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Comments on news posted 2013-02-13 12:10:04: When you're indisputably mediocre in nearly every broadband ranking due to limited competition and regulatory capture, what's a monopoly and/or duopoly broadband market to do? For much of the last decade the U.S. ..

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SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL

SunnyD

Member

I'd be happy if AT&T dumped me in cable's lap.

However I'm still waiting for Comcast (or any cable company for that matter) to get their heads out of their behinds and actually come in and wire up our town.

What are my other options for "broadband"? Satellite (haha).

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

said by SunnyD:

What are my other options for "broadband"? Satellite (haha).

Yep.. Because Satellite broadband is so incredibly awesome with the.. um.. low speeds and.. pathetic caps. Ya.

Not much you can do about latency (the laws of physics).. but you could at least get rid of the freakin' caps or make them reasonable, not this sub-30GB crap.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

The speeds on satellite (on Exede anyway) are well above what most people require. Exede seems to hit 20Mbps for a lot of people on a regular basis. The problem now is the caps. The speed is worthless if you can't use it.
blushrts
join:2001-01-06
New Cumberland, PA

1 recommendation

blushrts to SunnyD

Member

to SunnyD
On another note, whatever happened to the Iraqi (Mis)Information Minister?

Yucca Servic
join:2012-11-27
Rio Rancho, NM

Yucca Servic

Member

Wish we were there

We are directly competing against Comcast and CenturyLink in New Mexico and winning.
I wish we had funding to build out a wireless network in places like this. We can supply upto if a costumer wants a 50meg connection.

Wireless is truly the way to go. Makes hi technology jobs and requires very little infrastructure.

BY THE WAY CABLE TV AND POTS ARE OBSOLETE!

elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO

elios

Member

wireless will never have the speeds to handle Gigabit
ever

fiber is the only way to go

Yucca Servic
join:2012-11-27
Rio Rancho, NM

Yucca Servic

Member

Sounds like fiber will never be installed in this market, so the latter would work.

Bill Neilson
Premium Member
join:2009-07-08
Alexandria, VA

Bill Neilson

Premium Member

And nothing will change until we have actual

people who are willing to NOT let lobbyist run around DC putting laws into effect or blocking laws they don't like....Republicans, Democrats, whoever.

I love a small government
I love lower taxes
I love thriving corporations

But my goodness, how can some not see the insane robbery that so many major ISP's put into play against others....a perfect example being the recent House Bill in Georgia wanting to make sure everyone with 1.5 speeds down is perfectly fine and in need of zero help?

We seem to have a country that cries out loud about the "Free Market" yet we have a market that is anything but "free"

Snakeoil
Ignore Button. The coward's feature.
Premium Member
join:2000-08-05
united state

Snakeoil

Premium Member

Think tank must be a bunch of potato heads

I don't mean to insult potato heads, but really?
Are they blind? We developed the tech, but lag behind the rest of the world [well ok, Cuba, Iran and a few other countries are behind us, but not by much], in speeds.
Heck, forget the word competition. Where is it?
My area:
No DSL/Uverse. AT&T says I'm to far away for them to run a line to, despite the fact my neighbor 70 feet down the road has Uverse.

Cable companies, please stop me from laughing. They don't allow anyone else into their area or on their lines.

Ah, yes, wireless. Sure with limits and over the top pricing.

Back in the good old days of dial up, you could throw a rock and not hit a competitor. Now you can set off a bomb, and not even touch a competitor.
But yet the market is supposed to be competitive? Ya, right. I'll have what ever he is smoking.

Yucca Servic
join:2012-11-27
Rio Rancho, NM

Yucca Servic

Member

Re: Wish we were there

I didn't post in this subject but all line before should have posted in Windstream, AT&T Aim to Keep Georgia at 1.5 Mbps

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

1 recommendation

Transmaster to blushrts

Member

to blushrts

Re: I'd be happy if AT&T dumped me in cable's lap.

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf is living in the UAE with his family, laying low.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Iraq Information Minister Pic

That's classic. Kudos Karl.

NO to ESPN
@sbcglobal.net

NO to ESPN

Anon

Eh Where are the Drug Dogs?

Only logical explaination. Heavy duty use of recreational drugs.

RR Conductor
Ridin' the rails
Premium Member
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA
ARRIS SB6183
Netgear R7000

1 recommendation

RR Conductor to Bill Neilson

Premium Member

to Bill Neilson

Re: And nothing will change until we have actual

said by Bill Neilson:

people who are willing to NOT let lobbyist run around DC putting laws into effect or blocking laws they don't like....Republicans, Democrats, whoever.

