J
Joseph Gwinn
Guest
On Jul 20, 2019, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno@decadence.org wrote
(in article <qgv28s$19l1$1@gioia.aioe.org>:
Marketing had nothing to do with it. One of the major satellite vehicle
upgrades was to increase the transmit power by about 10 dB, a very big deal.
The other upgrade was to turn Selective Availability off.
Joe Gwinn
(in article <qgv28s$19l1$1@gioia.aioe.org>:
Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> wrote in
news:gpfkr2Fgv0jU1@mid.individual.net:
On 18/07/2019 3:44 pm, John Larkin wrote:
At work, we signed up with MonkeyBrains for microwave internet
service. We ordered the 50+50 mbit plan. It's actually speed
testing about 350+350.
And at home, a guy from Comcast (our local cable TV pirates)
knocked on the door and proposed to upgrade us for free, faster
internet and more cable TV (including HBO) for about half our
current price. They swapped out the modem today and the internet
here is now running about 450+50 mbits. AT&T and Sonic keep
leaving flyers on the doorknob offering us a gigabit.
Sounds like mad competition to give away bandwidth. The backbone
fiber links must be moving astronomical amounts of data. Each
county around here might need a petabit per second.
Marketing numbers has always been a thing, whether it's bandwidth,
the output torque of a car engine, or the battery voltage on a
portable drill.
People think higher is better, so that's what the marketers give
them. Sometimes it has some real theoretical significance even if
the user won't notice the difference. Sometimes not.
It's all part of the standard ploy of deceiving the ignorant
punter.
Sylvia.
Look at the GPS accuracy levels when it entered the market.
At first all a consumer could get is maybe 10 yard diameter
resolution and don't even think about getting a reading indoors,
while the mil boys enjoyed full, 'current' accuracy.
Now, folks do not even think about it, they pop up their map app on
their 'smart' phone and their little blue blip pings their location
even if they are tooling down the street in a car.
Marketing had nothing to do with it. One of the major satellite vehicle
upgrades was to increase the transmit power by about 10 dB, a very big deal.
The other upgrade was to turn Selective Availability off.
Joe Gwinn