Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

readwriteweb.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 90 posts

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#31

Post by jonknee »

peterpaul wrote: post #21
zacharyvoase wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m shocked by how expensive mobile internet is in the US. I’m with giffgaff here in the UK, and I pay £10/month for 250 calling minutes, unlimited SMS and unlimited internet (no fair use policy).

Yea I was shocked after i moved from germany to the US. Even worse is the coverage here

Population density of Germany is 229 persons per km/sq. In the US it's 32. It's a lot more expensive to run the infrastructure for a country 27 times the geographic area and 1/7th the density.

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#33

Post by mcritz »

malchickhome wrote: post #19
jrockway wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already solved that problem. Backlash-ing costs you $250.

Is that the cost of an early termination fee?

No. It’s $350 for an “advanced device”. So, backlash costs a great deal more than you think.

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#34

Post by JonnieCache »

maeon3 wrote: post #12

Facebook Fee: $.95 Youtube Surcharge: $1.53 blogging package: $.25 Roaming charge (non approved sites): $5.21 Wikileaks download penalty: $10.00 Destroying net neutrality, killing what made the Internet great in the first place: priceless.

Potential cost to the establishment of forcing all the hackers onto darknets: who knows?

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#35

Post by irons »

jonknee wrote: post #31
peterpaul wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I was shocked after i moved from germany to the US. Even worse is the coverage here

Population density of Germany is 229 persons per km/sq. In the US it's 32. It's a lot more expensive to run the infrastructure for a country 27 times the geographic area and 1/7th the density.

Then explain why there's no EU-comparable regional service in areas of the US with far greater density, like any of the top ten metro areas. Even the cell carriers have large roaming-only gaps and dead zones, not just in the unpopulated western US, but on major freeways in California.

Using national population density to explain the extraordinary relative suckage of US broadband is a straw man argument.

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#36

Post by Tuna-Fish »

dansingerman wrote: post #17
rue wrote: post #2

I'm more stunned by the price: I pay 20€ for unlimited and unrestricted data access with a double SIM (one mobile broadband, other for phone). And they want to charge more for other video access?

Mobile data seems very expensive in the US compared to Europe, but the States seem to be cheaper in most other areas: e.g. Petrol/Gasoline - $3 per gallon in the States, over $8 per gallon in the UK now.

Most of Europe taxes gasoline very heavily to encourage alternatives and discourage use.

Here in Finland, roughly 75% of the price of gas at the pump is tax. Or in other words, we have a 300% gas tax.

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#37

Post by grantheaslip »

motters wrote: post #9

Blocking sites because they're "not on the service plan" is likely to be much more acceptable in western countries than explicit censorship, as in Iran or China. It's authoritarianism dressed up as commercialism. In the post-Wikileaks era my bet is that governments will either encourage, or at least not do anything to hinder, the erection of walled gardens which make it more difficult for the average internet user to…

Oh come on, do you really think that governments are so shook up over WikiLeaks that they might encourage ISPs to turn the internet into a series of walled gardens? For that matter, do you really think that they're that evil? Obviously they're not happy about WikiLeaks, and I'm not saying that governments or ISPs are perfect, but some perspective is badly needed here.

What you've written screams hyperbole and is veering dangerously into conspiracy theory territory. Net neutrality is a real issue, but it's got nothing to do with WikiLeaks. Governments aren't as dastardly or hell-bent on destroying your freedoms as you (and many others on HN) seem to think. It's actually quite disconcerting that so many on HN think this way -- hackers (in the good sense) could have a lot of influence on the future of democratic nations, but this kind of anti-government slant has the ability to really hurt our credibility and keep us on the sidelines.

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#38

Post by ajkirwin »

grantheaslip wrote: post #37
motters wrote: post #9

Blocking sites because they're "not on the service plan" is likely to be much more acceptable in western countries than explicit censorship, as in Iran or China. It's authoritarianism dressed up as commercialism. In the post-Wikileaks era my bet is that governments will either encourage, or at least not do anything to hinder, the erection of walled gardens which make it more difficult for the average internet user to…

Oh come on, do you really think that governments are so shook up over WikiLeaks that they might encourage ISPs to turn the internet into a series of walled gardens? For that matter, do you really think that they're that evil? Obviously they're not happy about WikiLeaks, and I'm not saying that governments or ISPs are perfect, but some perspective is badly needed here. What you've written screams hyperbole and is veer…

I believe it, frankly.

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#39

Post by Tuna-Fish »

jonknee wrote: post #31
peterpaul wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I was shocked after i moved from germany to the US. Even worse is the coverage here

Population density of Germany is 229 persons per km/sq. In the US it's 32. It's a lot more expensive to run the infrastructure for a country 27 times the geographic area and 1/7th the density.

Finland has a population density of 17/km^2. From a campaign, I can right now get unrestricted data at 384kbps for 3€/month, or "as much as the connection can handle", up to 14,4Mbps, typically 4Mbps, for 14€/month.

Lower population density actually helps wireless internet -- the cost is mainly not about the transmission equipment, it's about the very limited amount of total over-air bandwidth.

Re: Uh Oh, Internet: Basic Mobile Video Will be YouTube-Only With MetroPCS Plans

#40

Post by kgermino »

irons wrote: post #35
jonknee wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Population density of Germany is 229 persons per km/sq. In the US it's 32. It's a lot more expensive to run the infrastructure for a country 27 times the geographic area and 1/7th the density.

Then explain why there's no EU-comparable regional service in areas of the US with far greater density, like any of the top ten metro areas. Even the cell carriers have large roaming-only gaps and dead zones, not just in the unpopulated western US, but on major freeways in California. Using national population density to explain the extraordinary relative suckage of US broadband is a straw man argument.

There are some regional carriers but they're not necessarily well known. Not to mention that at&t, among others, have spent crap-loads of money lobbying to make it more difficult for smaller companies to get spectrum.
Post reply on HN