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 jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA | Proprietary Information To be fair, I would not expect any of the service providers to just hand out information regarding their exact footprint in the nation. It would be a competitive disadvantage if everyone could grab a map that outlined exactly what capacity was available at every location for each ISP. In fact, it might even stall rural penetration, as nobody would care to build out infrastructure in places that nobody else has taken on.
It's a bit like the 5 Guys Hamburger story. They opened their first restaurant right between a McDonald's and a Burger King. They knew that their product was superior, and they figured that both conglomerates had done extensive research about the demographics before they put up their own burger joints. Sure enough, they took in a ton of business from both previous McD and the King customers simply by utilizing the work and effort of others to find a great spot to sell hamburgers.
Extensive maps would have to come from the ISP's, and it would not be beneficial to their business to simply hand out this information to the public. A penetration map will always have some gray areas, and I don't expect that it will ever be as thorough as could be unless the government regulates it all or a monopoly arises. Neither prospect is particularly favorable, in my opinion. | |
| But an extensive map would be good for the customer? Isn't that the governments job? I mean, it's BY the people, FOR the people. But let's assume the government forces all the IPS's to list everywhere they service. I could see a web site popping up, showing you EXACTLY (i.e. speed, distances, prices, competition) for your exact address. How could that possibly be 'bad' for the customer?
Granted, if you agree that the governments job is to coddle and provide welfare to the megacorp, well then, I have a horrible idea.
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The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity! | |
jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA
1 edit | There are a lot of things that might be beneficial to the consumer, but I don't believe it is fair to force a company to hand over proprietary information that might not be in its best interest.
We don't force each oil company to post what prices they sell gas at for each station. The people have created their own gas pricing map, based on user input, without the help of Exxon and company. And just like our broadband maps, they are not perfect. It would certainly be better for the consumer if we knew exactly how much the price of gas was in real time at all locations, but it could also be extremely beneficial to certain business competitors.
There certainly is plenty of corporate coddling going on in our government, but this is the US. All the profits that are generated and all the things it buys are generally corporate driven. Punish the corporations too much and they will go someplace else or seize to exist. We can't socialize businesses and their profits to the point where the company and the money they make won't be there anymore. We can't become overly consumer-centric, we have to find a balance. Afterall, corporations are people too, they just have more rights and protection.  | |
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| reply to jmn1207
said by jmn1207:To be fair, I would not expect any of the service providers to just hand out information regarding their exact footprint in the nation. It would be a competitive disadvantage if everyone could grab a map that outlined exactly what capacity was available at every location for each ISP..... that's an extremely convenient dodge for the ISPs to use and they have in fact put forth that very reason for not wanting to provide the information.
on the other hand, if accurate broadband penetration data was available, it would be extremely easy to see that the state of broadband competition in the U.S. SUCKS!
It would show that the major cable operators rarely compete in the same area as another cableco and that the bells (at least that's still plural) rarely compete with each other. It would also show where service was not offered at all.
Neither the incumbents nor the FCC want this picture to be presented because:
1) it would show the incumbents as the monopolistic blowhards they are (competition is robust! 99% of the area codes in the U.S. have two or more providers available! etc.)
2. the FCC would actually have to do something other than spreading consumers' cheeks for the incumbents, as they are required by law to ensure a robust broadband market.
hiding the true state of lack of deployment and competition in the U.S. serves both the incumbents and the FCC's desires to not be held accountable for the failure of the broadband market in the U.S. | |
| reply to jmn1207
What are you talking about? Of course we force the oil companies to post the price of gas for all their stations. But, we don't have the ability to check all the stations online, to find the cheapest. Please explain to me how having all gas stations post their prices online is BAD for the customer? I mean, an educated customer is much better than an ignorant customer, right?
The problem is that a corporation, IS NOT a person. A corporation doesn't CARE what happens to the people. Look at Exxon. 40 BILLION dollars of PROFIT last year. That's about $1400.00 of cash, from every man, woman an child in the US last year? And what did they do with all that money? They bought back their own stock and increased dividends. Did they use any of that windfall to fund alternative energy? Bah, a pittance. Did they spend any of that money to find new oil? Not..even..a...little. Did they work on ways to extract the oil from sholes? Nope.. They exist solely to take from the poor, and give to themselves, and that, of course, is the root cause of the problem with capitalism. In capitalism, you never have to say 'too much', and that is wrong on every level.
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The happiest countries are the most secular. The struggle AGAINST corporations is the struggle FOR humanity! | |
jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA | said by karlmarx:...and that, of course, is the root cause of the problem with capitalism. In capitalism, you never have to say 'too much', and that is wrong on every level. But without capitalism and the right to do whatever you wish with your profits, it would all be a moot point. There would be little incentive to achieve and excel and most of our products and services would tend to be mediocre at best. Free markets allow for the greatest profits, which create the most tax dollars, which fund many of the social programs. Tax too much or strictly control the distribution of profits and the socialist utopia vanishes along with the desire to make that profit. Again, balance is needed. | | |
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