All About The Internet
Posted on June 22, 2009
Filed Under Seattle | Comments Off
Oh Seattle, how I’ll never understand why the only ‘choice’ we have for phone service is Qwest. In fact I just got off the phone with them, previously I was told 1.5mbps was the limit but now I’m told 5 mbps (which is less than speakeasy gives me and would come with a Windows only ‘rule’). Holy crap they’re finally offering speeds I should have been getting all along! I also asked about the commercials where they talk about 15-20 mbps, I was told 15 mbps is likely to come in October (though I wouldn’t hold your breathe) and I didn’t have time to ask other questions about it (though I’m likely not to get the full story anyway). What happened was the rep said I could sign up for 5mbps service and when the time came for upgrades I could just upgrade, I lost it, I couldn’t stop laughing at what a crappy deal that was and I didn’t feel like being anymore rude. The offer really was, sign up for a 2 year contract for a service that Verizon offers 10 times faster of and in 6 months *maybe* you can upgrade to 4 times that speed but you’ll still be far slower than everywhere else around you.
This article hurts the most today.
Verizon has just boosted speeds across its FiOS network, but the focus isn’t on downloads so much as it is on uploads. Verizon believes it can set itself apart by appealing to those customers who want to “fully participate in today’s interactive, multimedia Web.”
I wish Qwest did this, just upgrade their network from time to time, like, hey the network is all in place and we can stand to give our customers a better value. The focus was on uploads mainly, let’s see how big.
Download speeds are increasing today; the base-level 10Mbps package gets a bump to 15Mbps, and the 20Mbps plan jumps to 25Mbps.
But the real action is on the upload side of the equation. The base-level plan came with a 2Mbps upstream connection, but today that’s being boosted to 5Mbps. The 20Mbps plan will see upload speeds increase from 5Mbps to 15Mbps.
So in a little over 6 months Qwest is going to be able to offer the download speed that Verizon offers in upload. This feels like a tale for that site fuckmylife, Seattle has the worst internet for the worst price from the worst companies. No word yet on the report that was supposed to be out by the end of this month, the city taking action is our only hope.
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