The end of the Internet as we know it...

[nfpgasmask]

NFP, sorry to maybe have hijacked your thread...

JK. It's all relavent and I love a good conversation (and I jack threads all the time).

The digital switch is interesting. My wife and I bought a brand new house here in Reno and I was pretty surprised with the "structured wiring package" that was included with the house. I actually have in my upstairs closet a "wiring closet" of sorts. Basically, its a single accessible point where all my CAT5, RJ-11 and COAX cable comes together. It made setting up my home ethernet a breeze. I have network wall jacks everywhere including the kitchen and behind the TV. Better yet, I am wired with fiber out as well. So when the infrastructure finally changes over to true fiber, our house will be ready.

Bart

[kpaske]

As soon as fiber finely makes the main steam market that will be the end of at&t Qwest and Comcast. There’s a fiber service here called Utopia that’s not in my aria yet but as soon as it is I’m getting it. It’s about 10 times faster then cable. It will basically turn the web in to a giant TiVo.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Comcast service provides me with very fast Internet and 100% digital HDTV at a fraction of the cost of fiber. Fiber may be super fast, but until they can provide me something my cable company cannot, why would I switch? Eventually there may be more choices available over the Internet than through broadcast cable TV, but the 8GB connection Comcast offers is already plenty fast enough to support full HD video.

As for the metered billing model, I don't think the market will bear it if it impacts the typical user. Besides, like you said Bart, all of the other providers would have to follow suit, and I doubt the idea will go over well with consumers. Comcast and other providers can already afford to offer virtually unlimited Internet access (with the 250 GB cap) so why would anyone agree to a metered model if they have other ISP choices? Mobile phones with unlimited voice and data plans are starting to become more common and affordable, so why would Internet service move in the opposite direction? If you ask me, I'd say AT&T's trial is going to flop.

[kodiak]

Yes Comcast is fast and yes HDTV signal can be broadcasted thru it, but that’s not the future. An HDTV signal is not true on demand digital content. Once fiber is in place and services start to compete you’ll start to see true on demand digital content and not just TV Movies Music and Games from the major U.S. media groups. That what the cable and telecom company are fighting, and there’s some really stupid laws that have been put in place to block fibers progress. Luckily Utah’s politicians know that a lot of the people here are aware of what the cable and telecom lobbyist are trying do. Comcast is franticly trying to upgrade there network to compete but 11,000 kb/s and 250gb cap just won’t cut it.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Comcast service provides me with very fast Internet and 100% digital HDTV at a fraction of the cost of fiber.

How much is fiber in your area?

[kpaske]

I just don't get what a faster broadband connection is going to buy me right now? Comcast gives me HDTV, HD Movies, and even HD Music Videos on demand. Games on demand would be cool, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Xbox Live offers something like that, if they don't already. I pay about $45 a month for 8 MB/s Internet, and about $50 for cable TV (which includes an HD DVR and 30 HD Channels). We don't have fiber in my area, but I do imagine if we did it would probably drive cable prices down. Isn't Verizon FIOS about $150/mo?

My point is, they better offer me something extraordinary that I can't get from cable to make me want to pay more for their service. Right now Comcast already offers "true HD on demand", so even though 30 MB/s fiber sounds tempting, unless you're someone who does P2P downloads 24/7, I don't see why the average person needs that kind of bandwidth or would be willing to pay for it right now. Is there something I'm missing?

[kodiak]

You make some good points, but you keep assuming it’s going to be more expensive. There are some proprietary services trying to stake a claim like Qwest and Verizon but that' note the service I’m talking about. True fiber will be like phone lines today. there will be a set standard that all services that use it will need to conform too. Here’s some benefits you’ll see in the very near future.


1.You get to choose your own provider. (Like with DSL you can choose your own ISP Except with fiber you can also choose your phone and media services witch will drive competition and you won’t be limited to services in your area.)

2.DVRs will become obsolete. (Because ALL content will be on demand. You won’t need to manage a DVR.)

3.On demand will truly be on demand and not the limited100 or so staggered HD broadcasts that are available today.

4.Off site backups will become main stream. (1 out of 4 people that store family movies pictures and work on there PC have lost priceless data because of hardware failure theft fire and fluids.)

5. Advertizing will become more effective. ( Just like sponsored online video today you won’t be able to skip past the ads.) Well we’re not communists.

6. Gaming services like Steam and Xbox live will become a central source for most game content. (This will make games less expensive easer to obtain and give game developers better protection from piracy.)

I'll come up with more later.

[iamironman]

4.Off site backups will become main stream. (1 out of 4 people that store family movies pictures and work on there PC have lost priceless data because of hardware failure theft fire and fluids.)

Spaghetti sauce is a FLUID!!!

Yeah, my daughter was handing me a plate of spaghetti across the table and slipped and spilled it all over my (open) laptop...
I screamed ... she started crying ... and my laptop (with a s-load of family pics/movies in it) was totally ruined... 6 months and a new motherboard and hard-drive(and other incidentals that had shorted out with spaghetti sauce) later , I was able to rescue about 50% of the data and pics and such from the now 'juicey' hard-drive .

[kodiak]

Spaghetti sauce is a FLUID!!!

Yeah, my daughter was handing me a plate of spaghetti across the table and slipped and spilled it all over my (open) laptop...
I screamed ... she started crying ... and my laptop (with a s-load of family pics/movies in it) was totally ruined... 6 months and a new motherboard and hard-drive(and other incidentals that had shorted out with spaghetti sauce) later , I was able to rescue about 50% of the data and pics and such from the now 'juicey' hard-drive .

You got spaghetti syndromed. That sucks, sorry you had to go through that. Yeah losing data is becoming more and more common.