No one has pointed out that this is bad for the providers throttling traffic.
If Time Warner, Comcast, and AT&T want their names to be associated with budget brands then its ok. Customers accept poor quality when the price is really low and there is no lock in (pre-paid mobile phone service.) Good luck getting those people to purchase premium services from you years in to the future.
On Hacker News we complain a lot about things most people don't care about like privacy and security. Most big companies can disregard those issues with minimal visible impact to their business long term. Video streaming quality is different because its what basically all of your customers are doing. Anyone with an IQ over 70 knows something is wrong, and you can't excuse it away.
Its possible that the peak bandwidth doesn't exist. In that case these ISPs are overselling their "inventory" much like airlines oversell seats. It could be early signs of infrastructure issues to investors.
> If Time Warner, Comcast, and AT&T want their names to be associated with budget brands then its ok.
It is definitely not OK. Time Warner is absolute garbage and has been for a very long time. Cablevision has an excellent network.
I know this very well.
Unfortunately, some towns contracted with Time Warner and some with Cablevision and you can't pick who you want as your provider ... unless you decide on where you live based on the available ISP.
As much as I love a good connection, I will not make my decision on where to live based on the available internet provider. Reputation is worthless unless people have a choice.
> unless you decide on where you live based on the available ISP.
Interestingly, if I ever move out of my current neighborhood, this (along with apartment price) will dictate where I look. I'm pretty happy with Cablevision for now, though.
What happens when you pick a town with a good ISP, which then gets bought by GiantEvilCo a month after you move in?
I don't think voting with your feet and mortgages is a solution. Perhaps forgoing entirely? When Charter dicked me around in 08, I went back to dialup for over a year before DSL became available at my house. Screw 'em. I can still read HN and text-based websites at 56k.
Which isn't a whole lot slower than AT&T is giving me now. But at least they don't treat me like a subhuman ATM like Charter did.
They're not overselling their inventory, their purposefully throttling data from competitors to either a) extort more money from them or b) promote their own competing offerings.
Most in the US have no other options for high speed Internet access other than their local cable monopoly which is about as an extreme "lock in" as you can get.
Sure they're pissing people off but there is no alternative unless the FCC steps in and forces them into an "open carrier" model or at least some model other than what we have now which clearly isn't working.
It really is moral hazard that the same entity providing you with streaming video via cable or similar can also throttle your access with impunity to competitors streaming video via web.
Nobody dares to speak to how bad this is for the traffic. The "infrastructure issues" were introduced a long time ago when it was decided that all data needs to go through egress points, and conform to arbitrary standards for metadata. Japan doesn't have this problem because their internet actually is decentralized, and their culture isn't at threat from users streaming their own video to as many people as they wish (and the network supports it).
If Time Warner, Comcast, and AT&T want their names to be associated with budget brands then its ok. Customers accept poor quality when the price is really low and there is no lock in (pre-paid mobile phone service.) Good luck getting those people to purchase premium services from you years in to the future.
On Hacker News we complain a lot about things most people don't care about like privacy and security. Most big companies can disregard those issues with minimal visible impact to their business long term. Video streaming quality is different because its what basically all of your customers are doing. Anyone with an IQ over 70 knows something is wrong, and you can't excuse it away.
Its possible that the peak bandwidth doesn't exist. In that case these ISPs are overselling their "inventory" much like airlines oversell seats. It could be early signs of infrastructure issues to investors.