Article: US National Broadband Plan: Speedier spam! Phaster Phishing! Virile-er Viruses! Blazing Botnets!

[turetzsr]

US National Broadband Plan: Speedier spam! Phaster Phishing! Virile-er Viruses! Blazing Botnets!

...Excerpts:

US Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski recently gave a speech titled “Broadband: Our Enduring Engine for Prosperity and Opportunity.” Basically, the FCC is preparing the National Broadband Plan to drive 100Mbs Internet service....

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I’ve searched the FCC’s www.broadband.gov website in search of any inclusion of advancing Internet security as part of this plan, but couldn’t find a single mention of it.

<snip>

This is sort of like the city water department saying "I know we have a problem, in that we are mixing sewage with your water, but great news: we are increasing the size of the sewage water pipes into your house!!"

<snip>

[Farelf]

Ah yes. The internet is often a bit 'clunky'. That is (generally) because of the amount of crud moving through it. Much of that crud is spam. Much of it is in the nature of 'piracy'. Much of it is DoS bombing. Much of it is botnets doing other inscrutable things when they're not DoSing or spamming. Of course the solution is 'increased bandwidth' . A continuation of the evolution of the medium. And it wins votes and the uncomprehending admiration of we (that's the general we) who, inevitably, pay even more for the privilege of bathing in the sewers.

Grrr... come the revolution (there will be blood in the gutters - ours as always). :angry:

[Wazoo]

...Excepts:

not necessarily a fair set of comments in reality. It's not in the FCC's charter to handle Research & Development of the "Internet" ... This latest 'plan' (mostly based on a 'stimuls' plan) is targeted towards increasing access to a high(er)-speed network ... kind of a repeat of extending the old land-line phone system into the rural areas. i.e., extending 'current' technology.

There are those that are still waiting for the deployment and acess to the somewhat-ancient "Internet II" that only a few folks currently enjoy.

[Lking]

There are those that are still waiting for the deployment and access to the somewhat-ancient "Internet II" that only a few folks currently enjoy.

And as we know it is really all about money. My personnel interest is San Juan County in Colorado, The only county in CO that does not have fiber optic. All communication in/out of the county is through one microwave link.

Now the fact that Qwest received an exclusive state wide contract to provide fiber to each county seat in the state, doesn't seem to matter. Qwest ran the fiber optic up to the county line and stopped, 17 miles short.

Now to be honest there is only one town in the county and most of the ~400 year round residence live there. The last 17 miles of mountian road rises from 8,800ft, over two 10,000+ passes to Silverton at 9,813.

Qwest is one of the 200 members the Broadband for America (BfA) coalition who "Together these organizations represent the hundreds of millions of Americans who are literally connected through broadband." As you said, not all have much more that dial-up. When I go to Colorado I take my own VSAT.

[Wazoo]

Now the fact that Qwest received an exclusive state wide contract to provide fiber to each county seat in the state, doesn't seem to matter. Qwest ran the fiber optic up to the county line and stopped, 17 miles short.

Perhaps more than coincidental, I keep getting sales pitches from Qwest to switch to their 'high-speed' DSL connection, the latest offering "up to" 17Mbps .... I point out that I know for a fact that it'd be a cold day 'elsewhere' before I'd actually ever see that speed, citing a brother that lives less than 500 yards from the switch office who can't ever see an actual 5Mbps from his connection with them. I usually then ask about just when they'll get around to running fiber in this location. Best answer thus far over the last year has been "sometime in the future" Yeah, I'll assume the real issue is the return-on-investment.

[StevenUnderwood]

I still can not explain why Charter Cable in my area keeps upping the speed of my connection with no corresponding rise in my cost. I'm paying the same today for 8M/1M as I was a few years ago for 1M/256K service. They ask me several times a year if I want to increase to the next level, tell them no and eventually, they raise their baseline. I went from 1M to 3M to 5M and now 8M.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/739103211.png

[Farelf]

...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/739103211.png

Hooley dooley. Even when the pigeons are awake I could only dream of such speeds. My provider recently unilaterally ended my 'grandfathered' plan with a free upgrade - thing there is with data transfer quota (before shaping applies) rather than speed - which is limited by copper and mysterious things in exchanges¹. At the end they find it more convenient to rationalize the number of plans they have - and maybe something to do with the advertizing I am forced to digest as I browse. I'm sure it all makes some sort of 'economic' sense, somehow. TANSTAAFL.

¹F'rinstance, I can't (feasibly) watch http://www.nfb.ca/film/hungry_squid in HD but I can try an awful lot if I want. High quality (or anything less) is fine though.

[Wazoo]

I went from 1M to 3M to 5M and now 8M.

Looked at your link, read Farelf's last Post, followed the lead and did some checks from here with that tool. Looks like I've got some work to do here now. I'm thinking that the last 'upgrade' offered for a 'standard' account was for an alleged 12Mbps. Although I've argued a bit with them about the false advertising (although legally, the phrase "up to" covers a lot of ground) ... imagine the shock of seeing;

Win-XP Home system .... a 200-mile distant server --> 3.25Mbps

hmmmmm .... re-booted the main system, ran though updating various Linux installs (the latest Mint and Ubuntu, and the last LTS Ubuntu) and came with the following results (under the 8.04 LTS install) ....

same server as above --> 11.45Mbps

400-mile distant server --> 14.19Mbps

Birmingham, UK --> 6.4Mbps

Perth, AU --> 1.42Mbps

Obviously, my Windows install needs some kind of work.

