Broadband Not Always Broad -- Redmondmag.com

Barney's Blog

Broadband Not Always Broad

Have you seen the ads for FIOS and Xfinity promising to set your PC ablaze with blinding-fast download speeds? So you shell out all the dough, lock into a long-term contract a car salesmen would love to have and surf.

Hmm. Why won't that YouTube video load? What's with that hourglass? How come your favorite Web site froze?

Well, besides issues with the backend servers, the networking pieces don't deliver as advertised, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The FCC found that most commercials talk about average download speeds of nearly 7 megabits/sec. The reality is little more than half that on average, or some 3 megabits/sec.

I gave up on DSL long ago. Not only was it slow, it was flakier than a dried-out biscuit.

I'm on cable, and the FCC says I get, on average, 5.5 megabits/sec. Fiber kicks all rivals butts at 7.7 megabits/sec, with satellite and fixed wireless pulling up the rear at a mere 0.7 megabits/sec.

What is your favorite broadband flavor and what drove you away from your previous solution? Come clean at [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on 08/25/2010 at 1:18 PM

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