Not so fast, broadband providers tell big users

Boston Globe ^ | 12 March 2007 | Carolyn Y. Johnson

[Beckwith]

Ahhhh, the unbridled arrogance of the young and foolish. It knows no bounds.

[JRios1968]

Ahhhh, the unbridled arrogance of the young and foolish. It knows no bounds.

What a non-sequitur. I know...things aren't like you remember them...I guess I should be sorry that life has left you behind.

[jpsb]

I am technical too, and there are many times I haven't the slightest idea of what the heck is wrong and zero ideas on where to start to get a clue. I spend lot's of time googling. LOL. Don't let the little people get you down.

[Beckwith]

I ignore low priority interrupts out of hand.

Thanks . . .

[CaptRon]

I hear ya. They cut me off twice due their incompetence and told me it would take 5 days to reconnect. I asked them if they could expedite it since it was their error. They said no. I had another provider in 3 days and as soon as I notify all my accounts they will be totally history. And I've been with them in one of their incarnations for almost 15 years.

[devane617]

Stop the spammers and we have more bandwidth than we need.

[MamaB]

Even I know how to do that and I am the least technical persons on earth. If I can fix the problem, then anyone can. My hubby just told me what to do and I tried it for myself but he was not always available. Now, since he died last July, I am on my own. i don't think I have had to call Comcast since he died so maybe he is looking out for me.

[MamaB]

Hey, even I know what a modem is and what to do if I have a problem with it. It really is not that hard to learn!

[MamaB]

I am a "little" person who knows what to do if a modem goes bad. I have even had to replace one after we had the first one for many years.

[lmr]

You don't have to pay it... Cable and DSL companies throttle the bandwidth anyway. Your 1 connection is fast but the speed is (to a degree) 'divided' up. Your router takes care of this aspect.

[lmr]

Actually File-Sharers (Like myself) are the problem. Spammers are minor in comparison.

[lmr]

What most folks don't get is that bandwidth, like health care isn't free. Someone, somewhere, sometime has to pay for it. Then they should state what the limit is instead of advertising 'Unlimited'. I agree that it isn't free, but your average user doesn't understand these technical boundaries unless it's spelled out for them.

[Gorzaloon]

You don't have to pay it... Cable and DSL companies throttle the bandwidth anyway. Your 1 connection is fast but the speed is (to a degree) 'divided' up. Your router takes care of this aspect.

They certainly do on the binaries newsgroups. It is glaringly obvious. Classical music, old newsreels (Remember the "Industry On Parade" series? What a hoot.), etc. are old enough to be public domain and immune from RIAA pressure, so they are doing it for bandwidth reasons. It is far more pronounced if one accesses their newsserver, rather than an outside service. Like running a marathon chest deep in molasses while drunk on ether...

[JRios1968]

I ignore low priority interrupts out of hand.

And yet you saw it fit to reply to me, not once, but twice.

Point, set, match. It's been a pleasure, and don't come unarmed to a battle of wits...now, bye-bye...

[JRios1968]

Precisely! It isn't very hard to learn what the modem is, what it does, and what to do when it goes belly up (it happens, which is a sad fact of life...)

I'm glad you were able to figure it out, it will save you a lot of $ in the long run, since you don't have to fork over the money to the ISP geeks or the Best Buy Geek Patrol.

[jpsb]

LOL, I've got lots of modems, bet I've even got a 9600 baud around here someplace besides the DSL modems and VOIP modens and God only knows what other modems I've got. Hard to know everything these days.