U.S. appeals court strikes down net neutrality. (Off-Topic)

by stabbim , Des Moines, IA, USA, Tuesday, January 14, 2014, 11:55 (3969 days ago) @ Xenos

Also, some consumers don't have a choice. Not a real one, anyway. There are many places where there is only one provider available with connection speed/quality suitable for modern applications. Typically rural areas or small towns, where there may be only one DSL provider available (it's probably hard to imagine if you live in a big city, but cable internet is NOT available everywhere).

Technically, satellite is available nearly everywhere, but have you ever tried to use it? The bandwidth is actually decent, but the horrendous latency (the stuff I tested had 700ms minimum round-trip time) makes it unsuitable for many applications, such as VoIP and most online gaming. And it's unlikely that aspect is going to get any better - it's a natural consequence of the very long trip the signal has to take.