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Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

stefan.schueller.net

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Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#71

Post by jerf »

fl4regun wrote: post #62

I gotta be honest here, my building recently (within the past 5 years) got access to fibre internet, I initially chose the option to go for the 3 gigabit package, after a few years I realized nothing I am downloading actually needs this speed. And almost nothing actually supports it either. I downgraded to the 1 gig service half a year ago and I don't miss it.

At this point I consider it a minor fringe benefit of being a network engineer that I realize there's hardly any point to going above 500Mb. There's a big price cliff there with my local provider, but... what would I do with that? Download a Steam game every other month slightly faster? Not worth over 70 bucks a month.

Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#72

Post by NoPicklez »

fl4regun wrote: post #62

I gotta be honest here, my building recently (within the past 5 years) got access to fibre internet, I initially chose the option to go for the 3 gigabit package, after a few years I realized nothing I am downloading actually needs this speed. And almost nothing actually supports it either. I downgraded to the 1 gig service half a year ago and I don't miss it.

Yep completely agree.

I lived with about 5 people and our internet was 500mbps and it was more than enough.

Looking at the network monitor the only need for anything really above 100mbps was when people wanted to download something. For daily needs, surfing, browsing, the odd download you don't need a lot. And that's with everyone streaming, scrolling, gaming etc concurrently.

Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#74

Post by [deleted] »

danpalmer wrote: post #68
yawnxyz wrote: post #13

should really look at the Australian system... it's not really a free market there and the internet is awful

The Australian system is much better than the US system, even with 1/10th the country-level density. The internet here is generally faster and cheaper than the suburban US, with a similar system to Switzerland.

[deleted]

Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#75

Post by Nursie »

efitz wrote: post #30

“Anecdotally, X works better in another country than it does in the USA- the free market is a lie!”

That's not the argument here, the argument is that the free market delivers value, but only when it's well set up.

According to the article, US has effectively enshrined local fiefdoms for ISPs, so free market competition just doesn't take hold there. In contrast, Switzerland allows competing ISPs direct access to common last-mile infrastructure, and the free market forces there have incentivised better products and better prices.

The free market does work, when given the right rails.

Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#76

Post by moi2388 »

wisty wrote: post #24
kyralis wrote: post #4

The article does not include the word "density" at all. Switzerland has 2.5x the population density that the US does. I absolutely believe that US regulation choices encourage telecom monopolies and suppresses service in the US, but it's impossible to make a credible argument for that without acknowledging the density challenges that the majority of the US (geographically) faces.

As an Australian it's hilarious to hear that. We have less than 10% the density of the USA. And yeah, we blame everything on density too, even though 90% of the country is a desert with noone in it (so no need to lay cable or build roads there), and we are one of the most urbanised countries in the word (IIRC most of the population lives in 3 cities).

Whenever I hear the density problem for internet cables, I think about all the cables in the ocean and how few people actually live on the bottom of it.

Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#77

Post by cortesoft »

fl4regun wrote: post #62

I gotta be honest here, my building recently (within the past 5 years) got access to fibre internet, I initially chose the option to go for the 3 gigabit package, after a few years I realized nothing I am downloading actually needs this speed. And almost nothing actually supports it either. I downgraded to the 1 gig service half a year ago and I don't miss it.

There are a few things that support it, at least in my experience… I get close to line rate for steam downloads for large games, and other content with a good CDN.

The main benefit, though, is if you have many simultaneous connections running, all using a lot of bandwidth.

Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#79

Post by [deleted] »

lxgr wrote: post #56
gregsadetsky wrote: post #25

Getting a Spectrum cable modem internet connection in NYC in 2026 is so deeply humiliating. Dealing with the ridiculously limited upload speed, the outages, the locked router. The 40 minutes it takes on the phone to get it disconnected. Their constant attempts at upselling you cell phone plans and other terrible tech you’d never consider. Truly, Fios is the most bare minimum. And there are much better options if you…

If you call FIOS the "bare minimum", what is an acceptable connection to you? In my experience, it's one of the best ISPs I've ever had. Installation alone was phenomenal. This is probably largely downstream of NYC allowing a sprawl of overhead wiring in many neighborhoods, but I was deeply impressed by an installation team building out an entirely new fiber line to our apartment within less than 48 hours of putting…

[deleted]

Re: Why Switzerland has 25 gbit internet and America doesn't

#80

Post by danpalmer »

jerf wrote: post #71
fl4regun wrote: post #62

I gotta be honest here, my building recently (within the past 5 years) got access to fibre internet, I initially chose the option to go for the 3 gigabit package, after a few years I realized nothing I am downloading actually needs this speed. And almost nothing actually supports it either. I downgraded to the 1 gig service half a year ago and I don't miss it.

At this point I consider it a minor fringe benefit of being a network engineer that I realize there's hardly any point to going above 500Mb. There's a big price cliff there with my local provider, but... what would I do with that? Download a Steam game every other month slightly faster? Not worth over 70 bucks a month.

At some point these things become cheap enough that you might as well. The price difference between 500MB and 1GB for me is very little, and so for the peak usage time improvements and few times a month that I download a steam game or movie, it's worth it. I pay significantly less than 70 USD a month for my 1GB connection.
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