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Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

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Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#101

Post by sbov »

abhiminator wrote: post #40
ajmurmann wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah and then most Customers still have no alternative.

As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is).

Not really. We place super high priority on freedom from government influence. It's OK for a company to fuck you over but not the government for .

Edit: I know the , but the debate about that is not particularly relevant here.

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#102

Post by Moral_ »

nadavami wrote: post #63
smaili wrote: post #44

> Customers were also taking to Twitter to reach out to the company about the possible outage. The company recommended that some users try checking the status center online, which would require an internet connection of some kind. Got to love you need internet to check the status of your internet :)

To be fair those customers were reaching out online via Twitter.

People have phones.

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#103

Post by RickSullivan »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #90
charleslmunger wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure that makes sense - bit consumed neither reflects the value of the service to the customer, nor the unit economics of the provider. You want a service level guarantee (99.9% available, with some extra wiggle room for peak hours and degradation. With electricity, you're paying for energy generation, plus grid maintenance. With internet, you're only paying for grid maintenance.

How about bid on a variable price per bit? Just like is done with bitcoin transactions. If you are sending an important file, in an important conference call, or are receiving an important download that you don't want to wait long for, then you choose to pay more to get faster and more reliable service, but if you are streaming a youtube or doing something in the background, then you select a lower price for moderate…

You're describing the exact thing net neutrality seeks to prevent--pricing based on the type of data being sent.

I think it's dangerous to let those with deep pockets prioritize their traffic over mine.

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#104

Post by briandear »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #38
makecheck wrote: post #16

Well, we all know they’ll learn to do better because of this: they’ll take all that money from monthly fees and make sure to improve quality of service! Right? Nope. They’ll probably raise prices if anything, and receive no ill effects as a company for basically failing to provide what they happily accept money for. (Buried somewhere in an “update” to Terms of Service, they probably pardon themselves from exactly thi…

Don't forget all those folks without home phone service and unable to make emergency calls.

Are they using Comcast internet for their phone or do they likely have a cell phone?

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#105

Post by onewhonknocks »

JonathonW wrote: post #82

Comcast's confirmed the fiber cut: https://twitter.com/comcastcares/status/1012767042158510080 > One of Comcast’s large backbone network partners had a fiber cut that we believe is also impacting other providers. It is currently affecting our business and residential internet, video and voice customers. We apologize & are working to get services restored as soon as possible They seem to be at least starting to route…

Sounds like it was 2 cuts, which likely means it was intentional IMHO:

NY| Manhattan| Communication Failure| 30 Rockefeller Plaza (Comast)| Comcast is experiencing a National outage due to 2 fiber line cuts. One between NYC & Chicago, the second between Ashburn & South Carolina. customers urged NOT TO CALL 911, no ETA on a fix, police monitor

Edit: source below. Thank you dfee.

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#106

Post by kadenshep »

mcculley wrote: post #57

This is why it would be better to pay by bit consumed, like most do for electricity. This would encourage carriers to build more infrastructure. It would also create an economic incentive for the ever increasing number of Internet connected devices to be more conscientious of data usage. Of course, we can't have that in the oligopoly situation in the United States.

No it wouldn't.

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#107

Post by gnicholas »

onwchristian wrote: post #96
gnicholas wrote: post #80

I just realized the huge downside to having moved my cell phone from Verizon to xfinity mobile. Although neither my wired Comcast or my cell service is out right now, I would be screwed if these both went out.

Xfinity Mobile is just an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) of Verizon. So it is Verizon's towers/networks that would be providing your connectivity, not Comcast. Comcast basically just handles your billing and customer service.

Good point about using the Verizon network. They also use their own access points for internet service, which could have an impact.

I’d be more worried if they take Verizon traffic and route it across their own network, which most MVNOs don’t — but Comcast might for data collection purposes. Hopefully not!

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#108

Post by maimeowmeow »

tomcam wrote: post #48
ajmurmann wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course nothing will happen. Comcast is too good at lobbying and Internet still doesn't get treated with the same legal importance as other infrastructure like road, running water or even snail mail.

Snail mail is handled by one designated quasi-private firm, the USPS. Roads are often handled by contractors on a per-job basis. How would handling it like roads and USPS help?

Internet is more like water, and electric utilities than USPS. Should not have middlemen who incease fees every two years when there is no service improvement. The data these companies charge 50-100 dollars to pass on is way less than 1 cents per average customer. A utility company could easily handle the infrastructure logistics, hiring of workers totalling a bill of 10-30 dollars?

https://broadbandnow.com/report/much-data-really-cost-isps/

Re: Massive Comcast Outage Hits the US

#110

Post by tenken »

sli wrote: post #85
aksss wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s that saying? Poor Pornhub planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. Actually they do give rebates, unlike the road system. When’s the last time you got money back or a tax rebate from a massive road closure?

When's the last time you had literally only one route available to drive somewhere and it was closed? When your ISP goes down, you can't just switch to another one on the fly. Many people can't switch to another one at all in the first place. When there's a road closure, you just go around.

December 2017. California "Thomas Fire" shutdown 101 (and trains) for weeks. Taking the 5 inland sucks.
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