fiber programs in the Houston and <br>Seattle areas.<br><br>In GR, AT&T has run fibers to within about<br>
2,000 feet of the premises. With that distance<br>the bit rate for DSL can be quite high. Even<br>within a mile of the CO 6Mpbs is possible.<br><br>AT&T could run the fiber right to someone's<br>home on a premium basis, but doesn't that<br>
I know of. Broadband penetration has <br>slowed recently, perhaps part of the overall<br>deterioration of the economy. AT&T response<br>to this is apparently to raise DSL prices, since<br>lowering them more is not working just now.<br>
I doubt it will show much interest in running<br>fibers to the home, even while I hope it does.<br><br>GR has-had a program to cover the city with<br>wireless. One heard a lot about it a year ago<br>and more, but nothing recently. A contract<br>
was let out, but no prices were ever stated,<br>save that 5% of the capacity would go to the<br>poor for some nominal amount. Otherwise,<br>the bit rate was quite mundane. About 1.5Mbps<br>down, maybe 128Kbps up.<br><br>
Comcast apparently assigns 40Mbps per 500<br>customers, and figures that one a statistical<br>basis that is adquate. It has been experimenting<br>with higher speeds, but these are clearly just<br>burst mode. If you try to download a large file,<br>
like a new DVD of Linux, the speed will quickly<br>settle down to your nominal service speed. The<br>burst speeds are intended to create the illusion<br>that the system is fast at the level of a web page.<br><br>Comcast has been called in to testify to the FCC<br>
this week. Despite assuring Congress that it <br>believes in, and practices, net neutrality, it clearly<br>does neither. Comcast claims it has to control<br>the movement of content in the name of managing<br>its network, and so far the FCC seems to be <br>
buying it. In reality Comcast clearly seems to be<br>violating net neutrality even while it tells Congress<br>no new laws on the subject are needed.<br><br>Since Comcast is the 800 pound gorilla in GR<br>I doubt it will try to provide truly higher speeds <br>
in the GR area any time soon. <br><br> -Bob<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 4:45 PM, Steve Romanow <<a href="mailto:slestak989@gmail.com">slestak989@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Verizon FIOS was being rolled out in Baltimore as I was leaving. It<br>
promised AMAZING speed, for a good price. They are fighting with comcast<br>
for subscribers.<br>
<br>
I dont doubt that if/when they get market share from cable, their rates<br>
will likely be more than cable.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
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