Technology Liberation Front - Latest Comments in Mind the Spin

Re: Mind the Spin

Stevens33 — Thu, 18 May 2006 09:28:11 -0000

The real problem in the US is cable franchise laws. They support monopolies (for what reason I do not know) to the detriment of the consumer both in cost and in quality. If these were reformed, chances are pretty good that Verizon's FIOS service (which is amazing) would be much cheaper.

Re: Mind the Spin

birdofprey — Tue, 16 May 2006 17:36:49 -0000

Jim is exactly right. We'd do well to foster competition--it's the road to innovation, better services and better prices.

Re: Mind the Spin

SoCal Jim — Tue, 16 May 2006 16:37:51 -0000

I think competition is exactly the issue--through commercial competition, services and technology here in the States could quickly rival our neighbors. While the prices are still pretty outrageous, I think time and development (and hopefully, the government and telecomms relax their current stumping) could bring about astounding change in the next year or two...

Re: Mind the Spin

Commons Music — Thu, 11 May 2006 05:11:56 -0000

I've been trying to find more data on broadband in Japan, which seems to be farther ahead than most anywhere in the world, with reports of 100Mbit download speeds. There have been some scattered reports (this one, most notably), but nothing concrete that I can read.

Although, I did find a direct Japan-to-UK comparison on broadband: BBC

Re: Mind the Spin

John Middleton — Thu, 11 May 2006 04:29:16 -0000

Its all about the local loop unbundling, a lot of providers are jumping on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, as you point out, they offer these 'super' hi-speed services but then massively cap them because the only thing people really use 24mb/s is porn+file sharing! The LLU operators are having a real hard time making any cash off their investments - if you want to learn more then I'd recommend Ofcom's Strategic Review of Telecoms and the legal undertakings agreed with BT to (theoretically) implement equality of access.