Speed history

GHz-Man · 2026-04-07T17:07:42+00:00

I found this speed chart on an old Comcast press release: Amazing to see how much bandwidth they’ve been able to squeeze out of the same cable over the decades, with even more to come. What was everyone’s original speed over cable? We lived in one of the early launch markets for Comcast in Maryland. At the time it was part of “@Home” still. We signed up in 1998 around the same time we got the original iMac, so we never actually even used dial-up. That was our first internet connection and first home desktop. My dad had a Windows 95 laptop for work, but that had no internet on it and he only used it for spreadsheets and Word documents. I think it was around 1Mbps download / 128kbps upload with whatever D1.0 modem Comcast was using at the time.

Web-Shooter

hex0101 75/10 is still more than fast enough for 4K streaming and any normal residential use.

Mosaic

Web-Shooter Oh and by the way, anyone with a PS4 or PS5 can get Bravia Core (now Sony Pictures Core). I also just saw that it’s available through Amazon Prime Video, including IMAX Enhanced high bitrate content, for $6.99/mo after a 7 day trial.

Mosaic

Web-Shooter There are apps that are easy enough to find.

New movies aren’t $4.99 by the way, they’re like $25 to rent now.

I’m not paying $25 to rent something and I’m not paying $30 to buy something I’ll watch once and never again. Not to mention that you don’t actually own it when you buy it, just until they kill the license. When prices come back to reality, I’ll pay, otherwise, I have no remorse.

Web-Shooter

Mosaic New movies aren’t $4.99 by the way, they’re like $25 to rent now.

That’s a movie that’s still in theaters… that’s why it’s so expensive.

They regularly have movies on sale (not rental) for $4.99

Mosaic Not to mention that you don’t actually own it when you buy it, just until they kill the license.

Non-issue.

I’ve never had Apple take any of my purchases away since I’ve been buying movies from them since 2008.

Regardless, Apple lets you download any of your purchases as .m4v files which you can back up or do anything you want with. So even in the very rare event they lose the rights to something, you can still watch your downloaded copy.

Mosaic Oh and by the way, anyone with a PS4 or PS5 can get Bravia Core

Yes, but the high-quality 80Mbps streams (Pure Stream) is limited only to the Bravia TVs.

It doesn’t work on the PS5 or anything else.

And again, the selection is very limited since you can only watch Sony Pictures movies…

Mosaic

Web-Shooter That’s a movie that’s still in theaters… that’s why it’s so expensive.

I’ve seen new releases no longer in theaters in the $20-$25 range too. I’m not paying that.

Web-Shooter Regardless, Apple lets you download any of your purchases as .m4v files

These are all under FairPlay DRM.

Web-Shooter Yes, but the high-quality 80Mbps streams (Pure Stream) is limited only to the Bravia TVs.

You are correct from Sony’s FAQ. I wasn’t aware of that. Kind of ridiculous honestly but Sony is going to Sony at the end of the day.

Web-Shooter

Mosaic I’ve seen new releases no longer in theaters in the $20-$25 range too. I’m not paying that.

Yeah, I usually wait to buy them until they go on sale. Lots of great movies on sale right now for $4.99, and it changes every few weeks.

But for a new release I’ll usually just rent it anyway, not buy it.

Mosaic These are all under FairPlay DRM.

Yeah, and?

Unless you’re trying to upload them online for others to watch for free, that’s not an issue.

They play just fine on any of your devices.

Mosaic

Web-Shooter Unless you’re trying to upload them online for others to watch for free, that’s not an issue.

Just because Apple hasn’t revoked the DRM before doesn’t mean they never will. You don’t actually own what you buy from Apple is the point.

EDIT: We have thoroughly derailed this thread. Oops.

Web-Shooter

Mosaic That hasn’t happened, and I’m not worried about it happening.

For example, in 2007 when NBC pulled their TV shows off iTunes (for about a year), people who had already purchased TV shows didn’t lose access to their purchases, the shows just weren’t available any more for new purchases.

I actually can’t find any examples of people losing access to their purchased movies / TV shows, even if the company later loses the rights to it. It would be a PR nightmare for them, and Apple is especially sensitive to bad press and upsetting their customers. I just don’t see it happening. There would be mass outrage if millions of people lost access to things they had purchased.

I think people deserve to get paid for their work, especially with A.I. now.

