Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 1:29 AM
Mon Nov 9
19 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us: tips@kotaku.com
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
Email | AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
Email | AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
Email | AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
09/14/09
Thanks AT&T for still being the lumbering beast that had to be killed in the 80s.
09/15/09
09/14/09
You define broadband by download speed, upload speed, and latency, amongst other things.
Both parties are obfuscating matters by addressing this issue in terms of services.
09/14/09
Nothing is obfuscated, this is just the means to how the end is described.
09/14/09
I wish, then, that the article would provide what sort of UL/DL speeds AT&T considers to be "broadband". But maybe AT&T didn't go into that.
09/14/09
Don't fool yourself; if most telecoms could get away with only providing web browsing and nothing else, they'd do it in a heartbeat. The more a service actually uses bandwidth, the less they like it, and that extends directly to the people using it.
And gaming eats up a lot of bandwidth.
09/14/09
way to go once again Bush administration for letting this bully back on the block.
but all of that being said basic email and websurfing overall are prolly more important to the general public than gaming but gaming should be right behind these "basics" as it still is (and will only get bigger) a major reason a LOT of people get high speed internet and a lot of people work in the gaming industry (like myself) and use it for work related functions, which just so happen to be gaming and testing.
09/14/09
Americans love monopolies now. I blame the board game.
09/14/09
09/14/09
09/15/09
09/15/09
"The Commission must send to Congress its National Broadband Plan—a set of recommendations for making sure that everybody in the United States has access to broadband."
Here is the thing... your greedy, world destroying, puppy raping businesses already have access to broadband. It's not about how we will manage to get an STM-256x line installed in every walmart, but how to get serviceable internet on par with the rest of the world to people who aren't currently able to access the service. So, without dragging on, they're basically trying to figure out what's the lowest amount of service we can give some family living in a trailer in the Ozarks and still mange to say "we gave them broadband access."
Yes it is about greed in part since they are trying to do it as cheaply as possible, but that's not the point of what's going on. Seven Billion dollars may seem like a lot, but when it comes down to it that's a great deal of work in upgrading or replacing the infrastructure, and the US is a large country with exceptionally low population density throughout basically the middle 2/3 of the country. That $7bn isn't going to stretch very far once all is said and done if you're trying to lay an OC3 to every person in Montana.
09/14/09
09/14/09
no, what the FCC really should be looking at is the US's competitiveness compared to other online nations. South Korea (ZERG RUSH KEKEKE) and a good portion of Japan are now beating the pants off of any US broadband provider. if the US wishes to maintain economic competitiveness in *anything* internet related, the FCC must not listen to the empty braying of companies like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and the like, who all would prefer to take federal dollars without having to actually develop their own infrastructures. at lease Verizon is making some sort of effort with FiOS, but it's not enough.
09/14/09
09/14/09
09/14/09
Lately, using Netflix through 360 has become regular in my house. How would AT&T define this? Gaming? I'm sure they aren't happy with me watching movies so cheaply instead of charging me for On Demand movies.
09/14/09
Well neither is DSL. So get to work lazies.
09/14/09
09/14/09
I'd say thats a pretty damn accurate statement. But then, it is the ESA kicking up a fuss and they are a bunch of nutters after all.
09/14/09
09/15/09
Gamers are just pissy because their hobby isn't quite mainstream enough. QQ.
09/14/09
Pretty much just another way for the communications companies to nickel and dime their customers by offering packages like basic or premium instead of the current transfer speed model of 5mb/10mb/15mb etc.
Unfortunately video games will run (maybe not well) over pretty much any connection (dreamcast had a 56k modem) they would have to filter the traffic based on protocols or just QOS gaming traffic to the bottom of the barrel. The only way for them to limit use would be to actively block the traffic, theres nothing else that would prevent online gaming from working over even the slowest broadband connection. A packet is a packet, unless they are shaping the traffic, applying QOS, or filtering based on protocol.
To sum it up, they are gonna fuck us.
09/14/09
also, unless things have changed in the last few years most games use UDP. another easy target? non port-53 (usually DNS) based UDP. protect a few other low hanging fruit and gimp the rest.
it would probably be easy to just nail anything not on port 80, 443, 25, 53, etc. what do they care if your ssh sessions go to 800ms latencies? i'm exaggerating a bit here, but having worked on similar technology there is far more room for evil than good when you start trying to prioritize network traffic.
09/14/09
HOORAY! Finally a Shining Force MMO!!
I'm gonna have like 10 werewolves and like 10 hawkmen and kick all your asses!!
(You know... when it's my turn to position my characters)
09/14/09
09/14/09
Why they're doing this is beyond me, because you know the government is going to pony up some serious scratch for AT&T (and others) to expand and enhance broadband service (if even just a little, so a nation as big as the US doesn't look like its being left behind the rest of the western world with cheap/powerful broadband.)
09/14/09
Frankly, the lack of meaningful competition in internet connectivity (I'm sorry, choosing between slow DSL, shoddy cable, and overpriced laggy satellite is not competition) is one of the major areas where the US is falling behind the rest of the civilized world.
09/14/09
The fact of the matter is, we do. Broadband at this point serves perfectly well for e-mail and regular surfing, but goes little beyond that. AT&T doesn't have to get off their asses to keep the infrastructure as it is, but they won't.
Jeez with communications companies in the US. All of them charge premium prices for sub-par service.
09/14/09
I connected it anyway, with the help of another CS rep who told me that it is crap and how he did it.
09/14/09
When I first got PSO for Dreamcast I had a hell of a time setting it up. I needed information to input into the DC browser and they wouldn't give it to me when I told them it was for a Dreamcast. I called again and didn't explain why I needed it and they have me everything I needed.
I think they just hear the word "video games " and automatically deny you because they are idiot reps that don't know better.
09/14/09
09/14/09
Yeah. My entire neighborhood has shitty connections routinely because of Comcast's crappy service. Neither my own nor my neighbors' connections are anywhere near what I would call acceptable. I know because after my internet connection just stopped working and Comcast claimed nothing could possibly be wrong for about a month, I asked for my neighbor's permission to piggyback his. I'm still paying for my internet, but my neighbor's router somehow hasn't eaten shit and died yet.
Similarly, my father had a local cable company (Delphi, I believe it was called) from which he got basic cable and internet for $13 per month. Comcast then bought out Delphi and made their standard $99 offer for cable/phone/internet. My father told them to go fuck themselves. I still don't know how he lives without internet, but I'm glad he doesn't support their bullshit.
My mother plans on canceling our cable and getting Netflix in its place. I'm pretty damn excited about the idea of that.
09/14/09
09/14/09
09/14/09
Corporate CEOs are scum. All of them.
09/14/09
If there was real competition to provide broadband and companies had to worry about marketing (as they do here in Korea) they wouldn't be able to pull crap like this.
09/14/09
It was exactly the same where I used to live, except replace all instances of Time Warner Cable with Comporium. Really, the only choice you have is to pay the exorbitant fees, move to a different town, or go without.
09/14/09
Adding the "nothing" choice to "shitty service for terrible price" isn't that much better than just having the latter choice. Capitalism at its finest.
09/14/09
09/14/09
09/15/09
You're not very familiar with how big businesses (best example, Wal-Mart) handle small business competition, are you?