Raise the data caps please!!

[JSheridan]

Performance varies from beam to beam and from gateway to gateway. There have been and probably will be more prime time slowdowns while ground infrastructure was/is expanded.

[Captain318]

There was no cherry picking and no tests. They looked at the total usage of each and every customer.

Most broadband customers never watch a HD (or any other) movie. Most broadband customers never game online. Most broadband customers never use Netflix. (I have free Blockbuster but I've never even looked at it.) Most broadband customers never use Skype. It's just one percent or so of broadband customers who use these high bandwidth services. High users always seem to think they're average but they're not.

Prove to me exactly how the test's were conducted without quoting what they said or posted in an article. You can't. We have to take their word for it.

As for your thoughts on how people are using there connections today that's just bologna to say most don't do the things you outlined. Not in this day. Even if mom and dad don't do these things the kids sure are. Maybe at home they aren't online so much now that everyone has there face in a phone or tablet. They battle mobile carriers on that front. But to say most broadband customers don't do these modern day tasks is fallacy.

[MarkTwain]

my friends and family list is pretty extensive and i do not know anyone who doesnt watch movies via broadband....and that includes my parents (in 60's) and my uncles and aunts (in thier 90's) and i am pretty sure that more than 1% of broadband members use netflix (just look at their membership totals, along with amazon, hulu, and vudu) all requireing broadband service. plus if 1% or less use broadband for that, then there would never have been such a demand for faster broadband service in the first place. Plus braodband companies are not taking into account everyone that has to update and/or watch movies via wi-fi connected blu-ray players, tablets, AND phones.

I have no idea what a "friends and family list" might be. It really doesn't matter what the people you know do since obviously they aren't average. I don't know anyone who watches any movie via broadband. I'm age 83 and my kids are in their 50's. They have never watched a movie via Internet broadband. They watch movies via cable TV, not broadband Internet. One also rents from Redbox occasionally, only a dollar from a store two blocks down the street.

The "demand" for faster service is mostly advertising hype and is mostly coming from the top two cell carriers. Both my wife and I have 2G phone service, mine T-Mobile, hers AT&T. We aren't "demanding" anything faster which is just as well since our area won't have 4G in the next 20 years if ever.

I never update mostly since I never use Windows so there's no need to "update" anything. No program on my computer has been updated since April of last year. Nothing on my phone has been "updated" since I switched from Treo to BlackBerry several years ago. The two primary ways people watch movies at home are (1) cable TV (city dwellers) or (2) DISH or DirecTV (rural dwellers). I've had DISH since they started and my kids have always had cable TV since they left home. My brother, my nephews and nieces, my cousins, and in fact nearly everyone I know watches movies on cable TV.

I'm sure I'm not average either but I'm closer than you.

Prove to me exactly how the test's were conducted without quoting what they said or posted in an article. You can't. We have to take their word for it.

There were no tests. None. They went through the data usage of each and every customer. FCC reported approximately the same results. Do you think your tax dollars were spent to make up "test" results?

In this day and age it's simple and cheap to go through the records of each and every customer and see how many use over 8GB per month and how many do not.

But to say most broadband customers don't do these modern day tasks is fallacy.

To say that most broadband customers do these "modern day tasks" is FALSE, an untruth, a lie and most of all a denial of realtiy. The facts are out there.

[LS&N]

i have used all 4 major broadband speed checkers and all four come back about the same with me, around 5mbs,

I have super fast cable
I have, on a number of occasions, opened tabs to speakeasy, speedtest, testmy and toast - then run tests back to back
I can get a low of 6.6 to a high of 29.2 for download test results
I can repeat and get similar each time
Waste of time and bandwidth to me - I get the job done - I'm good

Speedtests are not accurate, just reference points

Maybe just use the service and not waste bandwidth wondering whether it is getting 6meg or 15 or whatever - is it getting the job done? Yes, good...

[Captain318]

I have no idea what a "friends and family list" might be. It really doesn't matter what the people you know do since obviously they aren't average. I don't know anyone who watches any movie via broadband. I'm age 83 and my kids are in their 50's. They have never watched a movie via Internet broadband. They watch movies via cable TV, not broadband Internet. One also rents from Redbox occasionally, only a dollar from a store two blocks down the street.

The "demand" for faster service is mostly advertising hype and is mostly coming from the top two cell carriers. Both my wife and I have 2G phone service, mine T-Mobile, hers AT&T. We aren't "demanding" anything faster which is just as well since our area won't have 4G in the next 20 years if ever.

