AT&T says proper 'broadband' excludes online gaming

Stine

Stine

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http://dvice.com/archives/2009/09/att-says-proper.php
AT&T and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) are currently battling over what constitutes a broadband connection. The ESA, which is obviously interested in getting games into as many homes as possible, is taking issue with an AT&T filing to the FCC which called online gaming an "aspirational service" and that "the pressing concern is not the ability to engage in real-time, two-way gaming, but obtaining meaningful access to the Internet's resources and to reliable email communications and other basic tools that most of the country has come to expect as a given."

Kenneth L. Doroshow, Senior Vice President of the ESA, fired back in a statement to the Comission with: "What AT&T describes as aspirational services are no less important to the future of the Internet than email and web browsing were to the past and are today."

Broadband penetration in the US was at 63% back in March, meaning there's quite a bit of the country that still doesn't have high speed Internet. AT&T's proposal favors institutions and business, while the ESA is pushing for a net neutral approach that lets people use the net as they wish.

Of course, you can't say "Internet" without also thinking Google. The search-engine-turned-everything's opinion on what broadband should be? "A high-quality, 'always on,' packet switched, technology-neutral, high speed communications transmission platform. This platform further should allow users to harness the Internet, access and upload content, and otherwise engage in high-speed two-way connectivity and interactivity."
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The FCC recently asked how broadband should be defined and a lot of sources including AT&T, Google, and Wired Magazine have responded. As far as I have heard AT&T is the only one trying to determine it by services provided instead of the amount of data provided.

Personally I hope that whoever is making the decision doesn't agree with AT&T and/or get paid by AT&T. I know that I probably wouldn't have broadband if I didn't play online games or watch videos online.
 
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Stine said:
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/09/att-says-proper.php


The FCC recently asked how broadband should be defined and a lot of sources including AT&T, Google, and Wired Magazine have responded. As far as I have heard AT&T is the only one trying to determine it by services provided instead of the amount of data provided.

Personally I hope that however is making the decision doesn't agree with AT&T and/or get paid by AT&T. I know that I probably wouldn't have broadband if I didn't play online games or watch videos online.
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Or download porn. I've heard stories about you...

Also:

Stine said:
Personally I hope that however is making the decision doesn't agree with AT&T and/or get paid by AT&T.
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;)
 
Stine said:
Bah. :P I don't have to download porn. ;)
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ew ew ew bald person sex! :hiding:

:Edit: Where I just recently moved to, there hasn't been any form of high speed internet until about 4 months ago. Until then, people had to make due with either dial-up or satellite, so even the crappy DSL we get was a more than welcome change for the locals. Not everyone is a gamer, or needs the capacity to do so.
 
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Can we at least try to get 1 page in before everything gets deleted?
 
Yeah, our internet sucks compared to the rest of the world, and I reckon the fault of companies like AT&T, mmhmm.
Bastard Swords!
French fried `taters!
 
Cort said:
Yeah, our internet sucks compared to the rest of the world, and I reckon the fault of companies like AT&T, mmhmm.
Bastard Swords!
French fried `taters!
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Actually, it's not the quality of the internet that's the problem (unfiltered internet for the free world isn't a bad thing), it's the quality of the lines it runs on.

American lines, data and phone, are horrendously outdated because companies like AT&T had, at one time, a monopoly on the technology to improve them, and simply put, they didn't. Advances in land-line technologies have improved the quality of lines in other countries because of diversity in competition - not the case here.
 
Tristam Green said:
Actually, it's not the quality of the internet that's the problem (unfiltered internet for the free world isn't a bad thing), it's the quality of the lines it runs on.
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That is almost exactly what the AT&T repairman told me when I asked why our internet blows. It’s also why I won’t pay twice as much money for the “Pro” speeds they advertise for gamers. I doubt I'd see much of a difference.
 
You wouldn't. DSL Lite versus DSL Pro or whatever has little to no difference.

Unless of course, you're doing streaming video, music, and movies, along with Folding@Home, with gaming and large file transfers at the same time.
 
Man how I hate AT&T and this just solidifies it even more.
 
As least Google has the financial resources to mount a campaign against AT&T...so long as AT&T remains the lone, dissenting provider.
 
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