computer network info services co image
justme
Answer
Here's the "too long; didn't read" version: speed a provider might (maybe!) be able to provide depends on several things, so you'll want to ask the providers and try testing it yourself.
Correct answers will vary widely, depending on a large number of things. Cable Internet can slow down, even provide poor or intermittent service, if you are literally "at the end of the line." I know this from personal experience. From several years of supporting DSL, I know this is more obvious and more widely known and acknowledged with DSL service. Across any physical medium, a signal will attenuate -- it becomes fainter. Just as a shout through the air (or underwater) is harder to hear when you're farther from it, so computer network signals lose strength over length (of wiring).
Your DSL provider (probably a phone company) might inform you up front that you are "not eligible" for DSL, if the length of wiring from them to your house is already known to be too long. Many phone companies still have to deal with old copper-wire network that were designed to carry voice signals -- not high-speed computer networking! Sometimes they build "remote terminals" (look like a metal utility company box, maybe in a field or front yard) to serve customers whose wirelength from the Central Office (CO) is too long. Thus Verizon's FiOS and AT&T's U-verse are much faster than their DSL offerings because these services are built on fiber-optic networks, with fiber cable laid right up to the subscriber's home (or business).
Your local cable company could be dealing with some of the same things as your phone company: old technology and simple physical limitations.
You will want to get information directly from providers who serve whatever area interests you. Try their Internet sites, such as http://www.comcast.com -- or whoever it happens to be. Find out what they SAY they (might be able to) offer (or not). If you get any Internet service, test the speed yourself.
http://www.2wire.com - click the tiny "speed meter" block at the very very top of the page.
http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest - This one has changed since I looked at it over a year ago. I can't give you much info or advice.
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest - I think I've never used it, but heard tech folks recommend it.
You might get drastically different results from the different sites! Sorry I can't explain that. You'll want to compare your results to what your service provider tells you or shows you. Settle on one or two test sites, and test frequently to get a "baseline" that might help you determine if something has gone wrong. Any time you test, run at least 3 tests, to see if they match or are close to each other.
Here's the "too long; didn't read" version: speed a provider might (maybe!) be able to provide depends on several things, so you'll want to ask the providers and try testing it yourself.
Correct answers will vary widely, depending on a large number of things. Cable Internet can slow down, even provide poor or intermittent service, if you are literally "at the end of the line." I know this from personal experience. From several years of supporting DSL, I know this is more obvious and more widely known and acknowledged with DSL service. Across any physical medium, a signal will attenuate -- it becomes fainter. Just as a shout through the air (or underwater) is harder to hear when you're farther from it, so computer network signals lose strength over length (of wiring).
Your DSL provider (probably a phone company) might inform you up front that you are "not eligible" for DSL, if the length of wiring from them to your house is already known to be too long. Many phone companies still have to deal with old copper-wire network that were designed to carry voice signals -- not high-speed computer networking! Sometimes they build "remote terminals" (look like a metal utility company box, maybe in a field or front yard) to serve customers whose wirelength from the Central Office (CO) is too long. Thus Verizon's FiOS and AT&T's U-verse are much faster than their DSL offerings because these services are built on fiber-optic networks, with fiber cable laid right up to the subscriber's home (or business).
Your local cable company could be dealing with some of the same things as your phone company: old technology and simple physical limitations.
You will want to get information directly from providers who serve whatever area interests you. Try their Internet sites, such as http://www.comcast.com -- or whoever it happens to be. Find out what they SAY they (might be able to) offer (or not). If you get any Internet service, test the speed yourself.
http://www.2wire.com - click the tiny "speed meter" block at the very very top of the page.
http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest - This one has changed since I looked at it over a year ago. I can't give you much info or advice.
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest - I think I've never used it, but heard tech folks recommend it.
You might get drastically different results from the different sites! Sorry I can't explain that. You'll want to compare your results to what your service provider tells you or shows you. Settle on one or two test sites, and test frequently to get a "baseline" that might help you determine if something has gone wrong. Any time you test, run at least 3 tests, to see if they match or are close to each other.
Can someone control the operations of how a car functions from the Internet?
Debbie
Answer
These kinds of hacks are currently a 'local area' (in other words, right at the vehicle) operation, but: as cars get more and more interwoven with systems and communicate or interact by Networking, that of course opens up more and more security issues.
Typically a device (or computer) gets enabled to perform a function and the programmers just want to get the thing to work...and don't consider the ramifications of security (or the lack of it).
