"...at affordable, simple pricing..."
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| d0nk3y Feb 20, 2006 3:52 PM EDT |
A little off topic but some interesting information for you guys. Here in a New Zealand, an ADSL 'base plan' costs around NZD$40 per month. That's approx US$30 or around 20 euro. For that you get a 256Kbps downstream link (128Kbps upstream) and a 1Gb data cap. How does that compare with your plans? |
| jdixon Feb 20, 2006 4:03 PM EDT |
> How does that compare with your plans? Locally, Verizon offers 756K down/128K up for US $15/month or 3M down/756K up for US $ 30/month. Since I don't care to give Verizon the time of day, much less money, our service is with Meer.net and is 1.5M down/128K up for US $40/month. Meer has much better terms of service though: Verizon effectively says you can't run any servers; and only supports Windows and Mac, Meer pretty much says if it's not illegal they don't mind and supports everything. |
| jdixon Feb 20, 2006 4:05 PM EDT |
Oh, neither Verizon nor Meer has a documented usage limit. We haven't encountered any undocumented usage limit yet. |
| d0nk3y Feb 20, 2006 4:17 PM EDT |
Wow - that's a little different eh? Forgot to say that the NZ pricing is for a home plan only (business plans cost more). The home plans are not allowed static IPs or to host servers of any kind either. Once you hit your traffic limit, you're shaped to dialup speed (apparently 56k) - which is better than it used to be which was a per Mb (not per Gb) charge thereafter. |
| bstadil Feb 20, 2006 10:03 PM EDT |
For 30 Eur/ Month you can get 5Mbit+ download DSL in France via Freebox, Incl Unlimited free worldwide Phone calls. |
| Teron Feb 20, 2006 10:30 PM EDT |
Our prices, from what I know, are comparable to New Zealand's. There's no data cap, though, but keeping servers is not allowed (Which is annoying as all hell for certain indie games who do not have centralized servers like Blizzard. Want to play Liero on the net with a homebrew mod? Good luck) |
| jdixon Feb 21, 2006 2:21 AM EDT |
> Forgot to say that the NZ pricing is for a home plan only (business plans cost more). The home plans are not allowed static IPs or to host servers of any kind either. Verizon and Meer are also home plans. Verizon gives you a single dynamic IP address. Meer allows you either a dynamic address or up to 6 static IP addresses, and includes domain hosting and backup dialup service in the plan. You can see why we went with Meer. |
| DigitaLink Feb 21, 2006 5:41 AM EDT |
Right now we're paying about $40/month CDN for 5Mbit down, 1Mbit up DSL, about the same price for 3Mbit down/768k up cable. No bandwidth limits, and while they 'say' no servers, I've been happily running one for a few years now. The only thing I've heard of crackdowns on are the mega bandwidth hogs ... which they associate with big time filesharing. Personally, I know nobody who's been cut off, but at least one guy I know got a warning to cool it for the month. |
| SFN Feb 21, 2006 6:23 AM EDT |
Our town ran last-mile fiber about a year and a half ago. We pay $99 per month for bundled phone/cable/net. The cable is only 65 channels (with the option to buy premium channels) but the net connection is 7M both up and down. |
| NoDough Feb 21, 2006 11:15 AM EDT |
Quoting:Our town ran last-mile fiber about a year and a half ago. We pay $99 per month for bundled phone/cable/net. The cable is only 65 channels (with the option to buy premium channels) but the net connection is 7M both up and down. How do I get on that plan! |
| SFN Feb 21, 2006 12:34 PM EDT |
Well, you have to live in a pissant town with 7500 rednecks. |
| tadelste Feb 21, 2006 12:36 PM EDT |
SFN: Do you live in such a town? |
| SFN Feb 21, 2006 12:37 PM EDT |
Yup. It kills me. |
| SFN Feb 21, 2006 12:46 PM EDT |
Quoting:We pay $99 per month for..... My wife informs me that it went up to $107. |
| TxtEdMacs Feb 21, 2006 12:54 PM EDT |
SFN - that blows away another urban legend, i.e. proved false. Now if we could only stop the b.s. about the supposed "Joe Sixpack" being MS only types epitomized in too numerous slashdot spouting, ah ... comments. So how many in your town are running Linux Servers? I learned quite awhile ago not to judge people by their accents, just listen closely to the content of their speech. Too many Southerners "play" dumb to show you who is really stupid, believe the act at your peril. |
| NoDough Feb 21, 2006 12:57 PM EDT |
Quoting:Well, you have to live in a pissant town with 7500 rednecks. Ah, well that's my problem then. I live in the middle of nowhere with a very few rednecks (self included.) I've been trying to figure out a reasonable broadband solution for some time. Dialup is currently my only option (well, technically satellite broadband is an option, but I need VPN and the latency of satellite breaks it.) In another thread someone suggested building our own WiMAx network. Where do I sign up for that? |
