this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2024
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I'm an unfortunate captive of the oligopoly of the internet industry in the USA. In many places, you have 2-3 choices of internet, and all of them suck ass. I'm in this situation. All internet providers in my area have a 1-1.5 terabyte data cap. So when I download Call of Duty for 250 gb and it fails and has to update or reinstall, I've wasted 500 gb, and have now reached 50% of my data cap in just 1 day. There are crazy fees, for example, Cox Cable says:

If you go over, we’ll automatically add 50 gigabytes of data for $10 to your next bill. That's enough for about 15 hours of streaming HD video. If you use that 50 gigabytes, we automatically add another 50 gigabytes for $10 and so on until you reach our $100 limit of data overage charges or until your next usage cycle begins.

So your $90 a month internet can easily become $190 a month, which is fuckin criminal, like that is so scummy and asinine how that can even be legal. But it is perfectly legal. The FCC is also looking into these data caps but now that we have a new anti-federal government president elect... This is probably toast.... Nothing will change now that most federal agencies are about to be deleted.

From a technology standpoint too, nothing is really getting better

Comcast is still using Coax instead of Fiber Optic and desperately trying to convince people that somehow, someway coax can be just as good. Do with that info what you will, I have no opinions on it. There was a Federal program started recently to expand rural internet access, which will probably be gutted in 2025 leaving many without suitable internet again. Fiber Optic is fast, but still, not new technology, and doesn't solve a critical issue.... It doesn't matter if you have 2 Gigabit internet if no one in the world is uploading even half that fast. A single download on Steam is like 450 Mbps, Epic Games launcher is horrifically slow. I get like 120 Mbps max when downloading Fortnite updates even with 1500 Mbps internet hard wired to my router with top tier hardware

It's just sad to think about the future of internet in the USA, and knowing we'll be imprisoned by these data caps for the foreseeable future.

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[–] shoulderoforion@fedia.io 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not only aren't we going to get better internet, the internet in the united states you're using right now, is going to be unrecognizable in the next 12 months, all free services will charge, cost for access will increase, vpn usage will be curtailed, and pirate sites will be blocked. Better? We just re-elected a fascist tyrant who wants to close as many avenues of free speech against him as he possibly can, as well as funnel as much cash to media and tech oligarchs as he can to keep them onside, and now he's got both the house and senate with which to do just that.

Better? dude.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

VPNs and piracy aren't going anywhere. Unfortunately, data caps won't be going away either.

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 10 points 4 days ago

VPNs and piracy aren’t going anywhere.

That's not true at all.
They'll both be going on my next PC!

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago
[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Wait until net neutrality is completely dead. I predict 1.5 years.

[–] Azal@pawb.social 3 points 3 days ago

Damn, you're an optimist.

[–] LogicalAIs@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Not a chance.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Pretty sure it depends on where you live. My CenturyLink gigabit internet in Seattle is superb, symmetrical up/down, $75/mo. Haven't had significant problems in 10 or 15 years.

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[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

The solution is pretty obvious.

  1. Be rich
  2. Step 2 is for poor people
  3. Why do all these poor people want to kill me?
[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago
[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (6 children)

"I get like 120 Mbps max" Literally 5-10x faster than most internet in the UK, no datacaps here though.

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[–] FreakinSteve@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

You can't feign growth without suppressing growth first

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Rural island off the coast of a european country:

10g fiber for $65/mo (I don't even think they cared, I asked for more and I think they made up a number).

House literally down the street from google in silicon valley:

Comcrap $100 for shit cable, I'm paying $250 for actual upload speed.

This country is ruled by the corrupt.

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[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm in EU and I have 2 different internet connections without a data cap, because I work from home and don't want to commute to the office if one type is down. Both have bandwith caps tho (that way they are cheaper and it's still good enough for me).

However, I want to suggest you use traffic shaping. In Linux, I used "trickle" many years ago, so I could download things without disturbing my family streaming or video calling. Idk how it works in other OSes, but the idea is to send a big download through a special network filter that slows it down to your configured bandwith, delaying it so much that you don't reach your bandwidth cap. (The dowload will take months.) Also, I think I have seen something like this built into Steam and Filezilla. If I remember correctly Steam also had the option to pause downloads manually, but you have to remember to keep an eye on it, if you do that.

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[–] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 11 points 4 days ago (11 children)

The 18-26 year olds just signed over our country to billionaire fascists. I had hopes for them, but they are collectively idiots. Born into late stage capitalism, spent their formative years growing up in the Age of Hate, and actively chugged down propaganda via YouTube and all social media.

No, we are not.

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