[Farelf]

Hmmm ... often used local web-based speed testers, getting low results, actually used Steven's one now with local (default) server giving some surprising results:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/741187921.png

12.02 Mb/s download 0.81 Mb/s upload

Even Vancouver - thinking of the NFB film clip - ("~9200 mi") 5.57/0.51 - but look at the ping!:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/741190332.png

Well, what do the router figures say?

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7834/setupp.png

14.410/1.003 - not too different from the speedtest.net result at all - and the difference could easily be accounted for by different sample size (only 2 Mb received with the router, far less sent, speedtest gives a far better workout). Hmm 25 dB downstream attenuation, rule of thumb says divide by 13.5 to get approx distance from the exchange in km = 1.85 km, not too far off, I'm confident enough with those figures then.

So, yes, the speedtest.net results seem quite credible - but surprising.

I can probably retire the pigeon http://cas.awm.gov.au/screen_img/H09572

[Wazoo]

Well, what do the router figures say?

Have to ask, though exposure might not be the smartest move ... what kind of router is this? A bit fascinated at the type of data tracked and available.

I can probably retire the pigeon http://cas.awm.gov.au/screen_img/H09572

My first reaction was 'astounded!!!!' .. amazed at the quickness of the hand involved in catchng lunch that way. But I'm sure the real story is nowhere near that storyline. <g>

[Lking]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/741635896.png

As I was saying. All things are not equal. Of course my speed today includes a 44,000 mile hop from D.C. to Hays, KS then 50 miles to Wichita, KS. When here I do have other options but I don't when in the mountains.

[Farelf]

Have to ask, though exposure might not be the smartest move ... what kind of router is this? A bit fascinated at the type of data tracked and available.

It's an old Belkin - http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/bc/hardware/?ac...mp;model_id=250 - I believe pretty-well all used hereabouts, provided/supported through ISPs, have similar capabilities.

...My first reaction was 'astounded!!!!' .. amazed at the quickness of the hand involved in catchng lunch that way. But I'm sure the real story is nowhere near that storyline. <g>

<G> Detail from The Battle of Hamel - of family interest because Mrs Farelf had a relative who did some astounding things there, of interest to Australians because it was the first battle entirely under their command (and that commander, Monash, became the first to be knighted in the field by the ruling Sovereign in over 200 years and - so far - the last), of interest to Americans because American troops took part (much to the horror of US high command) and of interest to soldiers and military historians because it was the first assault to combine the integration of infantry, armor, artillery and air-power resources in the recognizably 'modern' manner - even though the baud-rate of battlefield communications was somewhat limited <g>.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/741635896.png...

Aaagh! Wanna borrow a pigeon, mate?

[Lking]

Aaagh! Wanna borrow a pigeon, mate?

Squab mmm sounds good to me

[petzl]

Squab mmm sounds good to me

Don't eat the carrier pidgeon!

Australia's copper wires are worn out

Slowly being replaced under what the Government calls National Broadband Network (NBN)

[Farelf]

...Australia's copper wires are worn out

Slowly being replaced under what the Government calls National Broadband Network (NBN)

Yep, we need our avian carriers for a while yet. People like StevenUnderwood are to blame , with his "terribly inconvenienced" electrons. No wonder our copper is wearing out. The rest of us manage with electron drift rates of about 12 feet per hour. That, coincidentally, is about the speed of a politician's promise.

[Wazoo]

Now the fact that Qwest received an exclusive state wide contract to provide fiber to each county seat in the state, doesn't seem to matter. Qwest ran the fiber optic up to the county line and stopped, 17 miles short.

Now to be honest there is only one town in the county and most of the ~400 year round residence live there. The last 17 miles of mountian road rises from 8,800ft, over two 10,000+ passes to Silverton at 9,813.

Page 2 of Unused Television Spectrum Could Deliver New Broadband Services talks about a 900-member community that is experimenting with the recently bacated television bandwidth/frequencies to bring in that last-mile connection.

Then we add in a new FCC move .... FCC Launches Broadband Speed Test and 'Dead Zone' Reporter ... one site looking for speed test results, the other a 'reporting' spot for locations where broadband can't be purchased.

[Farelf]

Broadband speed test and/or dead zone registration found at http://www.broadband.gov/ (Java required).

[LenSchurtz]

The following thing our leaders have forgotten about how far we lag behind the rest from the world is broadband internet - we're 15th within the world. South Korea has it all over the US in broadband access. To conserve face, the (unconstitutional) FCC has come up with a national broadband plan, that will put faster internet and phone access, as well as rural internet access at insane speeds in more hands, and even save people a payday loans or small installment loans worth every year. It may also create more jobs, and the aim is to have a national broadband network.