Mind Like Water

1 mb internet is all we need

There's been a lot of buzz lately about Google Fiber in Kansas City, and how that's how internet should be.

Honestly, I haven't cared about how fast my internet was since I convinced my parents to switch from dialup to cable.

The far, far more important thing has always been reliability. I just got back from a 3 month trip in Costa Rica. The internet there is anything but reliable. But at it's best, sitting in a reclining chair in our apartment in Santo Domingo, I got a 1 mb connection.

And you know what? 1 mb is good enough for just about anything I want to do. I could stream HBO Go (using a US VPN of course, since they don't allow international traffic), I could download linux ISOs, I could listen to streaming music.

I don't think a 1,000 mb connection is going to be the standard any time soon. I would much prefer ISPs to focus on providing a reliable, everywhere 1meg connection that spans the country.

In Costa Rica, that internet cost me $18/month. Why not the same here? $20/month seems perfect for basic, reliable internet. No data caps, no throttling (below the 1 mb limit of course). Simple.