Posted on 12/17/2002 2:36:49 PM PST by glorgau
Americans' love of high-speed Internet connections is reflected in a 70 percent jump in subscriber numbers during the past year, according to government figures released Tuesday.
The Federal Communications Commission's biannual report said there were approximately 16.2 million broadband customers as of June 2002, up from 9.6 million a year earlier and 12.8 million six months before. Because the FCC generally counts a business or household as one customer, the actual number of Americans with broadband access at home or at work is far higher.
The remarkable growth rate is due almost entirely to the increasing popularity of cable modems and DSL (digital subscriber line) connections, which together account for about 90 percent of broadband links and the vast majority of the increase. The remainder of the high-speed market is shared by ISDN, fiber, satellite, or fixed wireless connections, which have enjoyed a rate of growth in the single digits.
Not all of those connections are bidirectional, meaning that the speed would be least 200KB per second for uploads and downloads. Approximately 10.4 million of 16.2 million customers fall into that category, according to the data gathered by the FCC based on its surveys of telecom companies.
California, the most populous state, leads in high-speed lines, with 2.6 million subscribers. Next is New York with 1.5 million customers, Florida with 1.1 million, and Texas with 1 million.
Cable modems are still the most popular, with 9.1 million subscribers and a 29 percent rate of increase from Dec. 2001 to June 2002. DSL is next, with 5.1 million subscribers and a 29 percent rate of increase during the same time.
The report suggests that broadband services are available to almost everyone who wants them, which could make it more difficult for Congress to pass a broadband-spending law when politicians return next month. "Our analysis indicates that 98 percent of the country's population lives in the 84 percent of zip codes where a provider reports having at least one high-speed service subscriber," the report says.
The FCC admits its report may be under-inclusive because it does not include connections that are faster than dial-up modems with a throughput under 200KB per second, and because there is no legal requirement that companies respond to its surveys.
Internet hell. I feel your pain, really.
Regards,
L
Now, my husband and I "network" in more ways than one. ;o)
DSL is a dedicated service, meaning that your bandwidth is not shared by others.
While this is true, the distinction is almost meaningless as a practical matter. Yes, with DSL you don't share bandwidth with your neighbors...until your connection gets to the CO, where you and your neighbors are all dumped onto the same trunk line, and you share bandwidth there. With cable, you share bandwidth in the neighborhood first, but eventually you're competing for bandwidth on DSL also.
DSL is often available as a Symmetric service - same speed up - same speed down. Cable is asymmetric - normally about 128 up and 2 meg down.
Again, this is mostly true. There are symmetric cable systems available, but it's not as common. And while SDSL is widely available, it's almost always more expensive (sometimes significantly so) than ADSL.
Lastly, customer service. This is the normal price, support, etc etc
Here, DSL providers and cable providers are roughly equal - they all really, really suck.
In short, I agree - they're roughly the same ;)
Without a doubt the Phone company. Valor Telecom REALLY sucks! If I had cable modem service I would dump Valor and go with cell phones. 2 phone lines, 1 with no extra services costs over $70 a month and thats NO long Distance. Long Distance and 2 dial-up internet accounts combined is only about $50 a month, Yep without a doubt I would drop the Phone company.
Go to www.dslreports.com and look for the 'speedtest' link on their homepage. It's pretty accurate as far as I can tell.
L
I have DSL, and have zero complaints. Downloads of 1300 kbps and uploads at 219 or better (I just ran a speed test again to confirm before posting). It seems more responsive than the T1 line at the office, and reliability has not been a problem since I had it installed over a year ago.
I'm thrilled with it.
"Doh!!"
Thanks,
L
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