I love a small government
I love lower taxes
I love thriving corporations

But my goodness, how can some not see the insane robbery that so many major ISP's put into play against others....a perfect example being the recent House Bill in Georgia wanting to make sure everyone with 1.5 speeds down is perfectly fine and in need of zero help?

We seem to have a country that cries out loud about the "Free Market" yet we have a market that is anything but "free"

I love a smart, useful government, size is not the issue
I love taxes that are fair, those that earn more pay more, and the rich pay their fair share
I love thriving corporations, but not at the expense of America's soul

WHT
join:2010-03-26
Rosston, TX

WHT

Member

Kinda like...

"The ITIF report turns our national broadband policy into a self-esteem of circuitous self-gratification not seen since a high school camp out of the boys exercise ...'
15444104 (banned)
join:2012-06-11

15444104 (banned)

Member

The People Must Act!

The ONLY thing that will get the attention of these big greedy corporations is massive cancellations of customers....

Subscribers must be willing to do without in order to stop the gouging that is epidemic when it comes to service prices. Yes, it is difficult but nothing will change unless people stop service and stop paying.

Enough is enough.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

It has to do with economics

Urban areas are great in terms of broadband availability and usually have one or two, maybe three broadband providers. Suburban areas usually have broadband as well. Rural areas are difficult to serve.

When it comes to wiring for broadband, serving areas where you have 8 customers on one pole yields a faster return on investment than one customer every couple of miles. AT&T/Comcast/Verizon love urban areas when it comes to broadband deployment because they can wire many customers in a short distance and that will yield a quick return on investment. Also, urban and suburban areas have a low per cost of home passed deployment cost as they can deploy 8 way taps on a single pole. A rural area is very costly to wire as you have to run miles of fiber/coax to serve very few customers and they'll never recoup the investment as the technology will be obsolete in a few decades. When I was in school, the school district wired the schools for Internet and they had to run cat 5 wire to each computer (which was labor intensive) and now we have Wi-Fi that would only require Wi-Fi Access points to be located strategically through the school and they only have to run Cat 5 to each Wi-Fi AP and they can serve many computers off that access point.

My opinion on rural broadband using tha analogy that I am giving is maybe wireline broadband may not be feasible for rural areas and we need to develop alternative technology to serve these unserved areas. Maybe the solution is wireless (provided we can free up spectrum) or another technology like power line carrier or looking for ways to improve DSL technology. Maybe the solution is a technology that has not been invented yet. That goes back to my analogy of the school system using wired drops to computers only to have Wi-Fi make that installation obsolete.

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

N3OGH

Premium Member

Oh, Baghdad Bob

This guy had Yakov Smirnoff (sp?) potential.

The good old days....

Snakeoil
Ignore Button. The coward's feature.
Premium Member
join:2000-08-05
united state

Snakeoil to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: It has to do with economics

I always wondered as to why they couldn't run fiber to a box. Then from that box use wireless to git to homes. Add in range extenders to boost signal strength and range.

Though the wireless union guts might get pissed at the wired guys doing their job. Tuff crap.

An example would be the star network that smart meters use to transmit their data to a DCU unit [data collection unit]. The meters transmit on a radio freq, to the DCU. A DCU [If I remember correctly] can handle input from 500 meters. Then when they are polled by the central office, the DCU uses a cell phone signal to transmit the collected data home.

Sure we are talking about more data, when talking about the internet, but you'd think it would be possible to use such a system.

There have been suggestions to make Broadband a utility and have the prices controlled. Also, by being labeled a utility, the providers would have to build out to every home [and of course the tax payers would pay for this].
And I think it would break the lock on the last mile, and companies would have to open their networks to competitors. Again, is that a bad thing/
Consider the delivery of Natural gas to homes. In my area we have several providers, and they all use the same pipes. One company owns/maintains the pipes, everyone else pays a distribution fee to use the pipes.
Why can't broadband internet be like that? or like dial up, where you had a few dozen ISPs and just the telco to your door.
You paid the telco for the wire, and the ISP for the service.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

1 edit

KrK

Premium Member

89% of all Americans have 5 or more broadband choices....

"About 89% of U.S. residents have a choice of five or more broadband providers, counting mobile and satellite."....

Yeah, what a joke. Choices. Like the choices between going to the hospital and being driven bankrupt, or just sawing off your own limb with a hacksaw.

