Hacker News Reader

Comment by daveFNbuck | Hacker News Reader

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a bit smaller and more densely populated than New Jersey. Yet I have an unreliable and expensive 20mbps connection. If this issue were about size, Silicon Valley would have world-class high speed internet.

View on HN

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the problem is the sense of good enough. I have the option to purchase 100mbps but I am only paying for 20mbps because it is virtually good enough for everything I do: working from home, video chat, streaming HD videos, backing up to iCloud, etc. When I rent HD movies from iTunes, my wait time is 0.

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of cheap super high-speed internet, just like I like my streets to be repaved nicely every year.

GP did mention that his connection is unreliable, which is true for me as well (suburb of Milwaukee, WI). When it's working, it's fast enough. But there are plenty of days it's slow or not working when I want it. That I'd like fixed.

Yeah, it's great until you want to stream a movie on a 3-day weekend.

The question would be why is it unreliable. SF is known for NIMBY issues, so is it something like that holding up new cabling?

I live on the east coast, and was irked to watch neighbors complain about bad cell service and about a new cell tower going up in the same breath.

Silicon Valley has 100 or 200 Mbit Internet options available, and for the lucky, gigabit Internet. Funny thing is, like money in the Valley, it's very unevenly distributed. (I pay ~$50/month for 100Mbit)

Silicon Valley covers a large number of municipalities, and without specifying which one you're in, all I can say sorry, 20 Mbit is slow these days.

I live in Redwood City, where I have the choice between a slower AT&T connection and a faster Comcast connection. It's partially my fault for being unwilling to pay Comcast, but these are the only choices available just a short drive from Palo Alto.

I live in San Mateo and also pay $50/month for 100mpbs, which is mostly reliable, and the speed is 'good enough'. I could pay more but the gains in speed aren't worth the extra $$.

The building next door to me is wired for fiber through one provider, Wave, and offers 1gig for $80/month: https://gowaveg.com. I'd love to switch and pay the extra $30 for much better internet but I can't get access to it as a single customer since it is decided building by building.

Sunnyvale here, it's Comcast (now including data caps!) or DSL.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com