Da-Chief
03-24-2008, 17:11
http://i.dslr.net/urls/7/507.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ISPs-Downplay-User-Need-For-Speed-92941)
Verizon, who is testing 100Mbps FiOS among their employees, has all but admitted that the 100Mbps connection is little more than a marketing weapon (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/88335) at this point, but at least the potential is there. Cable executives, in the position of now having to play catch up, suddenly seem to be downplaying last mile speed (http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=148968&site=cdn) after years of marketing cable's speed advantage. Douglas Semon, vice president of technologies and standards for Time Warner Cable, seems to mirror AT&T's recent comments (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/92217) that network capacity trumps end-user speeds:Think a little bit about speed versus capacity, and maybe we're just barking up the wrong tree when we keep saying 150, 250, 450 Mbit/s , whatever it is. It's a ridiculous number. What do our customers really want? We're going to find out. I personally don't think it's about speed wars, I think it's about capacity.
...This would be a really good chance to insult all our customers wouldn't it? Has anyone ever really explained what this means to the end user? It's one of those things where you assume that, oh, faster is better, so I'll switch.
Of course you'll notice that the people suddenly claiming that end-user speeds don't matter are playing catch-up to Verizon FiOS (particularly when it comes to upstream speeds). AT&T tried to save a buck and decided on VDSL over fiber, and Time Warner Cable is playing wait and see with DOCSIS 3.0. Keep in mind Time Warner Cable is also tinkering with monthly caps as low as 5GB (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/91047) -- is that what customers really want?
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ISPs-Downplay-User-Need-For-Speed-92941)
More...
Verizon, who is testing 100Mbps FiOS among their employees, has all but admitted that the 100Mbps connection is little more than a marketing weapon (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/88335) at this point, but at least the potential is there. Cable executives, in the position of now having to play catch up, suddenly seem to be downplaying last mile speed (http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=148968&site=cdn) after years of marketing cable's speed advantage. Douglas Semon, vice president of technologies and standards for Time Warner Cable, seems to mirror AT&T's recent comments (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/92217) that network capacity trumps end-user speeds:Think a little bit about speed versus capacity, and maybe we're just barking up the wrong tree when we keep saying 150, 250, 450 Mbit/s , whatever it is. It's a ridiculous number. What do our customers really want? We're going to find out. I personally don't think it's about speed wars, I think it's about capacity.
...This would be a really good chance to insult all our customers wouldn't it? Has anyone ever really explained what this means to the end user? It's one of those things where you assume that, oh, faster is better, so I'll switch.
Of course you'll notice that the people suddenly claiming that end-user speeds don't matter are playing catch-up to Verizon FiOS (particularly when it comes to upstream speeds). AT&T tried to save a buck and decided on VDSL over fiber, and Time Warner Cable is playing wait and see with DOCSIS 3.0. Keep in mind Time Warner Cable is also tinkering with monthly caps as low as 5GB (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/91047) -- is that what customers really want?
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ISPs-Downplay-User-Need-For-Speed-92941)
More...