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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Buttflapper@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

I'm an unfortunate captive of the oligopoly of the internet industry in the USA. In many places, you have 2-3 choices of internet, and all of them suck ass. I'm in this situation. All internet providers in my area have a 1-1.5 terabyte data cap. So when I download Call of Duty for 250 gb and it fails and has to update or reinstall, I've wasted 500 gb, and have now reached 50% of my data cap in just 1 day. There are crazy fees, for example, Cox Cable says:

If you go over, we’ll automatically add 50 gigabytes of data for $10 to your next bill. That's enough for about 15 hours of streaming HD video. If you use that 50 gigabytes, we automatically add another 50 gigabytes for $10 and so on until you reach our $100 limit of data overage charges or until your next usage cycle begins.

So your $90 a month internet can easily become $190 a month, which is fuckin criminal, like that is so scummy and asinine how that can even be legal. But it is perfectly legal. The FCC is also looking into these data caps but now that we have a new anti-federal government president elect... This is probably toast.... Nothing will change now that most federal agencies are about to be deleted.

From a technology standpoint too, nothing is really getting better

Comcast is still using Coax instead of Fiber Optic and desperately trying to convince people that somehow, someway coax can be just as good. Do with that info what you will, I have no opinions on it. There was a Federal program started recently to expand rural internet access, which will probably be gutted in 2025 leaving many without suitable internet again. Fiber Optic is fast, but still, not new technology, and doesn't solve a critical issue.... It doesn't matter if you have 2 Gigabit internet if no one in the world is uploading even half that fast. A single download on Steam is like 450 Mbps, Epic Games launcher is horrifically slow. I get like 120 Mbps max when downloading Fortnite updates even with 1500 Mbps internet hard wired to my router with top tier hardware

It's just sad to think about the future of internet in the USA, and knowing we'll be imprisoned by these data caps for the foreseeable future.

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[-] mortimer@lemmy.world 159 points 1 month ago

Unlimited full fibre here in the rural nothern Highlands of Scotland for £35 per month.

Your internet seems similar to your politicians: useless and expensive.

[-] francisfordpoopola@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

I normally don't like to admit this but you're right. OP needs to move.

[-] mortimer@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In all honesty and without any sarcasm that was obviously present in my previous comment, looking in at the US as an outsider, I don't hold out much hope for America. It's not just Team Trump, it's the whole system. The previous lot weren't much better (and often sometimes worse). Everything seems extremely polarised which will never pan out well. Big corporations seem to control everything (from internet and food to finance and pharma), there's no free health care (a human right considered by many countries but viewed as communism by America). I could go on and on, but I would only sound unnecessarily negative. A good idea would be to get out and get off an obvious sinking ship. This is probably easier said than done, but there's always a way. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect elsewhere, but I think once the US collapses it'll be a wake-up call for a lot of countries who will also have to adjust having relied so heavily on America through trade as well as culturally. If too big to fail was a real thing, then we wouldn't have history books full of empires collapsing. With all sincerity, good luck.

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[-] KoalaUnknown@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

OP needs to move.

Unfortunately, most counties don’t want us Americans (and I don’t blame them).

Edit: Unless you’re rich that is.

[-] interurbain1er@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago

France reporting, same price and that's because I'm using the more expensive provider that is the most reliable in my rural area.

Our politicians are completely useless though.

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[-] TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org 98 points 1 month ago

It doesn't matter if you have 2 Gigabit internet if no one in the world is uploading even half that fast.

Just to point out something, yes, there may not be many services online (except torrents perhaps) that will max out your gigabit connection, but you are looking at it from the perspective of a single user. I'm in a family of four, also with a roommate in the house, and with everyone gaming and streaming and doing their thing, it can easily saturate it. We had to pay extra for no caps though or we'd be toast. They at least did offer that. Dicks.

Anyway the point of a high speed connection is to be able to do many things simultaneously, not really one giant thing by itself.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 18 points 1 month ago

there may not be many services online (except torrents perhaps)

Hmm... arr, matey

[-] TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org 11 points 1 month ago
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[-] Zier@fedia.io 67 points 1 month ago

This is the USA, it's all a pay-as-you-go country. You will be required to work yourself to death to be able to have anything nice at all. That's the model. Corporations make the rules, the government will not help us. Economy, corporate profits and giving money to the wealthy are the priorities. Nothing else matters.

[-] Joeffect@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Some places have banned data caps, I live in one such place... And I think the FCC was looking for feedback on the hate of data caps... If you want change go out and make it

[-] Toribor@corndog.social 28 points 1 month ago

the FCC was looking for feedback on the hate of data caps

A Republican lead FCC (Ajit Pai or some other smug fuck) will never mobilize the FCC to curb unfair and unreasonable data caps.

