Not if they're the same company (as it seemed like you were asking for)
You're right, if the home/mobile internet source are the same company and there is only one company doing that then it would be a monopoly. But if there is more than one company offering a one-source ISP solution then that is not a monopoly.
I want to have ONE subscription to THE internet
Monopolistic buyouts will someday make this "dream" a reality. You pay for connectivity, not for a subscription to "the Internet" as if it's some sort of monolithic service.
If you want a big wired pipe, it's better for pricing and for it to be a competitor to cellular providers.
I definitely see your point, monopolies are not desired. But, you're assuming there won't be competition between the home&mobile internet providers.
Thanks to the limits of physically available bandwidth, the bandwidth appetites of consumers for HD, 4K, 8K, 16K! streaming video and the ever-increasing population density of cities, your dream will always be just that: a dream. We will never satisfy all bandwidth appetites in dense urban areas with a ubiquitous, robust, single wireless solution that also works out in the boonies.
Just settle in and prepare for a confederation of wired, satellite, long distance wireless, cellular wireless, in room high frequency wireless, and other connectivity options all pushed by competing vendors (and, as compared to the telcom monopolies of old, I'd say that's a good, or at least preferable, thing.)
What if the burden of high data capacity for at-home HD streaming didn't fall on the mobile wifi infrastructure? What if there was a wired/wireless solution from one vendor?
You know what I want? I want to only pay for internet access ONCE. I want to have ONE subscription to THE internet and use it via mobile or at home with my PC. I don't want to pay ATT or Verizon or Sprint for my phone and then pay Comcast or some other ISP for my home internet.
Of course, I can do this now with a cellular contract, I can have mobile data and get one of those cellular based access points. But it's impractical due to usage limits and almost no-one does this because the minute you turn on Netflix you just went over your pathetic monthly morsel of bandwidth.
I dream of some future day when we all just pay for internet one time per month.
This is totally worth it. What would happen if there was a REAL disaster (like a nuclear strike) and people couldn't check their facebook feed and post "thoughts and prayers" messages? Too terrible to think about.
After 10,000 likes the radiation poisoning gets better
How about putting on a virtualization layer, like XEN, then putting on your preferred windows flavor?
The problem is, Windows 7 is good until 2020, no-one wants 8.x or Vista, XP is no longer supported. 10 will be the inevitable windows choice in about 3.25 years.
One more thing -
I am prepared to move from windows 10 to linux or back to 7 to do my day to day computing. I don't have a problem right now with 10 but I do not trust Microsoft and I am still suspicious as to why they would GIVE US something for "FREE" because that is not like them.
I put it on because a) I have programs that need windows and b) I need to be familiar with it because people still pay me to fix computers so and 3) it's new and I wanted to.
I understand how it looks that I had to take off my AV to fix a right click bug. I figure that this is due to upgrading from 7 to 10 with the AV installed. I am not surprised that I would need to do a reinstall of the AV and I browse with no-script and Ublock so I'm not hung up on having antivirus right this minute. I have other machines with 10pro with this same AV installed fresh where there is no right click bug.
I've used windows since 3.1 / 3.11, I've used 95, 98se, 2000, NT4.1, xp, Vista (for like a month) 7 and now 10. Only used 8/8.1 on specific task systems. I've used linux a little bit, Ubuntu and mint most recently.
I've installed 10 standalone and as an upgrade, I found it easy to get a cheap copy of 7 or 8 and upgrade to 10 while it was a free upgrade. Installation is fast and easy either way.
I've had some friends, acquaintances and a few customer who were forced to upgrade unwillingly or unknowingly.
The most confusing things are:
Permissions are changed for file shares with networking. This broke some things for people, I told one to just go and apply the undo to go back to 7.
The other is how windows 10 installs many "apps" from Microsoft to do things and then will set them to be your default programs to do those things. This is difficult and confusing for some people and has caused problems. The default program settings is different in 10 and is squirreled away in the control panel.
I installed and worked with 10 on many computers and got a good feel for it, so then put it on mine.
The annoying stuff - Very little. I have applied the Windows10 Privacy tool and locked down the "spying" stuff and ALSO - Since I installed 10 pro because I had on 7 pro I was able to use the privacy app to force Win10 to NOT automatically reboot with updates. The win10 inability to not control when updates happen is a big annoyance for me, the tool allows that to be fixed.
Now that the free upgrade is over, when to get 10 is somewhat moot. I would not avoid it on a new system.
If you have 8 or 8.1 I would definitely consider moving to 10.
If you have 7, at this point I would just ride 7 until support is over in 2020 unless you want to spend the money??? I have a customer with 10+ workstations and I put on the GWX Control panel to stop the upgrade. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have left our CAD workstations on 7 for the same reason.
What is better in 10 vs 7? I believe it is faster. The appearance is fresher. The UI has all the improvements from 8 but none of the annoyances.
