Comments on: Verizon hits the gas on fiber campaign

Fleet of Hummers hits the streets to tout Fios fiber-to-the-premise network, as Verizon looks to beat out cable for customers.
Photos: High in high-speed fiber

[OneWithTech]

Server Limit Bandwidth

You know it's a "little know fact" that most IT guys that offer downloads on there site, or similar services, cap the bandwidth that you can be sucked from there servers anyway.

With that said, 3MB, 512k, and 256k lines all have the same characteristics on today's internet. So why would anybody want to go with any other service other than DSL or Cable(my pref-T3 compared to and average of 512k with DSL).

And besides, we live in a "Wireless" world.

[simcity1976]

Some ppl

Like to download more than 1 file at a time from different sources. Say Like game demo's Those can take a while, a hour or 2 DSL time for one 100 mb file.

Or if someone wants to run a game server with 60 or more ppl they going need something fast then DSL. At least for rtcw that is true.

So from gamers point of view faster = better, and the faster the net gets the more detailed the Multi-player games get and more ppl in a single arena makes for a heck of a fun time.

Awful TOS

I looked into FIOS, but they have terms of
service (TOS) that more or less undermine the
value of the whole thing. The big selling point
of FIOS is the upstream bandwidth, but the TOS
forbids you to accept incoming network
connections or establish outbound connections
that might direct traffic to a subscriber system
(namely, no "server software" of any kind).

It seems most people ignore the TOS and counsel
other to do the same, in part because Verizon is
so lax about enforcing them (probably
intentionally so). The consensus being that
Verizon only intends to pull the plug on those
that "abuse" the service. Yet the TOS doesn't
say that -- it says nothing of the sort and
doesn't qualify what might be "abuse".

Your other option is to adhere to your contract
and obey the TOS. But then, the service is much
less valuable. You couldn't for instance, play a
networked video game where on participant's
computer is the game server. Some
video-conferencing and collaboration tools use a
client-server model that would be forbidden, so
there's a hindrance to telecommuting. Exporting
your X11 desktop at work to your PC at home to
check your office e-mail -- not allowed. Want to
share those pictures and videos of the kids?...
Forget about doing it from home. The restriction
is quite silly, if you ask me.

Oh, and they block port 80. Not a big issue, you
can work around it, and they do it because of
the prevalence of Windows systems (that are
susceptible to various attacks through
misconfigured IIS). However, I think together
this is evidence of a lack of sense about what
makes broadband attractive and how to manage it.
The unpatched IIS systems are easily detected
and selectively blocked automatically, and using
a different port is possible, so the block is
really nothing more than an intentional
nuisance. The terms of service really undermine
the value of the product to anyone that adheres
to them. If they want to prevent abuse, spell
out what abuse is, but the existing restiction
is not only ill-conceived, but also probably not
enforcable (since they not only don't enforce
it, but in their advertisements they frequently
endorse its violation by touting GoToMyPC.com
and such).

I'm the sort of person that's apt to stick to a
contract if I sign one, so the Verizon FIOS
service is worth, to me, perhaps a 1/3rd what it
is to their typical scofflaw customer.

[whiterabbit--2008]

What are Comcast's TOS?

I don't actually want to check myself because it surely is a very long, boring, non-english document. However, I would imagine that their TOS has similar restrictions which no one actually heeds.

The only reason these clauses exist is so that they can't get sued for stuff. If they said Hey everyone, using file sharing clients on our network is totally OK with us, some people might have a problem with that. But if they write that you can't do that, then they can say Hey, well that's actually against our TOS so if you have a problem, go talk to that guy.

[gunnerjoe]

Fiber to the Home, Sign Me Up!

Hi All,

Fiber the home will allow me to dump Comcast TV and Internet and replace it with Direct TV or Dish TV, Dump Comcast Internet and replace with Fiber. All Cheaper than Comcast.

Comcast is destroying my will to live, with all the price hikes and there Internet is fast to there office, but speed may vary wildly once you go past that.

Joe

[broomfighter]

$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

$200 A MONTH!!!!!!!! NO WAY IN HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!