The Fastest Internet Connection?

In NE California and much of Nevada FAST is 56.6K in most areas. About 60 miles east of Sacramento it ranges from 56.6 for rural areas, to about 20 or so for a ring a few miles of radius around our counties three large cities though most settle for the3-6 meg lines. Prices for the most part are in the $30-$50 range. For $125 a month you CAN get a 40Meg line if you are in a 'lucky' area.

When I'm on a dig or survey (as opposed to a quest) in the desert, our U gives us staff a 1meg satellite link (when we aren't too close to one of the 214+ mountain ranges in Nevada that always seem to create a radio shadow!)

Much as I dislike Comcast for their bundling fees, their high speed cable is wonderful. I get 50/Mbps consistently, and since I live downtown, those businesses are closed at night so I share with very few users.

Way to throw politics in there Jon...

'A newer technology called fiber optics'? Newer? We've had fibre optic cable broadband from Virgin Media (formerly Telewest) in the UK for years! So I can't believe that it's still considered 'new technology' in the states! LOL

Bob, Please allow me to correct some errors.

>>>> Generally speaking, cable service providers deliver significantly faster download speed compared to DSL providers.

Wrong. A DSL subscriber has a dedicated physical connection to the Central Office (CO), which is the subscriber’s phone line, and can therefore use the maximum possible data rate facilitated by the quality of the line and the distance to the CO.

A DSL subscriber, on the other hand, shares the allocated bandwidth with his neighbours. Therefore, the data rate depends heavily on the time-of-day.

>>>> ...while DSL is likely to be in the 3 to 6 Mbps range.

Wrong. A DSL connection can provide a by far higher rate. The highest rate is achieved when the provider combines DSL with Fibre-To-The X (FFTX) and thus brings the CO nearer to the user. The rate depends on X. When X= Curb, the data rate can be as high as 100 Mb/sec.

The practical data rate is no longer determined by the infrastructure between the user and his service provider. It is mainly determined by the data rate provided by the server at the FAR END!

EDITOR'S NOTE: You're talking theory, and I'm talking about what telcos are actually offering to consumers. Can you point me to a consumer DSL package that promises 100 Mb/sec? 50 Mb/sec? 20 Mb/sec?

Fiber optics has been around for a while now. This is what Verizon offers.

I have been using Shaw Cable for 15 years and have a good internet connection, but, being 73 years old, and a retired pilot and mechanic, I surf a lot and download lots of flightsim stuff. It all seems to work OK, but what are your thoughts for improvement? Thanks for all your interesting topics. Jack.

I live in the Philippines and MyDSL is as fast as anything I had in Michigan. I pay for 1 Meg download and most of the time I get 2 Meg. I have seen 6 Megs but not for a while now. Sure was nice when the extra speed was there. I was born in KCMO. Maybe I should move back. :-)

Hi Bob,

Paxio is another FTTH network in parts of Northern California. The services range from 5 mbps ssymmetric $38 per month to gig symmetrric for $138 per month.

http://paxio.com/residential/internet/

Another service you forgot to mention is Utopia in parts of Utah. Their gigabit service is $65 per month. Longmont Co doesn't have FTTH service yet, but it should soon.

http://muninetworks.org/content/utpoia-latest-network-offer-super-affordable-gigabit

Unfortunately like most of the country where I live in, Southwest LA our best option for speed and service overpriced as it is is Time Warner Cable. They can offer 50 mbps up, but they choose not to.

Fiber optics have been available in my neighborhood for a few years. However, I have kept my DSL copper line for many years, until recently. DSL worked pretty good for me... I email and surf the web, but I also do a lot of streaming from Netflix and other websites. Streaming on DSL was pretty good, but I did have some buffering from some websites. I never had a problem streaming from Netflix.

I recently dropped my DSL internet and landline. I picked up a hotspot device from Virgin Mobile and I get better streaming that I ever got on DSL...rarely ever does it buffer. $35 a month for unlimited 4G Internet for up to five devices in my home.

I'm loving it ...much better pricing than either DSL or FiOS fiber optics. It suits my needs perfectly.

For those too far from the provider:
(i.e. response from InHIcksville)

Ask your service provider if they offer Pair-gain technology. Basically they use two lines to try and give you faster service. The two lines are combined at the house end. In my case I went from 200kb to 1200kb. 5X the previous speed!)

