Wolfie, when I first got onto SL, I had a 512/128 connection. I noticed a big improvement in SL performance when I upgraded to 1,500kbps. But the difference between 1,500 and 17,000 kbps was negligible.

And fibre won't help with the “classic” definition of lag (latency). It's still going to take so many milliseconds for a photon to travel from Australia to the US and back again.

However, I think FTTH would be a great thing. The actual speeds they are mentioning at the moment are kinda irrelevant. Fibre can theoretically provide unlimited bandwidth – it all depends on the hardware at either end of the fibre. It might sound like a cliche, but I do see it as an “investment in the future”.

For example, where I work, we have fibre between the main sites. If we need more bandwidth, we just buy a couple more Cisco DWDM cards, to put on either end of the fibre, and we get another 12 Gb/sec (up to 1.2 Gigabytes/second real throughput, depending on the protocol). That's a lot of bandwidth. And theoretically we can keep adding more and more.

Admittedly this hardware is in the tens of thousands of dollars at the moment. But it's technology. Soon enough, this kind of technology will probably be available in a $200 Linksys router.

As for the actual ISP plans and their download limits, well, I think that's just the state of the market here. A service is worth as much as people are willing to pay for it. It will get better. My first “broadband” plan had a 1 GB / month quota. The top consumer plans had 10 GB / month, I think. Now, I actually don't know what my quota is, perhaps 40 GB / month. But I am still paying about the same as I did for that 1 GB plan only a few years ago. When there is a need for the “average user” to download 100 GB / month, the ISPs will HAVE to offer this at a reasonable cost, or… they will go out of business.

Is a matter of physics, economics, or regulation, legal blocks to competion, or what?

Is a matter of physics, economics, or regulation, legal blocks to competion, or what?

Wolfie, when I first got onto SL, I had a 512/128 connection. I noticed a big improvement in SL performance when I upgraded to 1,500kbps. But the difference between 1,500 and 17,000 kbps was negligible.

And fibre won't help with the “classic” definition of lag (latency). It's still going to take so many milliseconds for a photon to travel from Australia to the US and back again.

However, I think FTTH would be a great thing. The actual speeds they are mentioning at the moment are kinda irrelevant. Fibre can theoretically provide unlimited bandwidth – it all depends on the hardware at either end of the fibre. It might sound like a cliche, but I do see it as an “investment in the future”.

For example, where I work, we have fibre between the main sites. If we need more bandwidth, we just buy a couple more Cisco DWDM cards, to put on either end of the fibre, and we get another 12 Gb/sec (up to 1.2 Gigabytes/second real throughput, depending on the protocol). That's a lot of bandwidth. And theoretically we can keep adding more and more.

Admittedly this hardware is in the tens of thousands of dollars at the moment. But it's technology. Soon enough, this kind of technology will probably be available in a $200 Linksys router.

As for the actual ISP plans and their download limits, well, I think that's just the state of the market here. A service is worth as much as people are willing to pay for it. It will get better. My first “broadband” plan had a 1 GB / month quota. The top consumer plans had 10 GB / month, I think. Now, I actually don't know what my quota is, perhaps 40 GB / month. But I am still paying about the same as I did for that 1 GB plan only a few years ago. When there is a need for the “average user” to download 100 GB / month, the ISPs will HAVE to offer this at a reasonable cost, or… they will go out of business.

Is a matter of physics, economics, or regulation, legal blocks to competion, or what?

The downside is the lag, which I'm sure wouldn't be as bad with a faster connection.

Some friends who are just thinking about getting online but wouldn't know what a Gigabyte was if they fell over it, see commercials on TV where a *whopping 4gb per month* is offered. are told to think of a naked man, and convert Gigs to Inches… If you're not impressed, don't go for it.

Komuso told me what He gets in Japan, and it's quite amazing. but as for me, what I get, however slow it may be and how expensive it is for what's offered, is all I can afford.

Wolfie!