Comment by jsz0 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jsz0 | Hacker News Reader

I'm still not sold on the idea that we all need 100Mbit+ Internet connections. It's like building 4 lane highways to replace rural backroads. Most people aren't going to pay significantly more so it's not an appealing venture for private companies to make on their own except where competition exists and they have to offer more competitive packages in an effort to play defense. They're not doing it because offering a wideband connection brings in tons of new customers or more revenue from existing customers. It's purely a defensive move. There's also some question of how much bandwidth is enough. I move from a 10Mbit connection at home to a 100Mbit+ connection at work and I don't notice any difference. Sure files download quicker but we're talking 10 seconds versus 20 seconds in most cases. I can't really think of anything I can't do on a 10Mbit/sec connection. I'm also at a loss to figure out what room exists for innovation. Better quality streaming video? Sure I guess so but all things considered that's not my top concern.

So instead of focusing on raw speed maybe we should be focusing on reliability, pricing, latency, improved customer service, and a modest increase in speeds to get us all to this 10-15Mbit/sec range that is completely acceptable performance. Get people some choice so they at least have 2 or 3 providers and, over time, they will compete with each other as faster speeds are actually something customers need/want and not just a statistic that has almost no real meaning today.

Is there anything that you do in the office or within your home LAN that you can't do remotely? Extremely large video files, transparent network storage, etc.? Then you'll find a use for 100 mbit Internet.

Well, I don't know about the US. But I went from xDSL to FTTB (& FTTH) in Sweden and it's cheaper, more reliable and have less latency. I can choose between speeds ranging from 1 to 100Mbit, from eight diffrent ISPs [1]. If you want good performance you need to install new cables and, if done right, FTTP is just the best way to do it.

[1] http://www.stockholm.opennet.se/serviceguide/consumers/inter...

Broadband speed is good enough. Like jsz0 said, it might be time to work on cost, latency , etc.

And of course access(third of the u.s. don't have broadband).

Also it might be a good time to look at other parts of the infrastructure, because there lies the competitive edge.

HD video conferencing seem like today's important part of the infrastructure. And wireless broadband.

Remote/cloud backup is a common use case for the masses that would benefit greatly from a very high speed connection. It's already main stream (plenty of TV commercials), but it really sucks to do that initial backup of 250GB.

Be sure to include a more reasonable approach to usage (volume) caps. As it is, many providers imposing caps in the U.S. provide little or no flexibility with regard to those caps. You can't purchase additional volume, or you can do so only at exorbitant rates, where a small additional volume can cost you as much or much more than your initial monthly service fee.

Bad enough for solely home use, but imagine having your work-at-home connection held hostage by such a cap / rate structure, particularly if you combine work and home use on a single subscription (something that, aside from otherwise being more economical, is perhaps even necessary, if your area is serviced by only one provider and/or physical delivery medium).

(And its all the scarier if you have kids who might max out your allocation before you know it.)

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