Gigabit so near yet so far. Just 35 dollars a month.

techs

Lifer
Sep 26, 2000
28,559
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http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/26/4...ompany-offering-35-per-month-gigabit-internet

Vermont telephone company offering $35-per-month gigabit internet service

Vermont Telephone Co. (known as VTel) is one of those: it's now offering a gigabit internet service for $35. The telephone company has been working on building out a fiber network direct to its customers' homes since 2010, when it won a $81 million grant from the USDA as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. (The USDA has awarded funds to other broadband initiatives around the country as well as part of the act.) VTel plans to replace all of its current customers' DSL connections with fiber service by the end of the year for no extra cost — hence the $35-per-month price tag.

The company serves 17,500 Vermont homes, according to The Wall Street Journal, and 600 have signed up so far. VTel's grant from the USDA is also being used to build out an LTE network to serve parts of the state that aren't wired — it expects to have that ready by the end of the year as well.

Note: you have to also have their regular phone service and long distance. Local calling is 20 per month.



Damn. Literally just miles from me. I have customers who will be able to get it.
 
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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,532
13,781
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www.anyf.ca
Damn, that's awesome!

There are some unconfirmed rumors we might be getting fiber here, but they are all but rumors. I can't see it happening, but it sure would be awesome! I'll be able to host all my web stuff at home and save money. Always easier to manage servers that are a walk away than some that are 1000km away.
 

Demo24

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
8,356
9
81
I wish this fiber stuff would come somewhere I actually would want to live. Kc,nope, Provo, meh, Austin, too damn hot( otherwise not bad), Seattle, tempting, Vermont, probably OK but not much up there.

Someone should bring it to Athens so I wouldn't have an overly compelling reason to move ( charter already has the fiber here, but super expensive to get).
 

Charles Kozierok

Elite Member
May 14, 2012
6,762
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You must be up north. You'll get it soon enough.

We in the south are the red-headed stepchildren of the state and will probably have to wait another decade. :/
 

techs

Lifer
Sep 26, 2000
28,559
4
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If enough areas, even small areas, get gigabit and it turns out those areas see real economic growth then I think that will start the ball rolling by getting communities clamoring to get it too.
 

Jumpem

Lifer
Sep 21, 2000
10,757
3
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What would you need that for? Serious question. Most websites seem limited between 1Mbps and 2Mbps. Cheap 25Mbps seems like overkill already.
 

techs

Lifer
Sep 26, 2000
28,559
4
0
What would you need that for? Serious question. Most websites seem limited between 1Mbps and 2Mbps. Cheap 25Mbps seems like overkill already.

Why did people want a car that could go 40 miles an hour back when their were no roads? Because when cars could go 40 miles an hour roads were built to handle 40 miles per hour cars.

When people had dial up web pages were designed for dial up and web hosters were designed for dial up. When people starting getting high speed internet, web pages and web hosters were built for the higher speeds.
 

Jumpem

Lifer
Sep 21, 2000
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downloading files/content? whenever I download a large file I always max out my connection speed (~53mbps).

Where are you downloading from to see those speeds?

I generally don't download "content" because it is either illegal, or overpriced to get from a legal provider.
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
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What would you need that for? Serious question. Most websites seem limited between 1Mbps and 2Mbps. Cheap 25Mbps seems like overkill already.

Good question. Reminds me.....I'll never need more than a 20MB drive. I think I'll cancel the 2TB drive that I just ordered.:awe:
 

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
428
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Where are you downloading from to see those speeds?

I generally don't download "content" because it is either illegal, or overpriced to get from a legal provider.

I see the full use of my current 25Mb/s connection pretty much every day downloading torrents
 

Murloc

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2008
5,382
65
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I have 20 mbps so I don't really feel the need for fiber but it'd be nice to have a connection that cheap.

When I download linux distros and other well-seeded open source stuff from torrent I always max out at 2.1 MB/s.

I reach 2.1 MB/s with downthemall on firefox when downloading from http too.

I don't need stuff immediately so it's okay, but I can definitely see the utility for higher speeds.
Like on youtube, I would like a grey bar that fills up instantly.

So yeah, I see the limits of 20 mbps every day.
 
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Mixolydian

Lifer
Nov 7, 2011
14,566
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gilramirez.net
Where are you downloading from to see those speeds?

I generally don't download "content" because it is either illegal, or overpriced to get from a legal provider.

Software vendors. Downloading updates. Software trials. Most servers' connections are much faster than consumers' internet speeds.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
33,044
11,221
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What would you need that for? Serious question. Most websites seem limited between 1Mbps and 2Mbps. Cheap 25Mbps seems like overkill already.

Offsite backups? Hosting files to use on your mobile devices? I really want a fast upload speed.
Those are the first two that sprung to mind.
 

Jumpem

Lifer
Sep 21, 2000
10,757
3
81
Offsite backups? Hosting files to use on your mobile devices? I really want a fast upload speed.
Those are the first two that sprung to mind.

Commercial offsite backup? What do you use? I have never liked the idea of putting my data in the cloud. I want to get around to getting a safe deposit box to keep external drives in.
 

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
428
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And I'm sure everyone is just downloading gigabytes of family photos and Word documents. ;)

well considering microsoft has made it a pain to get a windows 8 ISO I have lately been using it to download that, I have a working legal key, but I dont have a disc, so I use torrents to download it. Sue me :p



of course it doesnt really matter what I download considering I use a SOCKS5 proxy anyway
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
And I'm sure everyone is just downloading gigabytes of family photos and Word documents. ;)

No but I did download (at home) over 20GB of Rockwell software updates and will need to do it again (for the rest of them) over the next few weeks. I haven't updated in some time and each of the files are 2GB each. Not so much the time but the fact that it took all of my bandwidth for those hours (couldn't do anything else).

Windstream (in Lexington) just sent out a flyer stating that they have an all fiber network (except to the home). I wonder if that is the next step (extending fiber to the home). I have seen them pull the fiber cables into the boxes around the neighborhood.