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[-] ohlaph@lemmy.world 43 points 1 month ago

No, once the FTC is gutted, the isps will resume their stronghold. Data caps, overages, slower speeds, etc.

[-] AngryRobot@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

All of our FTC investigations and antitrust suits will disappear.

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Also get ready of net neutrality disappearing, and you'll have sites blocked just because of ISPs not liking them.

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[-] NastyNative@mander.xyz 35 points 1 month ago

Data caps are insane in 2024

[-] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago

Yeah, pretty much. The way the rest of the world deals with it is by splitting the infrastructure maintenance and retail sides to eliminate the profit incentive to not do maintenance.

You have a company who owns a/the fibre network in an area and is obligated by anti-monopoly rules to sell access to the network at the same rate and terms to anyone who wants it. They have a profit incentive to maintain the network to a reasonable standard because having a functioning network is how they make money. In a lot of places this wholesale provider will be at least part government owned given that the government usually pays a good chunk of the cost to build out large national infrastructure projects like fibre networks.

Separately, you have retail ISPs who buy access to the fibre network (or 4g, satellite, ...) and sell it to the public along with value adds like tech support, IP addresses, peering agreement etc.

It's never work in the US because holding private companies accountable for how they spend public money and maintaining well regulated competitive markets is communism or something.

[-] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

It's never work in the US because holding private companies accountable for how they spend public money and maintaining well regulated competitive markets is communism or something

It did work in the US for many years. During the 90's the Internet was regulated like that. Phone lines, t1's etc were infrastructure that the ilec was required to provide at the same cost to isps they used internally to sell service to consumers.

Then Bush came in and ruled that fiber and cable were immune from those common carrier laws.

[-] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Internet in NZ used to work a bit like the US does now with one large ISP that is also the network operator and gave exactly zero shits about quality of connections or internationally competitive pricing, except they got greedy and charged their retail arm half what they charged their competitors. Anti-monopoly folks got very pissy about this and managed to get the largest fine permitted by law, forced them to split their wholesale arm off into a separate company, banned them from tendering on the government-funded fibre network (which cost them literally billions of dollars) and then changed the law so that if they did it again there wouldn't be a cap on the penalty they could impose.

In 20 years we went from ~35th of the 38 OECD countries in internet speed and accessibility to 9th. Markets only work long-term if you actually regulate them

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[-] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Well, maybe now with a republican FCC

lol, no

[-] Buttflapper@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Well, maybe now with a republican FCC

I'd be surprised if it even exists a year from now

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Oh I expect it to. The FCC censors airwave transmissions

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[-] Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 1 month ago

1.5Tb data cap, jeez. I regularly push 6tb of monthly traffic by myself. This feels like mobile internet all over again, but now with wired...

[-] zephorah@lemm.ee 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No. And I'm sorry to say, this administration is coming for social media as well. I hate watching the orange potato talk, and I dislike the individual who posted this, but unless you want to sit through a double long "reaction" vid by a youtuber who makes their living "reacting", this is the shortest one.

He wants to gut moderation and make it so it requires a court order to remove any account from social media. There's a lot to unpack here. It's a scripted speech, illustrating the thinkers behind his administration this go. It talks about 1A, says everything in the speech is for 1A, including dumping the Hatch Act (keeps us safe at polling sites and makes buying votes illegal), but you should really listen to what he says about moderation of social media.

To me, it reads as a way of removing any anti-establishment, anti-MAGA spaces to talk without actually removing the spaces.

Echo chambering helps no one folks, I hate hearing him speak too, but you need to hear this one. https://youtu.be/xJfUXVOoFBo?si=pqphBah-_0YwW11V

[-] AstridWipenaugh@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

It's totally possible! I live in CO and Comcast had a legal monopoly per state law. Nobody else is allowed to compete with their cable service. But you know what isn't cable? Fiber! A local broadband company just installed fiber in my neighborhood this spring. I signed up for $89/mo gigabit service, no data cap, no installation fees at all. Between when I signed up and when they turned on service, they upgraded my service to 1.2 gigabit, same monthly price, no cap, no commitment, no upsell (their only other service is rural satellite Internet).

I talked to the technician installing it and he said they aren't getting any subsidies from anyone. Not the city, state, or fed. It's simply economically viable to run new gigabit fiber for $89/mo. All it takes is a company that can make the initial infrastructure investment.

[-] shoulderoforion@fedia.io 18 points 1 month ago

Not only aren't we going to get better internet, the internet in the united states you're using right now, is going to be unrecognizable in the next 12 months, all free services will charge, cost for access will increase, vpn usage will be curtailed, and pirate sites will be blocked. Better? We just re-elected a fascist tyrant who wants to close as many avenues of free speech against him as he possibly can, as well as funnel as much cash to media and tech oligarchs as he can to keep them onside, and now he's got both the house and senate with which to do just that.

