<story><title>FCC launches inquiry to increase minimum broadband speed [pdf]</title><url>https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-398168A1.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>isilofi</author><text>Non-techie notices &amp;quot;internet is slow&amp;quot; because their youtube video is blocky or pages load slowly. Non-techie goes to ISP to complain. ISP upsells to a more expensive plan.&lt;p&gt;The actual reason in almost all cases: non-techies are clueless about their slow and shitty WIFI. Picking empty or less busy channels, using 5GHz, using &lt;i&gt;gasp&lt;/i&gt; cables, all black magic and never done.&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the upselling actually helps because the better plan comes with a maybe-better AP...</text></item><item><author>Workaccount2</author><text>In an extreme ironic twist, me, the techie nerd guy, has the slowest internet of the regular-folk friend group of mine. Everyone has got 1Gbps and here I am with 300Mbps.</text></item><item><author>gnicholas</author><text>I started with Comcast with 12Mbps service. Over time, they increased the base speed they offer to 20, 25, 50, and now 75. They have done this because they want to have x% of their customers on &amp;quot;broadband&amp;quot;, per the federal definition.&lt;p&gt;This is all well and good, but they keep increasing the price, and refuse to offer lower-tier service. I probably wouldn&amp;#x27;t want 12Mbps anymore, but 20 or 25 would suffice. I wish I could pay a fraction of what I&amp;#x27;m paying for 75Mbps and get a lower tier of service. It should suffice that x% of customers are offered &amp;quot;broadband&amp;quot; for a reasonable price, even if some choose a lower speed.&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, this comes down to competition. There are no other wired options where I live (in the heart of Silicon Valley). I have considered using a cellular hotspot, but it&amp;#x27;s not competitive in terms of pricing.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m all for prodding companies to move to faster speeds, but there should still be room for consumer choice.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lifeisstillgood</author><text>I live with the shitty wifi because the yak-shaving that comes with &amp;quot;ok, I will set their router to be pass through, now I need to install openwrt on that 100$ recommended router, and run a cable behind my drywall upto the second floor, and install anothe openwrt and bang goes a weekend and really I  am only do that once I order a second line because taking out my family&amp;#x27;s internet for the whole weekend because I will fuck it up at least once ..&lt;p&gt;ok.&lt;p&gt;Next month honest</text></comment>
<story><title>FCC launches inquiry to increase minimum broadband speed [pdf]</title><url>https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-398168A1.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>isilofi</author><text>Non-techie notices &amp;quot;internet is slow&amp;quot; because their youtube video is blocky or pages load slowly. Non-techie goes to ISP to complain. ISP upsells to a more expensive plan.&lt;p&gt;The actual reason in almost all cases: non-techies are clueless about their slow and shitty WIFI. Picking empty or less busy channels, using 5GHz, using &lt;i&gt;gasp&lt;/i&gt; cables, all black magic and never done.&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the upselling actually helps because the better plan comes with a maybe-better AP...</text></item><item><author>Workaccount2</author><text>In an extreme ironic twist, me, the techie nerd guy, has the slowest internet of the regular-folk friend group of mine. Everyone has got 1Gbps and here I am with 300Mbps.</text></item><item><author>gnicholas</author><text>I started with Comcast with 12Mbps service. Over time, they increased the base speed they offer to 20, 25, 50, and now 75. They have done this because they want to have x% of their customers on &amp;quot;broadband&amp;quot;, per the federal definition.&lt;p&gt;This is all well and good, but they keep increasing the price, and refuse to offer lower-tier service. I probably wouldn&amp;#x27;t want 12Mbps anymore, but 20 or 25 would suffice. I wish I could pay a fraction of what I&amp;#x27;m paying for 75Mbps and get a lower tier of service. It should suffice that x% of customers are offered &amp;quot;broadband&amp;quot; for a reasonable price, even if some choose a lower speed.&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, this comes down to competition. There are no other wired options where I live (in the heart of Silicon Valley). I have considered using a cellular hotspot, but it&amp;#x27;s not competitive in terms of pricing.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m all for prodding companies to move to faster speeds, but there should still be room for consumer choice.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gosub100</author><text>&amp;gt;  their slow and shitty WIFI&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m still embarrassed about the time I called my ISP and complained that the new Xmbs package they just installed is capped at only Ymbps only to realize I had run the speed test over wifi (back in the wireless-g,maybe n days)...</text></comment>