Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections • Hacker News Board

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#31

Post by tssva » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 1:22 AM UTC

johnminter wrote: post #18

Here in the US the vendors are not doing this.

AT&T has dropped all data caps, waived any late payment fees, will not terminate service and has opened their WiFi hotspots to everyone.

Charter is waiving late fees, not terminating service, offering free service to households with students which don't already have service and opening their WiFi hotspots to everyone.

Verizon is waiving late fees and will not terminate service.

Cox is waiving late fees, not terminating service, opening WiFi hotspots to all and upgrading speeds on connections in their programs for low income customers to 50Mbs.

Comcast is eliminating data caps, waiving late fees, not terminating service, opening WiFi hotspots to all and offering 2 months of free service to those eligible for but not enrolled in their $9.95 per month program for low-income families. They are also increasing data rates for their low-income program connections.

Many other providers have also pledged to not terminate service.

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#32

Post by lightgreen » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 1:23 AM UTC

fargle wrote: post #28

Overall, maybe a good sentiment and maybe a good idea. In many areas I think this is being done. However, I don't at all like the argument that if your neighbor can't pay her bill, it might not just impact her, but two of her neighbors, one of which is some kind of network engineer who fixes BGP thingies. And neither of the leaching neighbors who have some kind of critical need of her internet can help pay for it???…

On the internet this sentiment is called virtue signalling: it costs you nothing, but people around you think you are a good guy.

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#33

Post by GaryNumanVevo » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 1:26 AM UTC

lightgreen wrote: post #32

fargle wrote: post #28

Overall, maybe a good sentiment and maybe a good idea. In many areas I think this is being done. However, I don't at all like the argument that if your neighbor can't pay her bill, it might not just impact her, but two of her neighbors, one of which is some kind of network engineer who fixes BGP thingies. And neither of the leaching neighbors who have some kind of critical need of her internet can help pay for it???…

On the internet this sentiment is called virtue signalling: it costs you nothing, but people around you think you are a good guy.

Except this "sentiment" will genuinely help people who lose their jobs due to corona and won't be able to pay bills. That extra money from not paying a bill can really help out.

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#34

Post by dcow » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

closeparen wrote: post #14

nreece wrote: post #6

Here in Australia, a few responsible providers like Aussie Broadband have already announced unmetered data usage and temporarily stopping all service suspensions. https://www.aussiebroadband.com.au/blog/aussie-broadband-ann... Edit: The real test though will be the bandwidth of our gov-sponsored, substandard, widely FTTN (instead of full FTTP).

I would expect rationing of the available bandwidth to become more important, not less, as the entire population is stuck at home using it all day.

That’s if congestion was ever actually a problem to begin with.

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#35

Post by bhauer » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 1:41 AM UTC

johnminter wrote: post #18

Here in the US the vendors are not doing this.

I was pretty sure most US Internet vendors pledged [1] to "not terminate service to any residential or small business customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic."

[1] https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-363033A1.pdf

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#36

Post by arcboii92 » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 1:53 AM UTC

nreece wrote: post #6

Here in Australia, a few responsible providers like Aussie Broadband have already announced unmetered data usage and temporarily stopping all service suspensions. https://www.aussiebroadband.com.au/blog/aussie-broadband-ann... Edit: The real test though will be the bandwidth of our gov-sponsored, substandard, widely FTTN (instead of full FTTP).

As a kiwi it blows my mind how bad your broadband is over there. My cousin recently moved to some rural Aussie town and will be getting 25 megabit, tops. Here in NZ we're rolling out 4 gigabit connections nationwide over the next 6 months.

EDIT: props for getting rid of limits and disconnects though. NZ providers are just saying we'll be able to cope with everyone working from home because we have a fancy network.

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#37

Post by rolltiide » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 1:53 AM UTC

rolph wrote: post #4

to all those who are blackhat , this is not the time to commit crimes and give people reason to want to dissconnect services, if you are a criminal at least realize that you are overtaxing your bread and butter. give it a break for a while until the system can handle the load of light and dark together

Can you elaborate on that?

Do you mean like the RDP marketplaces should slow down so people cant find a computer near the skimmed credit card they bought so that visa transactions go through?

Or something more like corporate hacking?

Or back to the RDP to install monero mining botnets?

I’m just trying to figure out which one you are referring to as “overtaxing”

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#38

Post by schoen » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 2:06 AM UTC

skissane wrote: post #8

rolph wrote: post #4

to all those who are blackhat , this is not the time to commit crimes and give people reason to want to dissconnect services, if you are a criminal at least realize that you are overtaxing your bread and butter. give it a break for a while until the system can handle the load of light and dark together

Sadly, I think the people who are irresponsible enough to commit crimes in normal times are also going to be irresponsible enough to commit crimes in a crisis situation, and even to look for ways they can exploit a crisis to their own benefit.

For example, there have been COVID-19 phishing and malware scams already. Yes, people are using this pandemic to scam other people!

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#39

Post by zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 2:09 AM UTC

dcow wrote: post #34

closeparen wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect rationing of the available bandwidth to become more important, not less, as the entire population is stuck at home using it all day.

That’s if congestion was ever actually a problem to begin with.

That's what I've been wondering ... will they ever try using "we need zero rating to prevent network overload" again if they'll demonstrate now that they don't?

Re: Don't Terminate People's Internet Connections

#40

Post by mirimir » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 2:10 AM UTC

> To illustrate, in the Netherlands we are in lockdown, because of the COVID-19 hazard: you are expected to only leave your house if it is absolutely critical, such as to pick up food from the food distribution centers, to get meds, to go work in a hospital, etc.

You have food distribution centers?

I'm jealous.