"Entry level pricing"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: October 1, 2009 10:29:40 PM EDT
To: shannonm () gmail com
Cc: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] "Entry level pricing"

Shannon McElyea <shannonm () gmail com> wrote:
> I have hughesnet -- the only carrier to serve where I live. It's  
> expensive horrible and a threshold of 300 mb per day and if you go  
> over it throttles to almost nothing for 48 hours!! Try getting any  
> work done with that.

My wife works in Mountain View and takes highway 101 to work -- the  
only highway to serve where we live. The gas prices are expensive; the  
commute is horrible and the traffic throttles to almost nothing for 48  
minutes!! Try getting any work done with that.

Nevertheless, we still live in a non-rural part of the SF bay area  
because the benefits outweigh the costs. It's true that we have much  
faster Internet connections than you do, but I suspect that you have  
cleaner air and cheaper acreage.

If all you care about is speedy Internet access, there are plenty of  
new lofts in San Francisco that will be happy to give you 100 MB/sec+  
rates with no caps for a dollar a day.

I know I'm being a little cute, but there are some important issues  
here: If you live in a low-population-density rural area where your  
only choice is HughesNet satellite service, should IPers living in  
high-density Manhattan condos be taxed to subsidize running fiber to  
the hinterboonies? And maintaining it after storm damage? If it's not  
economically feasible to wire your house at a profit, who will (or  
should) subsidize faster service for you? I know you didn't call for  
such measures, but other IPers have.

BTW, it looks like you might be able to upgrade from the "Pro" to the  
"Elite" plan and boost your cap from 300 MB to 500 MB:
http://consumer.hughesnet.com/faq/fair-access-policy.cfm

-Declan





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