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 RickPremium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT | Communities need to be careful opening the door to "competition" sometimes.
Because sometimes it can wind up spelling HIGHER prices than lower.
Verizon today isn't really offering anything in terms of pricing that Comcast isn't. And that's notable because Verizon is the new contender for peoples TV dollars.
Let's do a what if here for a minute. What if a city lets them begin rolling out services. And what if the same trend continues whereby Verizon keeps losing dsl and landline customers. What does the landscape then look like in 2 to 3 years? If anything..there's probably more incentive and need for verizon to RAISE prices than anything else. Meanwhile..they're still out there taking customers away from Comcast or other cable co's reducing their profitability as well. What incentive does that give a company like Comcast except to ALSO raise prices higher than they otherwise might if they weren't giving up a fair amount of business to another company.
What a scenario like this could amount to is the consumer not benefiting at all. It's just one company struggling to compete in the market..cannibalizing another companies business. Some consumers may see it as "choice"..but it could be a choice without any financial benefits and in fact..could result in higher pricing all the way around.
Sorry to say but I think that people and communities need to be careful about Verizon. The problem ISN'T their fios rollout which we can all respect as being state of the art..
but the TIME it's going to take and what is happening to their core businesses in the meantime. Losing landlines and losing DSL customers to the tune of millions of customers is going to do nothing except weaken this company. Add that to the huge cost of Fios and we really might be witnessing the broadband equivalent of what happened to Rambus memory in the war versus DDR.
What happens next year when virtually every comcast customer can already get fios like speeds off a docsis 3.0 network? What will fios look like after that happens. And particularly 5 years after that happens? It will be a johnny come lately product..a what took you so long kind of a rollout. Fios will have lost it's luster.
Add that to the landline losses..the dsl losses..and what you pretty much wind up with is verizon who?
But they could be damaging in that their need to raise prices could also impact what a company like Comcast also winds up doing.
The powers that be in Philly should seriously consider whether there's any benefit at all to allowing this to happen. They have a very good corporate citizen in comcast who has done a lot for that community. And at the very least...I'm very hard pressed to see any reason at all that a verizon request should be expedited. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed in. But there's simply no consumer benefit to hurry things up IMO.
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The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! | | |
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EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | If Comcast needs to be a monopoly for the "public benefit", then it needs to accept much heavier regulation, especially on the internet side, than the current light scheme it has now. | |
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | reply to Rick
said by Rick:Add that to the huge cost of Fios and we really might be witnessing the broadband equivalent of what happened to Rambus memory in the war versus DDR. What happens next year when virtually every comcast customer can already get fios like speeds off a docsis 3.0 network? What will fios look like after that happens. And particularly 5 years after that happens? It will be a johnny come lately product..a what took you so long kind of a rollout. Fios will have lost it's luster. Why do people buy sports cars if you can only drive 55?
Why do people buy FIOS Internet if most websites don't run any faster?
FIOS has plenty of ability to sell the 100 mbit plan to each customer that they will never max out or be able to really use.
Eventually caps will piss off new media hipsters and gamers, whose parents or relatives pay for internet, and they will convince their parents or relatives to switch to FIOS for their benifit. The iphone/best buy shopping consumer electronics "experts" will find FIOS of value, if only for bragging rights, and recommend it over cable to their jow six pack friends.
Remember DOCSIS 3 speeds are for the entire node, shared among all DOCSIS 3 subscribers. We've seen how Comcast caps, even their 50mbit DOCSIS 3 tier. With GPON, or if VZ is willing to risk overloaded fiber strands (32 houses sharing 622 mbit on BPON, 2500 mbit on GPN), they can easily release a 100mbit tier. DOCSIS 3 is 380 mbit per node, not 622 or 2500, and cable nodes will always be higher than FIOS's PON nodes which are capped at 32 potential houses per fiber. | |
 tubbynetreminds me of the danse russePremium,MVM
join:2008-01-16
Chandler, AZ | reply to Rick
said by Rick:If anything..there's probably more incentive and need for verizon to RAISE prices than anything else. Meanwhile..they're still out there taking customers away from Comcast or other cable co's reducing their profitability as well. again, maybe if the cable co's produced a better product or offered to compete with verizon on a price level, they might actual win subs.
fios is cool because its fiber optic. its a buzz-word that catches people's attention. however, they offer no low level internet service. maybe is comcast would be *routinely* under fios' prices for services (without the damn bundle or the "intro" rate crap) people wouldn't switch. the mso's have to define themselves. they have said that they were "n times faster than dsl", which was the telcos only answer for hsi. now that we have some fios in the mix, cable will need to redefine themselves or fail in every market that fios serves.
said by Rick:What incentive does that give a company like Comcast except to ALSO raise prices higher than they otherwise might if they weren't giving up a fair amount of business to another company. the more appropriate question is why hasn't this given cable co's the incentive to actual *compete* rather than just follow suit? am i missing something or is this proving that what is considered "competition" doesn't really exist and we have an oligopoly for our tv/hsi/phone needs and we are forced to bown down to the major players or not have services at all?
again, if comcast could compete with fios on a level other than sleazy marketing, you wouldn't be worried now, would you Rick  ?
said by Rick:but the TIME it's going to take and what is happening to their core businesses in the meantime everything comes to he who waits. if it truly is a flawed business model, then you won't have to worry now will you Rick ? fios will fail and you will get your subs back.
said by Rick:It will be a johnny come lately product..a what took you so long kind of a rollout. Fios will have lost it's luster. if i recall correctly, fios is offering much faster speeds than almost *every* market comcast has a footing in. doesn't this make docsis 3.0 the late-comer? who is going to switch back to cable when they already have a much faster, much more reliable transport medium for their data? epic fail, Rick .
said by Rick:hey have a very good corporate citizen in comcast who has done a lot for that community except for continually raising prices (without verizon competition, i might add [»It's Cable TV Rate Hike Season, »Comcast: Hey, At Least We're Not Hiking Broadband/VoIP Prices), continually ranking at or near the bottom in customer service ([»JD Power: TelcoTV Beating Cable In Satisfaction, »Cable Continues Low Customer Satisfaction Tradition), messing up the homes of those who try to use your service ([»Cable Install Comes With Free Sewage), throttling the user experience (without disclosure) and adding anti-competitive usage caps to your service ([»Comcast’s Throttling Plans Outlined, »Examining Comcast's New Bandwidth Management System, »Sandvine Fuels New Comcast System), you are right...comcast is an upstanding company.
besides, why are you even worried about verizon Rick ? i thought att was your biggest threat (»Comcast: AT&T Is Our Biggest Threat )?
oh yeah...i forgot how well these two correlate...
said by Rick:I'm very hard pressed to see any reason at all that a verizon request should be expedited. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed in. But there's simply no consumer benefit to hurry things up IMO. wouldn't have anything to do with this (»Economy Worries Slowing DOCSIS 3.0 Rollouts), would it?
please Rick , my sides hurt from laughing. there is such a thing as too much humor in a night.
q.
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those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it... | |
| reply to patcat88
Interent Speeds isn't the issue. It's the fact the Comcast service and picture quality blows and can;t get any better on a Coax line. comcast's digital package is complete garbage. Every channel below 100 is still an anolog signal. Fios's digital channels are in most cases better quality picture then some of comcast's HD channels. I hope they pass this. I have no problems paying what i'm paying just as long as what i'm paying for has good quality. FU comcast.. Choke on it. | |
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