Rob Beschizza
Gear

Verizon Experiments With 100 Mbps FiOS

Two Verizon employees were outfitted with 100Mbps FiOS connections and told, "Experiment!" Curiously, they don’t seem too impressed with it. You don’t really need speeds that fast to enjoy the internet, because the internet’s services are built for slow connections. Here’s a quote from Richard S. Guziewicz’s interview with Om Malik: "I’ve found that all […]

Fiberopticfiber

Two Verizon employees were outfitted with 100Mbps FiOS connections and told, "Experiment!"

Curiously, they don't seem too impressed with it. You don't really need speeds that fast to enjoy the internet, because the internet's services are built for slow connections. Here's a quote from Richard S. Guziewicz's interview with Om Malik:

"I’ve found that all the things I did on my PC with 15Mbps service, I can do with 100Mbps. If I visited web sites that were optimized to allow true 100 Mbps downloads, then I might be able to say it makes a difference."

Welcome to the telcos' vision of the internet, where no-one ever dreams of watching p2p-spread HD video or using BitTorrent, instead restricting themselves to the downloading-in-short-bursts usage patterns that can be oversold to consumers on crepuscular copper lines. Of course, other industrialized countries don't need to "experiment" with internet speeds, because they're serious about providing them.

Perhaps it's asking for too much nerdly extravagance in the world, but just the slightest sense of urgency, rather than a giant corporate sigh of near-total disinterest in upgrading the nation's infrastructure, would be nice.

US Lags Behind in Broadband Speeds [PC World]

A Man & His 100 Mbps Fiber Connected Life [GigaOm]