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One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

bbc.com

351–360 of 528 posts

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#351
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect there may be a fair few people in my position who would be happy to scale down. Whether or not that is actually the case is, indeed, a question for market research.

I don't think you'd be happy scaling down. You may think you'd like it, but when you can't watch a video on your phone and laptop at the same time (and that's not even talking about anyone else using WiFi in the home), you'll quickly realize why no one uses ADSL any more.

>I don't think you'd be happy scaling down.

My current setup is ADSL. I am trying to replicate it elsewhere.

As a subject-matter expert on "things I like", let me assure you that I am indeed very happy with it.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California's tax rate is much higher than the rest of the country. The bay area's brocoli prices are much higher than anywhere except times square. The vast majority of the country is not facing prices like these.

I'm sorry, I have to ask. Do people often shop for broccoli in Times Square? I am aware of many events and activities that go on in Times Square, however broccoli consumption was not at the top of my list.

I unfortunately have gone grocery shopping in Times square when staying with a friend who for some reason decided to live there.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#354

Visiting family in the UK for the first time in about five years. Costs here are _way_ higher than I remember. I bought three hamburgers, three drinks, and two large pops at a burger shop here, the total was 48 GBP (about $60 USD). This was at Five Guys. I couldn't believe it. I visited my co-worker in the UK, and over some beers, he mentioned he's getting taxed at 48-50% on top of this. Also 20% VAT on regular shopp…

Try commuting by train. You'll cry twice: once when you hear the fare (the lolz), then again when you've to pay that fare (the real).

Thrice.

You're forgetting about when it's inevitably delayed or cancelled and you're stuck.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#355
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Three will give me unlimited data on 4g/5g for £25 a month. Between line rental and dsl costs you'd struggle to get it that cheap through a landline, even ignoring the fact you still need mobile data.

Three's own MVNO (Smarty) gives you unlimited for £18 without long term contracts. It's £16 if you get it via uSwitch. The problem with Three's network is that their 4G can be really bad in some areas (eg: parts London). I can't use them inside my flat because it's almost unusable during peak hours. On the other hand, if their 5G is available, speeds can be really good. It's common for me to get 100-900Mbps when near…

I guess the point is for the average person an unlimited data sim is cheaper than a landline, let alone a landline and a limited data sim, so what's the point in a landline connection

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#356
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over 100ms most of the time, it worked fine for WFH when I had meetings. Terrible if you want to game.

That's rare. T-Mobile averages 53ms latency according to Ookla/Speedtest.net for multi-server latency. For wired connections, Xfinity averages 24ms, Cox 25ms, and Spectrum 31ms. So wireless does add an additional ~25ms of latency compared to wired, but 100ms is out of the ordinary.

T-mobile != T-Mobile ISP. For the better or worse, anything going through the ISP plan is bottom of the barrel. You can look through all the post on the T-Mobile ISP subreddit. Even those with 500 Mbps speed are close to 100 ms of latency.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#357
post #267
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a 45% tax rate and a 20% VAT, something that costs $1 would require an income of $2.18.

listed prices include VAT pretty much everywhere I've been to in the world, other than the US. If something says it costs €1 or £1 then you're paying €1 or £1 for it at the checkout.

If the tax is included in the price, then you’re getting less than $1 of the good or service as it’s already baked into that price.

For example with a 20% VAT, a $1 priced item is really an $.83 item, and to pay for it at a 45% tax bracket would require $1.81 of income.

The numbers themselves are meaningless. Only the total ratio of income required to goods received is important, and it remains unchanged.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't be making nearly that much in the UK though.

Would you be making that much outside of CA?

I'm not in CA, never have been. I'm in NYC. And the reason I'm in NYC is precisely because these high-paying jobs are available here, which is also why I'm not in the UK.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#359
post #168
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Things are getting tough for lots of people and that's with extremely high levels of employment. Capitalism has succeeded then.

[flagged]

Which country was first in space, and led space-related innovation?

Capitalism didn't invent or produce computers or milk. Workers did.

Capitalism is just a wealth distribution mechanism on top of innovation and labor that only concerns itself with how the wealth generated by workers is distributed.

We can choose other mechanisms of wealth distribution.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#360
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, someone earning $155,000 USD (Equivalent to 125k GBP) will also be paying 6.2% in social security taxes, 1.45% in medicare taxes, and then another 6.2% in social security taxes (employer's portion)[1], and 1.45% in medicare taxes (employer's portion). Added to the rest of their marginal tax rate, they'd be seeing a rate of 22 + 15.3 = 37.3%. Of course, they won't actually get health insurance for it, which…

I'm not sure where you're getting the $20,000/year healthcare spending number, but that looks like it is too high by an order of magnitude. See e.g. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2... , which puts median annual household spending on healthcare between $1,500 and $5,540 in 2019. If you're talking about total annual healthcare spending, that is largely paid by employers so should be account…

>which puts median annual household spending on healthcare between $1,500 and $5,540 in 2019.

I'm guessing that doesn't include employer subsidies. I pay (as an individual) ~$940/month for health insurance, plus a $600 deductible and $40/visit copays for doctors, $150 copay for emergency room visits and $1000 copay for hospital admisisons.

Assuming I don't need an emergency room or a hospital admission, that's over $10,000/year just for healthcare.

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