I never update mostly since I never use Windows so there's no need to "update" anything. No program on my computer has been updated since April of last year. Nothing on my phone has been "updated" since I switched from Treo to BlackBerry several years ago. The two primary ways people watch movies at home are (1) cable TV (city dwellers) or (2) DISH or DirecTV (rural dwellers). I've had DISH since they started and my kids have always had cable TV since they left home. My brother, my nephews and nieces, my cousins, and in fact nearly everyone I know watches movies on cable TV.

I'm sure I'm not average either but I'm closer than you.

There were no tests. None. They went through the data usage of each and every customer. FCC reported approximately the same results. Do you think your tax dollars were spent to make up "test" results?

In this day and age it's simple and cheap to go through the records of each and every customer and see how many use over 8GB per month and how many do not.

To say that most broadband customers do these "modern day tasks" is FALSE, an untruth, a lie and most of all a denial of realtiy. The facts are out there.

Ok they weren't test's but Surveys actually and I think they were done by ISP's not the FCC. I do remember reading up on this quite abit last year.

Here is a good read http://gigaom.com/2012/07/19/america...oadband-usage/

Also you said it yourself, Your 83 and your kids in their 50's. You never even update your system and don't run Windows. You and your family aren't the typical user. In fact, you are in the extreme minority. Most that age avoid the internet and PC's like the plague.

Your last statement about FALSE, Untruth, lie and Denial is outa line. You are the minority and I pointed out why. Broadband consumers are doing these things. Those on Satellite are in these and other boards complaining in droves about how they cannot do so comfortably.

I will not carry on arguing with you as you appear to be very cranky towards those with views that differ from your own

I am in no way complaining about the service we get from Exede as I think its a fantastic service leaps and bounds above the old system. Hopefully, they get out some better DAP's before long though. One graphics card driver update alone has cost me 400mb today toward my rapid climb to DAPPED.
I can't wait until midnight for everything

[MarkTwain]

Ok they weren't test's but Surveys actually and I think they were done by ISP's not the FCC. I do remember reading up on this quite abit last year.

They were NOT surveys. No one asked a customer anything. They were data records of actual usage. Three were done by ISP's, Comcast, AT&T and Verizon. The one done by the FCC obtained data from the ISP's and it may have been based on sampling. The final report from the FCC isn't scheduled to be released before 2016.

Also you said it yourself, Your 83 and your kids in their 50's. You never even update your system and don't run Windows. You and your family aren't the typical user. In fact, you are in the extreme minority. Most that age avoid the internet and PC's like the plague.

I have no need to ever to update my system. I run Linux and there has never been a Linux virus in the wild. Linux viruses don't exist. There is no Linux malware.

While I'm not typical of people my age I am typical in how I use broadband Internet. Don't be too sure how people of various ages use the Internet. More over 50 use social media than those in the 20 to 30 group.

I'm really not typical of my family either. My wife uses Windows 7 and an android tablet and she does update everything. Ditto for my kids. I've never made a Linux convert yet. Two relatives both over 50 use Solaris. I do keep up. I'm running Window 8 Pre-Release in a Linux virtual box but this is only a game, not a serious tool.

Your last statement about FALSE, Untruth, lie and Denial is outa line. You are the minority and I pointed out why. Broadband consumers are doing these things. Those on Satellite are in these and other boards complaining in droves about how they cannot do so comfortably.

I'm not in the minority on how I use the Internet -- I'm typical whether you like it or not. People aren't coming to these forums in droves. Out of hundreds of thousands of Exede users, exactly 8,758 people as of 10:29 CDT have joined this forum. Nearly all were complainers giving a distorted picture.

I will not carry on arguing with you as you appear to be very cranky towards those with views that differ from your own

I'm not arguing. I'm pointing to the real world but you refuse to look and stick to your own preconceived notions. Actually I don't think I expressed any of my own views in this thread. I simply pointed at what people do, not what I think they should do.

However, I am perpetually cranky. I was that way when I was 20. It didn't happen when I turned 80.

Hopefully, they get out some better DAP's before long though. One graphics card driver update alone has cost me 400mb today toward my rapid climb to DAPPED.
I can't wait until midnight for everything

You can't wait. You can't wait for an "update" whose function you probably could never detect. Just how did you determine your graphics card needed an update? How did you figure it was so urgent that it couldn't wait a few hours? Would it blow up your computer? Your house? You notice a big difference now, do you?