Better? dude.

[-] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 month ago

VPNs and piracy aren't going anywhere. Unfortunately, data caps won't be going away either.

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago

VPNs and piracy aren’t going anywhere.

That's not true at all.
They'll both be going on my next PC!

[-] vithigar@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It doesn't matter if you have 2 Gigabit internet if no one in the world is uploading even half that fast. A single download on Steam is like 450 Mbps

This sounds more like the infrastructure in your area just isn't up to delivering those speeds, regardless what the last mile to the home is.

I promise you Steam's CDN absolutely can deliver more than 450Mbps. It regularly maxes out my 1.5 Gbps at home, and I have no doubt that it could potentially go even faster than that if I had a better connection.

Like plugging a 10Gbps network switch into a 100Mbps gateway, it sounds like a fast final link to the home is being choked out by poor infrastructure in the region and can't be fully utilized.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

They probably kill off any agency who would protect your consumer rights, anyway. And redefine "broadband" as "you've got modem access, so stop whining". And let the companies keep the subsidies they got for making the former broadband definition happen.

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[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Rural island off the coast of a european country:

10g fiber for $65/mo (I don't even think they cared, I asked for more and I think they made up a number).

House literally down the street from google in silicon valley:

Comcrap $100 for shit cable, I'm paying $250 for actual upload speed.

This country is ruled by the corrupt.

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[-] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 12 points 1 month ago

Things are getting better. A new fiber-only network provider is expanding across my region so I got it installed a few months ago. No data caps, 500 Mbps up+down for $50/month.

[-] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago

Speaking of fiber and things that are not fiber, asymmetric connections are one of the most predatory internet practices in existence, only a small distance behind data caps. Oh, you want our super expensive 1gbps plan? How about 3mbps upload?

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[-] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago

The 18-26 year olds just signed over our country to billionaire fascists. I had hopes for them, but they are collectively idiots. Born into late stage capitalism, spent their formative years growing up in the Age of Hate, and actively chugged down propaganda via YouTube and all social media.

No, we are not.

[-] 0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 1 month ago
[-] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 11 points 1 month ago

And isn't signing over the country to corporations something that's been going on since the 1970s or something? I mean that comment is wrong on any level.

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[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

The solution is pretty obvious.

  1. Be rich
  2. Step 2 is for poor people
  3. Why do all these poor people want to kill me?
[-] dan@upvote.au 11 points 1 month ago

Comcast is still using Coax instead of Fiber Optic and desperately trying to convince people that somehow, someway coax can be just as good.

Comcast are starting to offer 2Gbps symmetric (same speed up and down) via DOCSIS 4.0 in some areas.

[-] blakemiller@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Yep. It’s pretty nuts how much they can push over copper. And remember that just having a coax cable at your house doesn’t mean it’s copper the whole way back to the ISP.

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[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago
[-] Nyciferi@kbin.melroy.org 10 points 1 month ago

No. And we're going to have even more tech-illiterate old buffoons in offices where they'll understand even less technology but they're great at destroying things. So, they'll happily line the pockets of ComCast, AT&T, Verizon and they'll do fuck all to improve customer experience. In fact, if things go their way, they'll bring back the idea of forcing you to choose whether you want to pay premium for high speed internet including the ridiculous limits already in place. That or they'll give you the slow-lane subscription while talking down to you about having to pay so little to get so little and their data caps is even more restrictive, never mind how little you'll be able to actually do on the slow lane.

Isn't it wonderful?! /s

[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Pretty sure it depends on where you live. My CenturyLink gigabit internet in Seattle is superb, symmetrical up/down, $75/mo. Haven't had significant problems in 10 or 15 years.

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[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 9 points 1 month ago

Wait until net neutrality is completely dead. I predict 1.5 years.

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[-] Zetta@mander.xyz 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I feel your pain, I was stuck with Cox for many years and was paying $170 a month for one gig down, 30 megs up. Unlimited data. But the unlimited data was a lie because they called and threatened me once because I was uploading too much, apparently uploading doesn't count for the unlimited data. Stupid assholes.

I was fortunate enough to move recently to a house that actually had fiber. My fiber provider just raised the price of their lowest plan, which is the one I'm on, 500 Mbps symmetrical for $65 a month. It used to be $50 a month. However, they lowered the price of all their faster plans. If I wanted, I could get 8 gigs symmetrical for $150 a month. That's less than I was paying for Cox just a year ago for 1 gig fake unlimited.

At my current provider, all their plans are truly unlimited, even the lowest tier one like the one I'm on.

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[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

I had to sign up for a business account because of Cox's data cap. Sadly they're my only option and they suck ass.

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this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2024
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