Logan Have you seen Australias internet speed if kane ever used internet when he was over here he will tell you it sucks majority of us only get !.0mbps FOR $50-$100 A MONTH Its funny when ever i see yous say something like 25mbps i laugh you think you have it bad(don't wanna sound like a douche)
Oh they know. Wendell made a reference to our internet being likened to 2 tin cans and a piece of string, which seems about right to me. Unfortunately for them, with this net neutrality thing going on over there, they too may get to experience the great speeds we enjoy everyday before too long.
Some parts of America have it really bad too. Not as bad as you, granted, but still far worse than other places. For example, I can't even get a speed higher than 12 mbps. I'm not trying to make how much it sucks in Australia seem any better, I just want to help it be understood that not all of America has the 25, 50, 100, etc. mbps that some have.
I was so excited years back about the thought of being able to play online games with people from all over the world. It's pretty disappointing to think that the only reason we can't do it is because the telco's don't want to upgrade their infrastructure, and even if they did they'd throttle the hell out of it anyway.
They are holding back the future for profits, and it sucks.
I'm sorry, but the first thing I thought of when I saw your thread title was this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmRexWQhs3M
If it makes you feel any better, the last place I lived at only had 1.5mbps DSL. That was it. The only thing available, other than maybe satellite. Cost me 35 or 40 bucks a month too. And that was only like 2 years ago, not 2001 like you might imagine. It was so slow it gave me physical pain, especially since the place I had moved from had 20 or 25mbps cable (though, it was Comcast, so it gave me a different kind of pain).
Wasn't all bad though. Speeds were consistent (such as they were), there was no data cap, always had good latency, always handled gaming perfectly and didn't have any trouble watching SD content on netflix or youtube. Even the occasional 720p youtube video would load in realtime. Bufferless 1080p was out of the question though, and it took ages to download anything substantial.
It was a dark time. I try not to think about it.
Even in Europe we have some places where you cant get a fast internet.
In Germany some people can get only DSL light (768kbps down, 128kbps up) or UMTS/HSDPA (max 7,2mbis down - high ping and unstable connection is normal). And they pay even more than i pay for 32mbit/s download & 4 mbit/s upload (and i had to go with TV cable connection, coaxial is the only way to get more than 6mbit/s here) - just because there is nothing else.
We got LTE - its getting better, but still with 30GB traffic limit - but at least its fast enough.
Some places are just not worth it. Do you think your ISP will provide a fast connection to your village with 30 people living there?
Our ISPs offer some expensive solutions - but a community can get fast internet, they just have to pay for the infrastructure. ~2000-3000€ for 1 meter cable is the highest price that you can get. Its really expensive but possible if you really want it.
I live in Australia and unfortunately for most of the places I have lived a USB stick in an envelop still beats most internet connections on speed and price for transferring large files.
I don't know where you guys are living, but I live in the middle of cow country and I still get about 20mbps. Sure it's not great but it's not the end of the world. I would love me some more upload though.
There's a reason why 90% of the population live in cities. But even then you run into the far too common risk of only getting ADSL availability.
Really I blame alot of it on the privatisation of Telstra and the move away from internet being a public good for universal access to a private commodity to be rented for a significant profit. In places like Broken Hill, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy it doesn't make any economic sense to provide a fast service.