(08-22-2018 12:09 PM)umbluegray Wrote:  

(08-22-2018 10:36 AM)Claw Wrote:  

(08-22-2018 08:53 AM)Marc Mensa Wrote:  The information superhighway should be a public utility available equally to all.

I don't know about you, but my electric bill goes up if I use more electricity. Water does too.

This.

But also, the installation of smart meters (gas, water & electricity) make it easy for utilities to increase & decrease cost/unit as demand spikes/slows.

The end state of smart meters is:

1. Variable pricing depending on demand load. Higher demand drives prices up while lower demand drives prices down.
   
   Peak time usage happens in the mornings before work, after work in the evenings, weekends, extreme temperature days. It only makes sense that usage rises when you're at home.
   
   To avoid high demand pricing people start doing tasks after hours such as laundry. This could be a bad idea.
2. The ability to control brown-outs and black-outs. Some outages can target specific smart appliances with high draw such as refrigerators and ACs.
   

Power Savings of Smart Meters Prove Slow to Materialize

From California Public Utilities Commission

Quote:Beginning on May 1, 2010, large commercial and industrial customers will be placed on new Peak Day Pricing rates. Customers on these rates will pay different prices for electricity depending on the time of day. On the few hottest days of the year, prices for electricity used between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. will increase further. However, PG&E will notify customers about these peak days one day in advance, so customers can plan accordingly. Beginning on November 1, 2011, medium and small commercial and industrial customers will begin moving to new Peak Day Pricing rates.

Quote:Residential customers may elect to enroll in PG&E’s Smart Rate program, which is designed to encourage customers to reduce their electricity usage at during peak periods. Participants in Smart Rate may also elect a bill protection option for the first full summer of participation.

Regulation can be good in some instances and bad in others.

Do I want internet access regulated? No.
Do I want internet providers to play fair? Yes.

Let the free market pick winners and losers. But this means I need more choices of internet access than just Xfinity/Comcast.

Cspire is coming soon.....

if they're burying here, I can only imagine where else it's happening.....

they've already laid in JXN.....

hell man, when we moved here in '74, it took 5 years for them to wire us in only a few miles outside their current geo mapping....

there's a big difference between hard wiring and wireless transmission....

w/o a splitter and ethernet connection, my ds/us is off the chain fast.......177/12.5.....

here's my latest....

Speed Results
DOWNLOAD SPEED
176.0 Mbps
UPLOAD SPEED
11.9 Mbps
Latency
13 ms
Protocol
IPv6
Host
Memphis, TN