[Tracefl0w]

Enjoying that 25Mbps internet speed, America? Oh, it's just 6Mbps?

American internet users are, seemingly, getting a quarter of the internet speed they are paying for. That's the upshot of yet another survey, this time in the US state of Georgia, that demonstrates that American consumers are being institutionally lied to about their broadband.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution hired a data specialist to do a statewide study of what internet users were really getting when it comes to broadband. After compiling readings from over 380,000 individual users across the state, the results were even worse than expected: internet users are getting just 6.3Mbps on average despite official US government statistics saying the figure was four times higher at 25Mbps. That is critical not just because it means people have to wait longer to download information from the internet but because the entire structure of oversight that is designed to make sure there is adequate broadband across the US is built around the 25Mbps figure.

It's worse than that however: people pay for a 25Mbps service and often make that decision based on their needs, deciding not to pay more for a faster service. But then they receive speeds that are inadequate for their needs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution uses as one example a trucker who is unable to complete coursework for truck-driving training classes he is taking because his home internet service is simply too slow.
               
The survey went to some lengths to make sure its findings can't be undercut by cable industry lobbyists. That careful and in-depth approach to calculating internet speeds stands in stark contrast to the system and methods used by the cable companies and America's comms watchdog the FCC, which lawmakers, broadband advocates, smaller ISPs and even some FCC Commissioners have been complaining about for years.

Self-reporting

Despite the readily availability of accurate and reliable software that ordinary Americans can use to measure and report their true internet speeds, the FCC continues to rely on self-reporting from cable companies, mobile operators and ISPs – despite repeat evidence that they are misrepresenting and, in some cases, simply making up figures.
               
The issue of wildly inaccurate "broadband maps" have been repeatedly brought up in the past year, including at Congressional hearings, but the FCC – and notably its chairman Ajit Pai – continues to slow-walk solutions while claiming in official reports that there is sufficient competition and progress in broadband provision.

At the end of the day, incumbent providers and the politicians who love them are simply annoyed that the FCC has any standards whatsoever, since that makes it immeasurably harder to pretend that the nation's broadband competition and connectivity issues don't exist.

Can't imagine where we would be if the broadband industry expended even half as much effort actually improving things as they do feeding people bullshit, maintaining their BS and even even fighting to lower the current standards.

Notably, however, the current FCC chair Pai and his fellow Republican commissioners fiercely opposed the broadband standard being raised from 10Mbps to 25Mbps – a change that happened back in 2015.

Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/19...t_georgia/

[Drako]

This is very true. The US has been surprisingly lacking in internet speeds. We're only in 15th place. And I myself pay for about 70 MBs internet, and the fastest I've ever gotten anything to download was at 2.1 MBps.

[Johnngnky]

That's because the US has bad filtering equipment

Unlike China, where the speed won't be slowed down in comparison to the marketed speed

I'm Chinese and this is sarcasm.

[KuhakuWolf]

Normal, i pay for 100 mb/s and dont get the full speed.

[Altair]

Normal, i pay for 100 mb/s and dont get the full speed.

How much are you paying for such speed in the US?

[mothered]

Normal, i pay for 100 mb/s and dont get the full speed.

You never will, well, at least not on a consistent basis.

There's too many variables (equipment on your end, servers on their end etc), that determine the speed.

[Jiggly]

Normal, i pay for 100 mb/s and dont get the full speed.

You never will, well, at least not on a consistent basis.

There's too many variables (equipment on your end, servers on their end etc), that determine the speed.

I was about to argue the same. I don't know if I've ever met anyone who is getting the speed advertised to them. However, there are so many variables that can impact those speeds, and sometimes it is simply out of the ISPs hands. Within the space of an hour, my speed can go from 40mbps to 130mbps.

However, I do think there is an issue with advertising those speeds and being realistic. My family probably were told we'd receive 150mbps. They have since swapped out their regular TV box for an amazon firestick, and watch everything online. They thought 30GBP was too much to pay for just internet and wanted to go cheaper. They looked at 66mbps services, which realistically usually hit around the 10-20mbps mark. With the amount of use in this house, I cannot recommend they go for a cheaper service.

[Tracefl0w]

Normal, i pay for 100 mb/s and dont get the full speed.

You never will, well, at least not on a consistent basis.

There's too many variables (equipment on your end, servers on their end etc), that determine the speed.

I was about to argue the same. I don't know if I've ever met anyone who is getting the speed advertised to them. However, there are so many variables that can impact those speeds, and sometimes it is simply out of the ISPs hands. Within the space of an hour, my speed can go from 40mbps to 130mbps.

However, I do think there is an issue with advertising those speeds and being realistic. My family probably were told we'd receive 150mbps. They have since swapped out their regular TV box for an amazon firestick, and watch everything online. They thought 30GBP was too much to pay for just internet and wanted to go cheaper. They looked at 66mbps services, which realistically usually hit around the 10-20mbps mark. With the amount of use in this house, I cannot recommend they go for a cheaper service.

As if that wasn't ridiculous already, Americans are getting "taxed" $400 Billion for Fiber Optic Internet that doesn’t even exist. The reason I put "Taxed" in quotes is because it's not actual tax money that the government collects. It's every state's Public Utility Commission who allows the different telecom companies and internet providers to add a surcharge to your telephone, cable, and internet bill.It's one of the mysterious 'fees' you get dinged for every month, and they've been collecting them from EVERYONE for over TWENTY YEARS, crazy right?
What's even worse is the fact that they were allowed to do this in order to build out fiber to the home network for 30% of Americans by the year 2000! Lo and behold, they missed the deadline and instead quietly kept the money. Can't believe that we're still paying for this scandal. Can't believe that we're still paying for this scandal. The next thing on their list is probably asking the FCC for a permit to charge even more, so everyone can get their "full speed" they've always wanted...

[KuhakuWolf]

Normal, i pay for 100 mb/s and dont get the full speed.

How much are you paying for such speed in the US?

Not from the us. But I pay roughly 11 Euros for it.

[mothered]

Normal, i pay for 100 mb/s and dont get the full speed.

You never will, well, at least not on a consistent basis.

There's too many variables (equipment on your end, servers on their end etc), that determine the speed.

I don't know if I've ever met anyone who is getting the speed advertised to them.

Same.

They (ISPs) may well provide the speed, but the question Is, on what level? You could hit 100 Mbps momentarily, and then decline for the majority of the connection. It doesn't change the fact that they've given the speed, but the lack of consistency Is certainly questionable.