WISH-8 Interview: Advertised internet download speeds and net neutrality
Yesterday, I sit down with Steve Bray of WISH-8 TV and discussed DSL and cable modem download speeds. Naturally, the discussion wandered into net neutrality and Ted Stevens “Tube” territory.
This is an issue that has been around since the old dial-up access days in the early 1990’s. Some ISP’s would over subscribe their solo T1 and/or dial-in lines by a factor of 20 or sometimes much more. This would lead to extremely slow access speeds or even the dreaded busy signal.
Today’s broadband connections offer the convenience of “always-on”, but sometimes fall far short of their advertised download speeds. Contacting the provider can sometimes resolve the issue, by improving the physical build or bumping you into another tier of service. However, are the providers initial advertised speeds misleading?
Here are some interesting links that I used for research on this story.
Speed test
- speedtest.net (Multiple sites and my personal favorite)
Cable company practices
Net Neutrality
- pbs.org/cringely/pulpit
- nixguy.com
- blogs.zdnet.com
- savetheinternet.org
- theregister.co.uk
- it.slashdot.org(Interesting user comments below…. SlashDot is good for this)
Ted Stevens and his tubes
Be sure to watch WISH-8 TV in Indianapolis, Thursday May 10 @ 11pm to see the interview. The interview and footage was shot in one of the data centers that my company uses. Be sure to set your Tivo’s!
Technorati Tags: internet, netneutrality, TV, video