Choices. Options. Nothing to see here..... move along.

WHT
join:2010-03-26
Rosston, TX

WHT to 15444104

Member

to 15444104

Re: The People Must Act!

said by 15444104:

The ONLY thing that will get the attention of these big greedy corporations is massive cancellations of customers....

Or subscriber churn over to the WISPs... Just give us time.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: It has to do with economics

said by IowaCowboy:

Urban areas are great in terms of broadband availability and usually have one or two, maybe three broadband providers.

It's hardly great, the vast majority has a choice between 2 or 1, and it's overpriced and usually restricted and capped. There isn't anything great about it. Most people are paying $60 + for service that should be half that or less, and it's all due to the lack of competition and established geographical boundary lines.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

said by KrK:

said by IowaCowboy:

Urban areas are great in terms of broadband availability and usually have one or two, maybe three broadband providers.

It's hardly great, the vast majority has a choice between 2 or 1, and it's overpriced and usually restricted and capped. There isn't anything great about it. Most people are paying $60 + for service that should be half that or less, and it's all due to the lack of competition and established geographical boundary lines.

Back in the '90s, dial-up was $19.95 and that did not include the cost of the phone line ($12.60 on Qwest in Iowa), add the two numbers together and today that would be $46.06 adjusted for inflation between 1997 (when I first got Internet) and 2012. That does not include the taxes and fees. Many people bought second phone lines for Internet as they did not want to tie up phone lines to hours on AOL or chat rooms. So the costs of broadband are not much higher for broadband than they were for dial-up back in the '90s. And many people back then subscribed to cable. I subscribe to cable myself and find it cheaper to buy the triple play. Comcast also has a double play (Internet and TV) in my area as well.

kevinds
Premium Member
join:2003-05-01
Calgary, AB

kevinds to KrK

Premium Member

to KrK

Re: 89% of all Americans have 5 or more broadband choices....

If you count just cellular and satellite, you should have a lot more then 5 for most people, I can't see them not counting each MVNO.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned)

Member

said by kevinds:

If you count just cellular and satellite, you should have a lot more then 5 for most people, I can't see them not counting each MVNO.

Except realistically they are not. Most urban areas you're lucky to have 2 options and that's not real competition.
34764170

34764170 (banned) to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: It has to do with economics

said by IowaCowboy:

Back in the '90s, dial-up was $19.95 and that did not include the cost of the phone line ($12.60 on Qwest in Iowa), add the two numbers together and today that would be $46.06 adjusted for inflation between 1997 (when I first got Internet) and 2012. That does not include the taxes and fees. Many people bought second phone lines for Internet as they did not want to tie up phone lines to hours on AOL or chat rooms. So the costs of broadband are not much higher for broadband than they were for dial-up back in the '90s. And many people back then subscribed to cable. I subscribe to cable myself and find it cheaper to buy the triple play. Comcast also has a double play (Internet and TV) in my area as well.

And? I would expect there to be change in a 20 year span. Broadband connections in general are overpriced in North America.
WernerSchutz
join:2009-08-04
Sugar Land, TX

1 edit

WernerSchutz to Transmaster

Member

to Transmaster

Re: I'd be happy if AT&T dumped me in cable's lap.

I heard Comcast is hiring... He could also work for Fox News, he would fit perfectly.

elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO

elios to Yucca Servic

Member

to Yucca Servic

Re: Wish we were there

then the US is doomed to become the next 3rd world nation

urbanite
@verizon.net

urbanite to IowaCowboy

Anon

to IowaCowboy

Re: It has to do with MONOPOLY economics

said by IowaCowboy:

Urban areas are great in terms of broadband availability and usually have one or two, maybe three broadband providers.

If you want to classify Manhattan, NYC as "urban", then I must beg to differ. TWC has a monopoly on service in 95% of households. The service, which has a 15% failure rate in my experience, offers stated speeds of 25mb/0.75mb for $50/mo. plus fees.

Granted that RCN offers service in these homes too, the only problem is that they lease the lines from TWC and are not able to offer better prices or plans.

kevinds
Premium Member
join:2003-05-01
Calgary, AB

kevinds to 34764170

Premium Member

to 34764170

Re: 89% of all Americans have 5 or more broadband choices....

Its not competition... If you have 3-4 MVNOs on the same base network, they aren't really competitors, nor options, same **it different pile...

It is just a sad statment to make.
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