Don't know if it is offered in much of the states, but some rural areas around here are served by Multi-point Microwave. without using a cell providers network.
http://www.xplornet.com/how-it-works/about-xplornet%27s-network-technology/

Bob, I wrote of what many millions of consumers DO GET using DSL connections.

When you wrote that “DSL is likely to be in the 3 to 6 Mbps range”, you obviously referred to what is available in your area and perhaps elsewhere in the U.S. Some of your readers are fortunate to live in more technologically advanced countries.

For example, my DSL+FTTC package provides 100 Mbit/sec for download and 3 Mbit/sec for upload. I am not “talking theory”; I did verify these data rates.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We might be having a semantic disagreement. FTTX uses fiber to bring the signal from the CO to the curb or building. The DSL (copper wire) link is only used for the last few feet/meters. Pretty much the same as the Verizon FIOS service I've had at my home since 2005. But at least in the USA, that's not what is referred to as DSL Internet service, which runs entirely over copper wire from the CO to the home.

"DSL Fast" from the only telephone company in South Africa (no competition) is anything but fast, giving me an average download speed of 90 kbps, and for that I pay ZARands 144.74 (about $14.50 US). Then comes the intermediate speed, - and then the fastest, which costs about ZARands 350.00 per month ($35.00 US)

Telkom SA is a quasi Government setup.

We used to use the dial-up system about ten years ago, before DSL arrived, which gave us
about 3 Kbps, so to we South Africans, the speed of 90 Kbps is phenomenal!
Emigrate to South Africa for a real fast DSL service! Whilst downloading you get time to think! Nice article Bob, Thanks.

Australia was going to have optic fibre rolled out to every single home, except some remote areas, Then there was a change of government and I think our current (non geek) leader needs to desperately subscribe to Ask Bob Rankin.

AT&T U-verse is available in my area. The phone company wants to change me over to it from my DSL. The speeds will be about the same rating for both, 5-6MBPS, but they say it will be faster. I also don't understand U-verse, it will still be coming into my house on the same old copper wires. The central office is about 3/4 mile from my house. So how does it get faster?

Also, Jon, nothing is free-you just haven't been billed yet. Or someone else is picking up your tab!

There's one more internet provider that has ftth. They're a smaller provider, but they charge only $50 per month for either 100 or 200 mbps symmetric. The site is:

http://webpass.net/residential

I live in Kansas City and have Google Fiber and it's phenomenal! In fact my computer is slower than my internet connection. the other day I was downloading a large file and it was coming through Google fiber faster than my hard drive could save it. And the drive was a 7500 RPM SATA drive! I would have trouble going back to anything else after Google Fiber.

Fiber optic will be the future of Internet. Wireless satellite will improve ten fold. I also predict the internet access will be available to everyone free in the future. I have my whole city mapped for FREE Wi-Fi. Everywhere I travel I look at my map and park or visit places that have open Wi-Fi.

Also in home services we are forgetting the amount of download and upload allowed. Most companies offer between 150-250 gigs per month. CLAIMING average users do not use any more than those amounts. If you use more than the amount contracted your throttled meaning speed reduction is mandated in some cases your sent emails regarding your usage fees extra applied or warning you your service will be discontinued permanently.

Clearwire is one of those companies who shuts you completely down. At&T UVerse charges $10.00 per 50 Gigs extra if you go over their allotment. Comcast has a 250 gig Max allotment. So speed is good however check your allotment when contracting with any provider. They claim it keeps the internet for everybody to use equally.

I have had bad experiences with certain providers who have literally booted me forever for going over my allotted amount. Just by using Netflix on my home devices. Netflix has settings to be able to turn down usage. So you do not go over your allotment.

Personally if your paying for internet services due to graphics being higher in video and audio it should be just unlimited as they claim it is in their advertising. It's in the fine print, read your contracts, it all depends on your activity when using your internet paid for services.

J.Crowder Merced Ca

It's funny to read about this "new" tech in America. I'm reading and typing this on a FTTH in rural Thailand! Surrounded by rice, rubber tree, and sugar cane farms, we recently had fiber installed. Cost is prohibitive though; about $22/mo for a download speed around 20Mb/s. I actually did a fist pump when they turned it on and it worked. You can also get a mobile hotspot about the size of an old school cellphone that will give pretty decent speeds for about the same price. We use that when we're on the road. Great article as always Bob!