tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| no crystal ball!
no one knows what will happen. yes, in many non-competitive markets the trend for companies to price gouge customers is in full effect... keep in mind this not limited to telecom... have you filled up your gas guzzler or toyota prius this summer? it recently cost you over 200% what you used to be gouged for, with VERY LITTLE accountability... so there is a culture of obscene greed amongst big coroporations.. (an example: Mr. Bank and Mr. Auto looking for taxpayer funded bailouts while taking coporate jets to Washington at a price that is larger than some people's yearly salary). Corporations spend money as if it rolls off a printing press.. those in charge are at a complete disconnect from the hard working people who earn the money to pay the bills. Form a unionized purchase boycott, and you'll see how fast they get an economic reality check.
Congress thought in it's wisdom (yes, oxymoron) that 2 wires to the home would be significant enough to ensure competiton, while they quietly strangled 3rd party & independent carriers from accessing a majority of last mile infrastructure. Cable got a free pass & telcos get a wink & a nod as long as they deployed infrastructure.... maybe these issues should be revisisted again to either put 3rd party carriers back in the last mile for both cable & telco.. or bully the major players with anti-trust/price fixing...
Problem is.. you have no leverage if Verizon doesn't build the network first... if you want Verizon to build.. TV Franchises will be the price of admission.
The consumer is on the losing side all around with how prices are set, raised, and set again.. metered billing, throttling & poor service are symptoms of a larger problem.. not offering a fair price for service: OBSCENE GREED. The price charged, versus bottom line cost of providing service. Don't just look at telco.. look at cable as well (collectively, telecom but seen through two legacy regulatory prisms). A unified telecom law must fix this.
Some laudable goals: REAL competition, carrot and stick to get telco into the voip deep end, eminent domain of infrastructure where builds are stymied especially in rurual areas and uncompetitive markets. |
