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230 Comments
- InfamousAtheist, on 05/30/2008, -9/+419I don't care about free access - I want meaningful competition in the broadband market!
- lorductape, on 05/30/2008, -0/+220we NEED competition so that companies like comcast can't throttle bittorrent and get away with it.
- zerobriers, on 05/30/2008, -14/+193I am currently reading this using free access
- cyburdine, on 05/30/2008, -3/+171We had free internet access... it was called Net Zero... it sucked.
- MWeather, on 05/30/2008, -2/+162Your neighbor's open wireless network isn't free, it's just free for you.
- thanakar, on 05/30/2008, -1/+110You can bet this free access will come with many restrictions on its use.
- sputnike, on 05/30/2008, -1/+77Its a good idea, but will the provider be allowed to advertise? If so, enter Google.
- dsmx, on 05/30/2008, -3/+61How about offering basic broadband for free forcing the pay broadband providers to actually offer a decent service at affordable prices isn't that competition?
- wkm001, on 05/30/2008, -5/+55Let me tell you what Comcast isn't scared of. This auction! Do you really think a company can setup the infrastructure, support, and hardware for this frequency...... Give it away, and stay in business? No! The business model for this does not yet exist.
Part of the 700MHz auction was setup this way. No one bid on it. What is different about this? The frequency is very different. 25MHz will penetrate very well but it doesn't have enough oscillations per second to carry hardly any amount of data. - MrSketch, on 05/30/2008, -0/+45In fact, one of the requirements is that the provider must filter obscene content.
Slashdot discussed this yesterday:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/29 ... - orxor, on 05/30/2008, -0/+45Free internet access or free to you internet access?
- beersnob, on 05/30/2008, -1/+38The article is inaccurate! The part of the spectrum that is up for auction is 25 MHz of some 2.X GHz band, Not 25 MHz. 25 MHz is an HF band. There isn't the bandwidth there to get any meaningful speed, not to mention propagation and interference issues!
- cquinnd, on 05/30/2008, -3/+34Comcast is in the process of rolling out Docsis 3.0 supporting hardware in their major markets. Even with complaints about their service, all they have to do is continue to offer something faster than the speed of a free access plan and they stay competitive.
It would be nice to see some kind of free and ubiquitous access solution since people started moving beyond dial up. - ridium, on 05/30/2008, -0/+30There is always a catch, though. The FCC has said that content filtering will be mandatory:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2 ... - nc0onc0o, on 05/30/2008, -0/+29I don't think "a portion of the 25 megahertz spectrum" will support this kind of service. I suspect someone misread. A 25MHz chunk of the 700 MHz frequencies recently auctioned would make more sense.
- mooseman923, on 05/30/2008, -2/+30cue google!
- drplump, on 05/30/2008, -0/+27Not if they block bit torrent and movie downloads from services that they don't provide.
- chanop, on 05/30/2008, -0/+26Netzero started off 100% free dialup. Juno had a free service. They had a rotating java banner, that you could easily do away with. Those were the days
- ovset, on 05/30/2008, -2/+26Am I the only one who doesn't want the FCC to have ANYTHING to do with the Internet?
Maybe I'm paranoid, but the FCC can choke on it and die. I'd rather pay and deal with Comcast's ***** all day than use a service provided by the unconstitutional government agency whose original purpose was to limit free speech (they still do, if you haven't noticed). No thanks. - rakovlam, on 05/30/2008, -0/+24I'm pretty sure it's not totally free, seeing how your mom probably asks you to take out the trash once in awhile.
- deeboe, on 05/30/2008, -0/+24What? No pr0n? That's all I use the Internet for at home. damn.
- craiginct, on 05/30/2008, -0/+21Oh Google, we need you now - more than ever.
You're full of money - DO THIS! - GuyHersh, on 05/30/2008, -0/+20... But he commented that before anyone else commented.
- luchid, on 05/30/2008, -5/+24Apples and oranges. Now be quiet.
- arjie, on 05/30/2008, -0/+18Apparently not. There's content filtering.
- geobay, on 05/30/2008, -0/+17How is hacking your modem going to get you free access? I have DD-WRT on my router and unfortunately the service is still Comcastic.