I wish the ISPs were still shutting off internet service to people caught pirating things.

Mosaic

Web-Shooter Sony revoked the licenses of customers for Discovery content in 2023 after losing the rights to it. Any service that shut down, people lost that content too. There was a big brouhaha in 2007 when older content from the MLB became unplayable because the original servers shut down.

So no, I’m not paying for content I don’t own. If buying isn’t ownership, piracy isn’t theft. We begrudgingly pay for streaming services and that’s as far as we will go.

Also, I use a VPN that doesn’t log, with a bulletproof kill switch and the client bound to the virtual interface, so they couldn’t catch me anyway.

Web-Shooter

Mosaic Sony revoked the licenses of customers for Discovery content in 2023 after losing the rights to it.

Nope, they were going to, but quickly reversed that after the massive backlash and media attention:

Due to updated licensing arrangements, the Discovery content removal planned for December 31, 2023 is no longer occurring.

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/legal/psvideocontent/

Imagine the backlash if Apple or Google did that. Not happening.

lesmikesell

Mosaic So no, I’m not paying for content I don’t own.

Being able to control content is kinda the point of copyright protection.

Web-Shooter

Mosaic So no, I’m not paying for content I don’t own.

Technically, you don’t fully own those DVDs or Blu-Rays you buy either.

You buy them with the agreement that you’re buying them for your own personal use. Those discs come with legal restrictions too.

The discs have copy protection on them. Yes, it can be broken, but you’re violating the law at that point and it’s not part of the rights they sold you.

You also can’t show them publicly without the rights from the studio. For example, you can’t legally set up a projector and sell tickets for people to watch your Star Wars Blu-Ray that you bought.

Even if you’re showing it for free, the studios have restrictions on showing them publicly.

Mosaic

Web-Shooter Good that the backlash stopped them. I hadn’t heard that follow up of course.

Web-Shooter

Mosaic Either way, I’d think they would at least refund everyone if they did remove something.

I know in the few cases where Apple has lost the rights to something, or a customer moved from the US to Europe and the rights are different in each country, Apple refunded the customer for their purchases they could no longer access.

So I wouldn’t really care honestly as long as I got a refund.

Mosaic

Web-Shooter I would rather have something that can’t be revoked in the first place.

It’s not like we are huge offenders with piracy either. The majority of stuff we watch, like King of the Hill and Star Trek, is on streaming services we pay for but the app we use is just more convenient to have everything right there in one app and like I said, streaming usenet and cached torrents tends to be more reliable than the streaming services themselves. One of the debrid services I have is connected to a bunch of CDNs with servers all over the world and routes between them for the best performance. It’s honestly insane how good they are.

Web-Shooter

Mosaic I would rather have something that can’t be revoked in the first place.

That’s fine. I’m just not worried about it, personally. Most people aren’t.

Physical media will be dead soon anyway, so your pirate copies soon won’t be any higher quality than what we’re all watching on streaming.

There’s not going to be any 8K format, or successor to the 4K Blu-Ray.

Mosaic

lesmikesell Being able to control content is kinda the point of copyright protection.

I’m well aware. I am willing to pay for video game licenses but I’m not doing it with video. If I don’t own it, I’m not going to buy it.

Web-Shooter Technically, you don’t fully own those DVDs or Blu-Rays you buy either.

Haven’t bought a DVD or Bluray disc since probably 2009. I haven’t had the cash or the space to store them. I choose to spend my (meager) entertainment budget on gaming instead.

lesmikesell

Mosaic I’m well aware. I am willing to pay for video game licenses but I’m not doing it with video. If I don’t own it, I’m not going to buy it.

Then you shouldn’t be storing copies of it either. It’s entirely possible to watch enough vidoe to keep from being bored without actually having a copy of anything.

Mosaic

lesmikesell I don’t store it. The debrid and usenet services cache it on their servers and I stream what I want from them. I didn’t want the storage expense of a Plex server so I just never built an offline library. There is some obscure older stuff that I have to actually download myself but that’s pretty rare.

lesmikesell

Mosaic So instead of violating copyright yourself you pay someone else to do it. Sounds like the way the government approaches surveillance on citizens these days, so it must be OK.

Mosaic

lesmikesell One of the services I use is 17 years old, another is 15 years old, and another is a whopping 32 years old so clearly lots of people have been enjoying having a middle man in their piracy downloads.

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