Tech America and Europe: Compare and Contrast
posted by on February 28 at 16:51 PM
When the FCC held hearings on Net Neutrality in Boston recently, the room was so packed that many interested citizens had to be turned away. Seems like good news, right?
Well, no. Turns out Comcast had hired a bunch of sleepy folks to show up early and fill the seats, thereby preventing regular people from voicing their concerns.
Fuckers. Anyone getting their cable service through Qwest or another provider in Seattle? I would really love to drop Comcast.
Here’s some video:
Meanwhile, in Europe, the EU is considering adopting a proposal that would classify Internet censorship as a trade barrier, meaning they could impose sanctions on countries that restrict their citizens’ access.
Thanks to Slog-tipper Fnarf.
Does Qwest even offer IPTV? Seattle is a Qwest-only town, so there's no hope of getting FiOS for years, if ever.
Ah, your right, Nat. Qwest bundles DirectTV services, but doesn't offer their own. Shat.
There are parts of Seattle that are outside Comcast's service area; they can get cable internet from Millennium Cable, or rather their internet division, which is called Backstreet or Blackstripe or something like that. Broadstripe, that's it. There's no areas where you get to choose, though.
@3, Those areas are the poor(and black) parts of Seattle relegated to the unrelenting crap that is Millennium.
Those areas are the poor(and black) parts of Seattle
I'm neither poor nor black and I am forced to suffer through the unrelenting crap that is Millennium.
Are you trying to imply something is wrong with my neighborhood?
Wait i am confused there is a worse cable operator than Comcast, that is a fucking shock
more importantly, it kept the press out of the hearings. according to valleywag, though, the FCC is considering having a redo.
http://valleywag.com/361529/fcc-contemplating-do+over-comcast-hearing-at-stanford
I don't have Comcast. I have this other thing, and it's actually free. It's called No Cable.
BoingBoing reported this Tuesday, then followed up yesterday with: "FCC may do-over Comcast Net Neutrality hearing due to presence of paid Comcastards".
@8: This is about the Internet, not TV. I'm assuming you have access to the Internet, since... well, here you are.
IP (and IPv6, someday) is the method for all future communication mediums. Home phone, wireless (or "cell") phones, TV, radio, web browsing, all of it. That's why this discussion covers tv and internet. Convergence is now, and we need to have our voice on how it's meted out and kept free.
Well, after months of bitching about my cable provider, Broadstripe, not offering LOGO, finally I can be relieved they aren't as evil as Comcast.
Not yet at least.
@10 -- it's about "cable service", which implies both TV and internet.
I entertained the idea of using OTA HD after seeing what stellar reception my mom gets in the Bay Area. For way less than the cost of cable TV I could fill in nearly all the cable-only gaps through iTunes, Netflix, or other mechanisms. The exception was baseball, which I'd miss, but which is not worth the cost of cable by itself.
However, as I live in the bottom of an apartment building at the bottom of a large hill, and with no roof access to mount an antenna, the good people at antennaweb.org tell me that all I'd be able to receive is PBS and the CW. OTA reception will be a factor the next time I move, though.
@13: I'm pretty sure net neutrality legislation would effect those with DSL connections as well, not just cable subscribers.
www.dish.com
www.directv.com
Both are quality providers, though only for TV and HDTV, not for Internet access, which is slower than cable and more expensive.
oops... make that www.dishnetwork.com
sorry.
gotta remember to check my work.
Why don't you guys get satellite and DSL?
I've been sticking w/Comcast just because the overall speed kicks the pants off DSL. But the traffic shaping they've been engaging in and a general inability to upload for the last four or five months is driving me towards DSL.
What I really want to see is a class action suit against Comcast. Or at least some sort of concerted effort to get them to cease and desist.
"Horse With No Name" is a good song. "The Final Countdown" is a terrible song.
Why do you have cable again?
Until you can pay for only the channels you want, it's essentially paying to have fecal matter piped into your brain.
They don't call it programming for nothing, you know.
unh @20, I think most of us here are talking are talking about cable internet, not TV.
This whole conversation started over the news that Comcast was shaping network traffic. It has nothing to do with TV.
@ You think its wrong to be poor and black?
A friend of mine once called Millennium (the former name of Broadstripe) to complaint about yet another problem he was having with his service. When he told the rep, "I never had these kinds of problems with Comcast!", the rep actually said, "We'll never be as good as Comcast. We don't have the money." Now that's just sad.
Get Dish Network. DirecTV is owned by Rupert Murdoch and Comcast is evil. Further, Broadstripe utterly sucks, and is what drove me to Dish in the first place.
I'm poor and Black and I have Comcast. But I'd totally rather be a rich white person who has Millenium. That sounds like fun.
Can't speak for Anthony, but I'm not interested in satellite because satellite services don't work with Tivo -- not well in SD, and not at all in HD.
And @21, the question was, "Anyone getting their cable service through Qwest or another provider in Seattle? I would really love to drop Comcast." There's nothing ISP-specific there.
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