I've had some things SEEM to work better with 10. Things are generally where they are in 7, but I put on Classic Shell anyway. I have an impression (whether real or not) that by having the newer OS it can be or is more secure.
I had been using the Cyberoam SSL VPN tool. It broke with 10 and I am unable to reinstall it at all on 10. I obtained the OpenVPN tool and find it to be better anyway. Installs fine with 10.
I have had no stability issues whatsoever.
I had a right click bug but fixed it by taking off my AV, have not reinstalled it yet.
Bottom line: Windows 10 is good
Caveat: For me I would NEVER EVER put it on without the win10 Privacy tool. http://www.winprivacy.de/
Cut the poor sap a break. I figure 99% of the evil at Comcast (or Mediacom, or AT&T, etc...) lives at upper management and above. The rank and file employees are just trying to pay the rent. I don't yell at anyone at Comcast on the phone, or even complain. Whatever problems I have come from someone who would never bother to speak with an actual customer.
good point. I don't disagree with you.
Perhaps I had a fit of PTSD from such horrible service and performance of Mediacom.
At peak usefulness time, namely the 5pm to 11pm EST window, it was often sub 1.5 Mbps. This meant that, for example, youtube would not play. I know a guy who documented this and kept calling them and they kept comping him a months bill. He eventually went to DSL that was, on paper, slower, but in effect, much much faster.
Comcast itself isn't THAT bad, it's much much better than Mediacom. It is, however, about 95% reliable. It goes down regularly, even their "business class" service. But when it is up, it is banging fast. They certainly do invest in their infrastructure. It is a good value in speed until it isn't (price creep).
I think the only way to get a good deal with Comcast is to sign up, get the low rate for 1st year, then cancel and go to DSL for a year, then go back to Comcast and get the low rate. I know someone who does this, and it works.
I haven't been a subscriber in 8 years and I get something in the mail from Comcast.... Every. Single. Day.
I know sending junk mail costs next to nothing, but maybe if they step it down a notch they can save a few dollars.
There is a local cable TV/Internet provider here called Mediacom. I had them once because it was the only real option. I once talked to a regional manager from Comcast and asked them why they don't buy Mediacom and put them out of their misery.
The answer? Mediacom is too screwed up to buy and they tried. How screwed up do you have to be to not be buyable by Comcast??? Sheesh.
Mediacom gave me an unsolicited call one day selling their business internet bundle service. They didn't realize that I at one time had their "residential" service.
I informed the poor sap that
1) I've HAD your service and it was slow and unreliable and WAY overpriced
2) I've got fiber optic now, I will never change to anything else, and I tell everyone how awesome it is and
3) I WOULD RATHER HAVE A TIN CAN AND A STRING THAN USE YOUR CRAPPY SERVICE (I literally said this to the poor guy)
I still get the junk mail from them tho.
You're wrong on #2.
Porn sites do NOT spread malware. Maybe at one time they did, but not any more.
I have an anecdote to prove my point (this is the internet, after all)
A guy brings in his computer it has a virus. He's sure the kid has been doing "naughty" things on it and got it infected. Digital AIDS as it were.
I fixed the virus and did an "audit" of the PC's surfing history and searches and so on, giving me a timeline up to the point where it got infected.
The kid was indeed surfing porn. I asked the guy when he and momma went to bed. "10:00" he said. I told him I could tell. Little Johnny was surfing for "hot milfs", "Zoo porn" and other horrible things starting at 10:30. But the virus didn't get downloaded then.
The virus got downloaded at 7:30 in the morning when the adult got on the PC and did a google search for "TV Repair in [local town name]" and followed whatever link was there that took him to a fake antivirus driveby download.
In other words, Bestiality? Safe. TV Repair? Not safe.
I have other examples too, such as malicious ads on PBS kids and Drudge report and so on.
My workplace uses McAfee security products. We're safe.
run
A bug in Norton? Really? How surprising. That's never happened before, has it?
People pay for Norton products all the time but I cannot in good conscience ever recommend any product from them. I have repaired computers that were literally damaged by simply installing norton products. I could go on and on (and have, many times when appropriate) about how this software doesn't work and is literally worse than nothing - based on MY OWN personal observations, and I am NOT alone.
But I don't go on about McAfee, I simply sum up McAfee products with one line: The only thing WORSE than any of the Norton products is anything from McAfee.
Not even worth the breath.
Sometimes I think the PC Matic guys are right: a whitelist is a more reliable way to block malware. But a whitelist requires more diligence to maintain if you don't want to turn a PC into a game console, and diligence is something sorely lacking in the non-technical majority.
Don't worry, eventually once there is a sufficiently bad "digital pearl harbor" event EVERYTHING will be on a white list, because everything will be like itunes and google play, you (we) won't be able to do nuthin' on our PC without it going through a walled garden.
A walled garden controlled by a bureaucratic quagmire along the lines of whatever "team" brought us the 0bamacare website.
Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