This often leaves the system open for manipulation by outside influences.
Interesting reading:
(V2V) networks; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/17/usa_car_network_security_research/
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/27037/page2/
chipped ignition keys and Near Field Communications (NFC) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/17/bmw_car_theft_hack/
Schneier essay:
Automobile Data Surveillance and the Future of Black Boxes https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-1303.html#2
-----------
June 20, 2013 https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240219/Lawmakers_move_to_block_black_box_recorders_in_cars_DVR_snooping?taxonomyId=17
" lawmakers this week filed bipartisan legislation that would give car owners control over data collected in black box-style recorders that may be required in all cars as soon as next year"
Most new cars already have black boxes, known as event data recorders (EDRs), but manufacturers aren't required to inform vehicle owners about their existence or the data they collect, according to the lawmakers.
My OP 6-29-'13
GM's "OnStar" and Ford's "Sync" (global vehicle-to-'mothership' communications) enables some faceless unknown individual to access a vehicles central computer and do whatever he/she wants, up to and including shutting down said vehicle.
Ostensibly, it will be used to intervene in car theft (as seen on TV), but it is only a matter of time (months perhaps) before these overlords knuckle under to the powerful money changers, and form a cooperative union & disrupt a vehicle's service in the event you miss a car payment (if you've financed through GM's credit system for instance).
Careful reading of the "OnStar" Privacy Statement [ http://www.onstar.com/web/portal/privacystatement ] delineates the many aspects of what can be collected and what they will do with that info, but if you drop to the very last line you'll see this (a common 'reserve clause' that effectively says "we can change these rules any time we want"...the "gottcha" clause):
"We may update our privacy statement on the first day of a calendar quarter to reflect new services or changes to our business and will include the date of the last revision at the top of the statement. We advise you to check onstar.com for changes to this privacy statement periodically."
This alliance may eventually bleed over into house payments, IRS back taxes, and anyone else who wields the power behind the scenes.
**********
ADDED: "...presentation will examine some controls in two modern automobiles from a security researcher's point of view. " http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/25/miller_car_hacking/
These kinds of hacks are currently a 'local area' (in other words, right at the vehicle) operation, but: as cars get more and more interwoven with systems and communicate or interact by Networking, that of course opens up more and more security issues.
Typically a device (or computer) gets enabled to perform a function and the programmers just want to get the thing to work...and don't consider the ramifications of security (or the lack of it).
This often leaves the system open for manipulation by outside influences.
Interesting reading:
(V2V) networks; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/17/usa_car_network_security_research/
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/27037/page2/
chipped ignition keys and Near Field Communications (NFC) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/17/bmw_car_theft_hack/
Schneier essay:
Automobile Data Surveillance and the Future of Black Boxes https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-1303.html#2
-----------
June 20, 2013 https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240219/Lawmakers_move_to_block_black_box_recorders_in_cars_DVR_snooping?taxonomyId=17
" lawmakers this week filed bipartisan legislation that would give car owners control over data collected in black box-style recorders that may be required in all cars as soon as next year"
Most new cars already have black boxes, known as event data recorders (EDRs), but manufacturers aren't required to inform vehicle owners about their existence or the data they collect, according to the lawmakers.
My OP 6-29-'13
GM's "OnStar" and Ford's "Sync" (global vehicle-to-'mothership' communications) enables some faceless unknown individual to access a vehicles central computer and do whatever he/she wants, up to and including shutting down said vehicle.
Ostensibly, it will be used to intervene in car theft (as seen on TV), but it is only a matter of time (months perhaps) before these overlords knuckle under to the powerful money changers, and form a cooperative union & disrupt a vehicle's service in the event you miss a car payment (if you've financed through GM's credit system for instance).
Careful reading of the "OnStar" Privacy Statement [ http://www.onstar.com/web/portal/privacystatement ] delineates the many aspects of what can be collected and what they will do with that info, but if you drop to the very last line you'll see this (a common 'reserve clause' that effectively says "we can change these rules any time we want"...the "gottcha" clause):
"We may update our privacy statement on the first day of a calendar quarter to reflect new services or changes to our business and will include the date of the last revision at the top of the statement. We advise you to check onstar.com for changes to this privacy statement periodically."
This alliance may eventually bleed over into house payments, IRS back taxes, and anyone else who wields the power behind the scenes.
**********
ADDED: "...presentation will examine some controls in two modern automobiles from a security researcher's point of view. " http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/25/miller_car_hacking/
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