- slezzzter, on 05/30/2008, -0/+17Don't be so sure. Once data starts flowing through the "public's airwaves" the FCC could easily decide to censor, shape, and monitor it under terms of the bandwidth license.
Wireless internet is less like radio, and more like a cell phone. The feds already get the telcos to spy on cell phone conversations. What makes you so sure they wouldn't require data about individual net use. - zantos420, on 05/30/2008, -0/+15i like the idea of both :)
- cparker, on 05/30/2008, -0/+15You mean "and voila, stolen access". It all makes sense now.
- kurtwinter, on 05/30/2008, -2/+15If you mean "stolen from a neighbor", than ya, its free.
- TheSkunkMonkey, on 05/30/2008, -0/+13I'm surprised more comments aren't making note of the "obscene" material filter that will be required by anyone operating this "free" service.
Of course, everyone's definition of obscene is different and the FCC has been notoriously bad at defining it. - inactive, on 05/30/2008, -3/+14Will I still be able to download my porn?
- twiztidsinz, on 05/30/2008, -0/+10Care to expand upon your first part?
- juzcallmeg0d, on 05/30/2008, -1/+11no porn?
what else is the internet for? - fac3less, on 05/30/2008, -0/+10Ugh, they already do -- google wired at&t backroom
- backintheday, on 05/30/2008, -0/+9please be google, please be google, please be google... I'll click on you ads just be google!
- mageofdeath, on 05/30/2008, -0/+9only because it was dial up based, and a little late...
- chemchris, on 05/30/2008, -3/+12Sneaky- if the FCC gets their fingers in it, they will probably try to regulate the content. Well played FCC.... well played.
- briguymaine, on 05/30/2008, -1/+10I remember having a banner on my desktop that you clicked once in a while to let them know you were there and getting paid $2 a months or something because you watched the ads all day. Of course there was a mac app called okeydokey that did the clicking for me. And now I'm $6 richer for it. I agree, those were the days, our kids won't believe these stories!
- john2kx, on 05/30/2008, -1/+9it has nothing to do with your computer, and everything to do with your modem and isp.
- warchant, on 05/30/2008, -0/+8my local (family owned) broadband provider just upped their speeds. they stated that downloading music and large files *cough* movies *cough* were the main reason for upping the speeds. imagine that...a broadband company providing faster speeds because of what they know users are using the internet for. amazing.
- dsmx, on 05/30/2008, -1/+9Just because something is free it doesn't make it socialist.
- jehan60188, on 05/30/2008, -0/+8I'm usually doing several things online at a time, so waiting for a youtube video of cats playing the piano is something worth doing if it's free...
- tsunamisteve, on 05/30/2008, -0/+7Have you ever dealt with Comcast support? Or lack thereof? I spent ALL DAY on the phone with them yesterday just trying to upgrade my plan to get a static IP. No go. Everyone greeted me and passed me to another department. It was awful.
Just like outsourcing tech support finally got to Dell, I hope people wake up and realize how terrible Comcast is to their customers. - borez, on 05/30/2008, -1/+8"meaning that whoever licenses the spectrum must provide internet access to people for free."
You can imagine how throttled that service will be though - kaelyiesta, on 05/30/2008, -0/+7I am highly skeptical that this announcement, even if its approved by the commissioners, will hurt comcasts market. History has shown that the FCC is more in the business of protecting the telcos and censoring content rather than regulating the industry itself. This looks more like just a bone they toss us to look good.
The day the fed government actually fights this monopolistic industry rather than protecting it, allowing actual competition to arise, is the day I'll believe anything the FCC does is for our benefit and not itself and the telcos. - duckyinc, on 05/30/2008, -0/+6The free stuff has strings attached and all ISPs are afraid not just comcast.Oh and free internet without bittorent anyone?
- flashpointbob, on 05/30/2008, -1/+7If this provision goes through, and this goes up on the auction block. Whoever buys it will use it to spam us with ads, and because it is free we will be forced to sit through some ads because that is the kind of BS that happens in situations like these.
- GreyColumbus, on 05/30/2008, -0/+6Erotic stories.
- KibibyteBrain, on 05/30/2008, -3/+9For he is the chosen one, the one that legends foretold to deliver onto us the message reaffirming that the government always does less amazing things via regulation than they think they do.
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