calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| "Leave the market alone...." ??
The Cable folks should be careful of what they ask for. The Telcos have about a decade of experience of using size and influence to beat the snot out of competitors, while cable has only seen serious competition more recently. (No, I'm not counting the days when satellite was priced to maximize revenue from folks outside cable service areas as "serious competition.")
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
 ·Comcast
| said by calvoiper  :The Cable folks should be careful of what they ask for. The Telcos have about a decade of experience of using size and influence to beat the snot out of competitors, while cable has only seen serious competition more recently. (No, I'm not counting the days when satellite was priced to maximize revenue from folks outside cable service areas as "serious competition.") calvoiper Um, can you cite examples?
Last time I checked, telcos are losing customers by the bushel many to cable Voip providers.
Also, don't forget, the major Telcos inherited their size and influence from their true monopoly years ago when Ma Bell was the only game in the entire country. |
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ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA
1 edit | said by Brian Roberts :
Whaaaahhhhh, I want to inherit size and influence from a monopoly too, waaaaahhhhhhhh. It's not fair, waaaahhhhhhhhh.
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| reply to MadMANN
said by MadMANN :...Um, can you cite examples? ... Examples? Sure. How about refusal to interconnect until required to do so with CLECs by the Telecom Act of 1996? How about refusal to interconnect with VoIP providers until forced to do so by the FCC? How about reversing the original Reed Hundt driven competition rules on "unbundled network elements", "pick and choose", and the "statement of generally available terms"?
Or should I go back a few years further and mention when they tried to prohibit phone book covers (which covered their own ads with someone else's) as "illegal attachments to the network"? Or the days when they referred to unbundled switching as "penetrating the network"?
Or maybe I should go back a few decades to when they refused to interconnect with the original independents and some towns had two, unconnected, telephone networks?
Additionally, you may refer to both the Western Electric anti-trust settlement of 1956 or the ATT Divestiture Decree of 1982 (a/k/a the "MFJ" for "Modification of Final Judgment" as it modified the '56 result) for an additional litany of acts of unfair competition.
In comparison, the various efforts of the cable companies to forestall competition (including both attempts to keep channels off satellites and to force telco video to negotiate local franchises) make the cable guys look like pathetic pikers in the competition squashing game.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | wow. you beat the snot out of MadMANN ! |
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MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
·Comcast
| said by morbo :wow. you beat the snot out of MadMANN ! Said like someone who couldn't think of anything intelligent to say himself. 
I digress.
calvoiper I think that you forget that there are some very powerful cable entities that can bring it just as easily as some of the telcos.
And many of the examples you cite happened under the most anti-competetive eras.
BTW, I agree with your assessment that the cable industry should tread lightly when saying "leave the market alone". I think you would have to agree that both telco and cable companies alike have been bruised by the FCC. However, I also notice that the article noted that the cable companies asked them to back off and step in only under the most extreme circumstances. I think your examples above fall under that very category.
Bottom line is, is that the playing field needs to be level for anyone to benefit. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to calvoiper
said by calvoiper :said by MadMANN :...Um, can you cite examples? ... In comparison, the various efforts of the cable companies to forestall competition (including both attempts to keep channels off satellites and to force telco video to negotiate local franchises) make the cable guys look like pathetic pikers in the competition squashing game. I hate to correct you, because I usually agree with everything you say, BUT, Satellite isn't innocent either. The NFL Direct Ticket.. Nascar now (which is funny to watch DirecTV talk about how THEY are bringing this new service to the consumer called the 'in-car' service) ...
...and how does making telco play by the rules of negotiating franchise agreements make cable bad? Fair is fair and I'm all for them both playing by the same rules.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy..." |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
 ·Embarq
| And there's nothing that garners a more hardy chuckle from this reader than watching folks line up with reasoned arguments in support of one entity or another that, when all is said and done, are doing nothing more than picking their pocket and making a mockery of the precious and holy free market concept that they'll fervently argue is the saviour of mankind in another thread
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The road to purgatory is paved with good citations |
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bi0tech
join:2003-06-19 | Yeah a free market where the essential resource involved is infrastructure which is nearly impossible to acquire and exhorbitently expensive largely due to the very entities which thrive off it.
Free market my arse. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to Titus Pullo
There's also nothing more funnier than to see those line up who think that federal laws only pertain to their own small world as it exists for them.
Unlike some people, I look at the whole picture, not just parts of things. It's a reason why so many people don't get the law and why things happen the way they do around them. Everything ultimately relates to something else... so everything must be taken into consideration.
The laws reach far beyond the small areas where business doesn't find you profitable.
I also have to laugh at those that think life is always going to be fair across the board...
.. and I'm not religious.. I don't subscribe to organized comedy, thank you.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy..." |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| said by fiberguy :There's also nothing more funnier [...] Agreed.
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This feels like deja vu all over again |
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