[catfan]

i think he is quoting stats and "data records" from the late 80's early 90's. and if nobody used broadband like he says, there sure as h*ll wouldnt be demand for it like there is and via-sat wouldnt be shooting satellites into orbit to keep up with demand for "faster" broadband service!
ask ANYONE half your age, or even 2/3rds your age about there broadband use and i bet you would be quite surprised on how they use it and how much of it they use

[MarkTwain]

i think he is quoting stats and "data records" from the late 80's early 90's. and if nobody used broadband like he says, there sure as h*ll wouldnt be demand for it like there is and via-sat wouldnt be shooting satellites into orbit to keep up with demand for "faster" broadband service!
ask ANYONE half your age, or even 2/3rds your age about there broadband use and i bet you would be quite surprised on how they use it and how much of it they use

Those studies are from 2011 and 2012. They were specifically intended to find out if current caps should be raised, lowered or left alone. What Comcast found is that there's no reason to raise their cap which is 300GB for most customers. They don't want the adverse publicity from lowering the cap even though it would affect fewer than one percent of their customers if their cap were cut in half. So for the time being they're not changing their cap.

There's no demand EXCEPT from Wildblue and Hughesnet customers who have no other choice for broadband. ViaSat has put ONE high speed satellite up and so far there's not enough demand to recover its cost much less have another one launched.

As far as talking to younger people goes I teach a couple of night classes in a community college. I've asked some teenagers about their net usage. They run the entire spectrum. Some say they don't use the Internet except for required classes while others say they play games or watch YouTube every chance they get. I know several people in their 30's who use a computer eight hours a day at work. They say when they get home they don't even want to turn on their computer. They check their email at work and that's it. They have cable TV for entertainment.

Asking your friends and family or my asking some younger people means absolutely nothing. The ISP studies included all their customers. In another study completed last month by XFINITY, a branch of Comcast, they found the median monthly data usage is currently below 12 GB per month which is 4% of the 250GB allowance. People just don't use the net as you imagine.

[MarkTwain]

As I stated earlier in the thread. Speed Tiers are better for business than data caps. You would be a prime candidate for a 3-5Mbps down and 1Mbps up package. Your internet usage is quite minimal than most on here.

You could not possibly have any idea about how MOST here use the Internet.

I got Exede basically for one purpose, a VoIP phone. That's it. I was perfectly happy with dialup for the net. As it is my cost for Exede/VoIP is less than I was paying for dialup/landline. This was a money saver for me, not any desire for faster speed.

The problem is you think your usage level should be the defacto standard for everyone else. It doesn't work that way. Pat yourself on the back for staying under 6GB per month.. I myself would rather have no caps at all because I know data capping for the most part is a scam. I dare you or anyone else to prove to me in a real world scientific manner that it actually balances everyone out and gives fair access. I bet you can't.

I most certainly DO NOT think that my usage should be for anybody else. This is your imagination.

I have no desire whatever to balance everyone out and give fair access. That is socialist thinking. I happen to prefer capitalist thought and fact I'm a stockholder in ViaSat. As such I would prefer that everyone buy the largest most expensive package available. I was merely pointing out something that some here don't want to hear, the fact that most people use comparatively little data even when they have huge caps.

[catfan]

Those studies are from 2011 and 2012. They were specifically intended to find out if current caps should be raised, lowered or left alone. What Comcast found is that there's no reason to raise their cap which is 300GB for most customers. They don't want the adverse publicity from lowering the cap even though it would affect fewer than one percent of their customers if their cap were cut in half. So for the time being they're not changing their cap.

There's no demand EXCEPT from Wildblue and Hughesnet customers who have no other choice for broadband. ViaSat has put ONE high speed satellite up and so far there's not enough demand to recover its cost much less have another one launched.

As far as talking to younger people goes I teach a couple of night classes in a community college. I've asked some teenagers about their net usage. They run the entire spectrum. Some say they don't use the Internet except for required classes while others say they play games or watch YouTube every chance they get. I know several people in their 30's who use a computer eight hours a day at work. They say when they get home they don't even want to turn on their computer. They check their email at work and that's it. They have cable TV for entertainment.

Asking your friends and family or my asking some younger people means absolutely nothing. The ISP studies included all their customers. In another study completed last month by XFINITY, a branch of Comcast, they found the median monthly data usage is currently below 12 GB per month which is 4% of the 250GB allowance. People just don't use the net as you imagine.

we are just going to have to agree to disagree, although i sure wish you would try quoting a "study" that wasnt conducted by the actual service provider who has everything to gain, and lose by the results. but just to save time and end this, i guess you are right and everyone else on here is wrong.