On Thu, 12 Aug 2004, Dave - Dave.net.nz wrote:
> not really wanting to say this but... thats assuming that you use it
> 24hrs a day, the average user(not my average use, or probably yours
> but...) doesnt use their net connection 24hrs a day, assuming the
> average user does 8 hrs a day(a fairly high average I'd have throught),
> thats 12kbytes a second, which is just about fine. I'd have throught the
> average user would be somewhere nearer to 4 or maybe 6 hours a day, but
> anyway.
Well, see now, my home machines actually tend to keep doing things via the
internet, even when I'm not physically sitting in front of them and
looking at stuff in a browser. In fact, I (and most of the people reading
this list) tend to be use _less_ traffic at home than "power users" -
because all our personal high-bandwidth p2p apps and audio/video streams
and suchlike live on servers which tend to be connected to ISP core
networks, or live in ISP co-location space.
12K/sec is "fine"? Great! I think I'd like to listen to Twisted Radio's
high-quality web stream, and also .... oh, wait, I was going to talk about
some other common internet stuff there, but I've pretty much already used
up most of 12K/sec. Well, perhaps I'll turn all that stuff off, plunk
myself down on the couch, fire up the xbox and pull up one of r2's
high-quality video streams to watch on ... oh, no, I guess I sure as hell
won't be doing that. And neither will anyone else at 256Kbits/sec, flat
rate or not-flat rate. Because 256Kbits/sec is obscenely slow.
A key point here is not to think about what most people currently do with
their internet connection, it's to think about what they _could_ be doing
if they had _real_ broadband. The lost opportunities from this lack of
connectivity is the thing that people ought to really be mad about.
A 256Kbits/sec bit rate, of which you will be allowed to sustain a
fraction thereof, on a service which can do _8Mbits/sec_ is frankly, a
load of ass. There are test residential FTTP installations in prodution
elsewhere_right now_. True optical to the home - not science fiction, if
you live in the right place you can just Go Buy One. I can see that from
Telecom if it gets here - 10GBits/sec to the home, and you get a full
10Gbits/sec if you connect to Telecoms content server domains or gaming
realms, and if you go anywhere else ... well, as you've pointed out,
12K/sec is "fine" isn't it?
Speaking of which, I must point out yet again, The Telecom ADSL product
somehow can do a full 8Mbits/sec speed flat-rate _FREE_ connection to one
national platform (Jetstreamgames) yet somehow is "not provisioned" to do
more than 10GB/month to another national platform (Any Non-Telecom ISP).
Hell, TCNZ, I'll just run some optical cable over to wherever your JSG
servers are, and .. oh, no, can't do that either. Why? "Policy", last time
I asked.
As I said in an earlier post to NZNOG, it's just Business As Usual. And
you can't blame Telecom for it, they're just trying to protect their stock
price and dividend, it's what they're legally obliged to do! It is,
however, the job of the government to point at corporate interests and say
"Oi! You're in a monopolistic position with regards to this resource, and
we're _ordering_ you to do something that you naturally wouldn't do and
open it up to others!"
That didn't happen, though, did it?
I am beginning to agree with other users on this thread. Let's put some
alternate infrastructre in place and get some competition going.
Woosh wireless manage to offer a flat-rate 256Kbits/sec connection over
_cellular_ equipment for chrissakes! No cables AND it's portable! ICONZ
Wireless on Waiheke offers 2Mbits/sec symmetical wireless connections, the
largest of which offer 10GB of _international_ access for less than
$99/month and throws in free totally unmetered line-speed flat-rate
domestic access and that's _RETAIL_, not a pretend wholesale product.
Sod this ADSL thing - it's damage - route around it.
JSR
--
John S Russell | Big Geek | Doing geek stuff.
