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One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

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Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#401

Post by schwoll »

jeremyjh wrote: post #387
CapstanRoller wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Won't they funnel you into a VoIP "landline" instead? That's what Comcast does around here. I think they ripped out the copper long ago.

They would run fiber to do that though. Hence GP's point that they will run SOMETHING.

Correct. This is all based on my previous knowledge of my local monopoly agreements that someone told me about years ago. They refused for months to install internet until I asked people in my vicinity if anyone had asked for a phone line. Nobody had. So I did and instead of copper they ran fiber within 2 weeks.

I can only infer what happened but they really didn't want me to be without a regular phone line so I determined that was their legal weakness. The only way companies that large move like that is if something threatens their status with the local government. A call from a resident saying the company wouldn't install a phone line is a big no-no in my understanding.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#402

Post by Faaak »

jeremyjh wrote: post #387
CapstanRoller wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Won't they funnel you into a VoIP "landline" instead? That's what Comcast does around here. I think they ripped out the copper long ago.

They would run fiber to do that though. Hence GP's point that they will run SOMETHING.

In Spain they use the 4g/5g infra for that and provide you with a 4g to RJ11 adapter

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#403

Post by tom_ »

testemailfordg2 wrote: post #390

Just bought a cup of green tea in office(UK) today and realised the price has increased by ~43%....Even after a 10% employee discount.... Now ask yourselves does water+electricity+green tea import+paper cup+worker wages of the coffee shop increased collectively by 43% to justify this increase...

Ask yourself why you paid it!

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#404

Post by tom_ »

Nextgrid wrote: post #46
indy wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd strongly disagree with every sentence in your post. Britain does very well in lots of software engineering fields: games, fin-tech, web. We also have good Computer Science courses at universities. Research at these universities is also decent. And in Silicon Valley you don't have to go too far before you hear a British accent.

> Britain does very well in lots of software engineering fields: games, fin-tech, web. How much of this is VC-funded "growth & engagement" crap that has no sustainable business model and will go out of business very soon, if it hasn't already?

Games companies have traditionally proven perfectly capable of going out of business without needing any VC investment.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#405

Post by Kaijo »

skippyboxedhero wrote: post #204
jameshush wrote: post #153

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…

Can't believe prices are so high...goes to Five Guys which is at least 3x any other burger chain. I still can't believe how cheap the UK is. Big Mac meal near me is £6, cheeseburger is £1, 1kg of potatoes was 20p the other week, two-portion microwavable rice 20p, even a nice matured ribeye steak is only £5, it is genuinely incredible. In particular, the price of stuff that comes from farmers is really too low in the…

Five Guys is not "3x any other burger chain", that is lunacy. I live in London and eat burgers a lot. Chains like GBK ("Gourmet" Burger Kitchen, of course just another mid-market chain, not gourmet in a classical sense), Honest Burger, Byron Burger, Black Bear Burger, Burger & Beyond, Patty & Bun, other imported USA chains like Shake Shack, and others. They're all popular places to go for a burger, and they're as or (typically) more expensive than Five Guys. You can find much more expensive burgers too. And yes you can find cheaper burgers, but not very nice ones (I do not enjoy Big Macs at all, and for that matter I don't like Five Guys either, but I can get something I like for their prices). I would say what I regard as a "decent" burger here has gotten much more expensive.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#406

Post by xzel »

BadTakeAbove wrote: post #284
xzel wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That thats the case for the US as well. The average salary for US software dev, according to glassdoor, is 88,395/year, which iirc is about the same I've seen form other sources. Everyone working in FAAG is an outlier compared to the rest of the US. These conversations are usually pretty poor because context is very important and job + location + circumstance is seemingly pretty much impossible to compare to each oth…

Not really. You have to compare the equivalent rarity between the two countries. He's describing a 99th percentile income in the UK. The 99th percentile income in the US is $350K. It's not even close. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/charting-income-distribu...

Thanks for the link I guess... I'm not sure why this data is anymore useful alone, like I said, in a discussion about cost of living without cost of health care, taxes, etc. Your response perfectly illustrates my previous point, that having a discussion about an incredibly nuanced and specific comparison for cost of living (look at the post title) is made difficult by people who just say "Look at this thing here, it means I'm right! All I need to prove my point about cost of living is X". Man, I love throw away accounts.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#407

Post by geodel »

EddieEngineers wrote: post #190
jameshush wrote: post #153

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…

Five Guys has always been that price, but I agree with your point. As a Brit, the US is pretty crazy too though. I just saw a single broccoli for $7 at a grocery store in Palo Alto. On my $172k salary I pay $59k in taxes which is roughly $1k more than I'd pay in the UK but in the UK that includes national insurance while in the US I pay health insurance on top. So while taxes sound crazy in the UK it's not actually d…

I mean what you said is right. In general though, one would be earning much less in UK in IT/Tech/SW jobs compared to US. So overall earning remain higher in US.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#408

Post by skippyboxedhero »

clnq wrote: post #245
skippyboxedhero wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't "significant poverty-related benefits", a lot of the benefits that make you eligible are in-work benefits or from having children. That is why most people don't claim, most of these people have jobs and have no problem paying another £10/month and don't want to go through the admin (or restrictions, I think some of the plans have restrictions). You are bang on about property costs. You notice how instant…

Yes, I oversimplified the significant poverty-related benefits part. Also, when I said “significant”, I meant “not insubstantial”. I don’t mean benefits for those severely affected by poverty. And “poverty-related” to my mind includes “poverty-reducing”. Probably it could have been phrased better seeing that it wasn’t clear what I wanted to say.

I don't think it is a strange thing to say, it is a strange system to have certainly.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#409

Post by skippyboxedhero »

Kaijo wrote: post #405
skippyboxedhero wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't believe prices are so high...goes to Five Guys which is at least 3x any other burger chain. I still can't believe how cheap the UK is. Big Mac meal near me is £6, cheeseburger is £1, 1kg of potatoes was 20p the other week, two-portion microwavable rice 20p, even a nice matured ribeye steak is only £5, it is genuinely incredible. In particular, the price of stuff that comes from farmers is really too low in the…

Five Guys is not "3x any other burger chain", that is lunacy. I live in London and eat burgers a lot. Chains like GBK ("Gourmet" Burger Kitchen, of course just another mid-market chain, not gourmet in a classical sense), Honest Burger, Byron Burger, Black Bear Burger, Burger & Beyond, Patty & Bun, other imported USA chains like Shake Shack, and others. They're all popular places to go for a burger, and they're as or…

We don't all live in London big man.

Re: One million cancel broadband as living costs rise

#410

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

azornathogron wrote: post #349
wskinner wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top marginal rate of 45% in the UK starts at £125,140. Compare that to the US, where the top marginal rate of 37% starts at $578,125. - Edited to correct incorrect US top rate.

Speaking as a pedant: The top marginal rate is actually 60% and happens when you cross the threshold where you're nominally in the 40% band but you're also losing your personal allowance. The effect is, for every £2 extra income you lose £1 personal allowance (exposing an extra £1 to taxation) and pay 40p tax on that. That's 20% in addition to the 40% you're paying anyway, hence 60% marginal rate. Once you hit the in…

If you compute that way, you can find situations in the US where the effective marginal tax rate exceeds 100% due to the phase-out of various benefits: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publicati...
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