| SFN Feb 21, 2006 1:01 PM EDT |
Quoting:So how many in your town are running Linux Servers? Very few. Possibly just the company I work for and that's only because I installed them. However, we do have a local PC business that when building PCs, offers your choice of either Linux or Windows. Uptake has been slow due to people not really knowing anything about Linux. I've spoken with the guy who runs the business and he likes the idea of pulling an installfest at his place. The guys I work with in our IT department would provide the bulk of the talent. I have a little local net radio station that would promote it and the local phone company (they who give us all good things net-related) might even broadcast the entire thing on their public-access cable channel. I just need to talk to the guy who runs the Gyro shop about massive food orders for that day. We're aiming for summer. |
| salparadise Feb 21, 2006 1:38 PM EDT |
Basically there's two phone systems in the UK. The old BT network which is copper wire from the local exchange to your house and the newer fibre network. If you live in a city or town then fibre is probably installed right up to the pavement outside your house. If you live in rural areas you'll almost certainly have to use the existing phone line and being miles from the exchange adds to the .
After BT was privatised it was forced to share it's network "to encourage competition" so various alternatives have sprung up. They offer great things and then seem to struggle to come up with the promised service.
There's some pretty poor services on offer in the UK. One such is a 2MB connection capped to 2gig a month! This costs around £18 a month (US$31).
I pay £35 a month (US$61) for a 4MB line (4MB down and a small upload speed). That's uncapped but covers only the net connection, the TV is another £10 (US$17.50) a month and then there's the "line rental" on the phone, that's another £10 a month plus whatever calls we make. The alternatives, some of which are initially quite attractive, "up to 8MB for £18 a month" for example, require an active BT line. I'm with the company that has the fibre network so I have one choice. It's pricey, but it's always works and it's fast. The catch with the alternative choices is the little phrase "up to" before the alleged line speed. So "up to 8MB" might actually mean that at times it isn't anywhere near 8MB and you have no recourse because you were plainly told "up to" 8MB whereas I get 4MB reliably and it's fibre to about 6 feet away from where I'm sitting. |
| wjl Feb 22, 2006 4:19 AM EDT |
-> NoDough: look at this page: http://www.bbwexchange.com/successstories/successful_wireles... Maybe you'll find a provider there. If not, try this one: http://www.bbwexchange.com/building_broadband_wireless_netwo... Good luck, wjl |
| NoDough Feb 22, 2006 4:45 AM EDT |
wjl: Thanks for the links. There's nothing currently serving my location, but I will explore the "building your own..." links. The irritating part is that I live within 20 miles of a major metropolitan area on the east coast of the US and I can't get broadband. My brother is a wheat farmer in the middle of Kansas. He's over 100miles from a community with a population of over 25,000. He has broadband. (grrrrr) |
| wjl Feb 22, 2006 4:55 AM EDT |
Hey, 20 miles should be no problem for Wimax - maybe you could get the antenna on a hill or something? But if you should really consider buying this just for private internet access, expect some investment. We're not talking 70$ routers here... cheers, wjl |
| NoDough Feb 22, 2006 4:58 AM EDT |
wjl: I'm thinking more of setting up a neighborhood ISP for myself and the others in my area that are 'bandwidth challenged.' |
| wjl Feb 22, 2006 5:20 AM EDT |
NoDough:
Sounds good. In that case, maybe I should recommend Tom's excellent business plan like this here: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/54427/index.html But maybe you figured something like this out already? cheers, wjl |
| NoDough Feb 22, 2006 5:30 AM EDT |
I just read that article yesterday. And, yes, it did get me thinking. My challenge is finding a cost/benefit balance that works well for both myself and the neighborhood. It's not exactly a densely populated area, and the phone company's switches offer DSL within 1/2mile of me in one direction. The economics may or may not work, but figuring it out will mean knocking on some doors and a night in front of a spreadsheet. |
| wjl Feb 22, 2006 5:56 AM EDT |
Hmmm I see... Half a mile means that you could even use normal WLAN routers with a Pringles antenna ;-) Anyway: maybe you should look up my book tips on the topic? http://wolfgang.lonien.de/?p=31 cheers and good luck (gtg home now), wjl |
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