Telcos measure their business in ARPU ( = average revenue per user) and churn ( = % of customers dropping off). They pay a lot less attention to customers acquisition because it cost 7 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain one. So the strategy is to get you into a plan, and then add bells and whistles to justify increasing prices. That means segmenting the offerings and giving you less so you have to buy more.

yes they are but if you get a bundle then there a bit better over here cable internet cost $50 a month at speeds of 10-15mbps DL and 3-6mbs upload but if you package them with phone and tv the total is $100

there are phone line ISP Verizon at&t here that cost $20 but there speed is 1mbs DL and 500kbps upload

i had the verizon before and as you said when online gaming its pretty bad especially if some else is on a PC or other console it was also un reliable i then switched to comcast with there $100 deal no contract and am pretty satisfied with there cable internet never had any issues with DCs

also the tv services has also gone up

 i remember a time long ago i would pay $40 for cable it has now shot up to $70 and they also have less channels than when i was paying $40 yrs ago so i have no chioce but to bundle all 3 cause it would cost me $180 a month if i bought them separately from different providers

also to note comcast offers a economic ISP in my area that still uses cable instead of phone lines its not on there web sites you have to rely ask the sales person which is $25 a month with a speed of 3mbs Dl and 1mb upload imo this is much better than at&t and verizon b/c its a faster more reliable service with the same price

Yes and your internet isn't as slow as shit and labelled 'the worst infrastructure in a developed nation' by pundits.

I WISH we had something approaching what the US has in AU.

Wait, AU is considered worse than US? Wow that's surprising.

Wow, you guys should come to Mexico.

We're ranked like 40 ish, US is in the 30. We ARE suppose to get this cool new fiber-optic network that will bring us to the top of the world but the government who promise this didn't provide enough fund and now they're all arguing how to do it while the budget gets smaller and smaller.

That doesn't sound too different from what we have:

Plans that won't get followed through

Budget gets smaller until it falls into oblivion

eventually fails

Although in the long run I think AU will have it better anyway:

Actually has a plan that would bring acceptable speeds (Under 1mbs definition sucks for us)

Actually has a plan that has potential to catch up with the rest of the world

As my friends say here: [United States] Congress, it's the opposite of progress.

That's enough rambling from me though, I could complain about government all day long. I guess its comforting to know that other countries people feel the same way about the government lol

We don't need the internet. All we NEED is food, water, and shelter. Also, internet is private business that just needs net neutrality regulations that make it so the government can't do things like Egypt.

Other than getting itself out of debt, the US needs to boost its real infrastructure. Meaning, of course, the highway, railway, and power grid systems.

I do agree there are more important infrastructure needs than the internet. However ignoring the internet and not embracing that it will be the future of jobs, sales, etc is stupid. The US needs to put in some infrastructure for it or it will fall behind in the world market as the same for the others. The priority might not favor the internet, but it is a growing and important part that needs to be brought to better standards.

The definition of need on a pure survival basis of hunting and gathering that definition would be correct. However today, to survive, people need jobs to get that food, water, and shelter. The internet is an important medium that is growing which will allow these people to get jobs. The internet as a need is there, and should not be ignored as such.

15mbs 65$ limit of 70 gig a month canadaz internets is the shit, really crapy