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Re: Markup is whatever people will pay said by insomniac84:That is the problem. Because of monopolies and duopolies, it's very easy to charge much more than is reasonable. For most people there is nowhere else to go. Exactly. While people in a larger city may have a few more options, people in most suburbs and rural areas have 1 or no options and cannot switch except back to dial-up. Most do not want to do that, and have no other viable broadband offer.
Also, most Starbucks don't suddenly add $3.00 markup to a product that has already been on the market for years at $1.10 and is consistently getting cheaper as time passes.
In telecom that is what is going on. A product which has been offered unlimited for years is now in jeopardy of becoming marked-up as a luxury commodity after starting out as such and then becoming an average product that most could afford. Also, the cost is constantly coming down and they still want to start charging more and offering less!
I suppose one good thing can come of this: if companies start seriously pushing this it can give a serious boost to the idea of making broadband a utility. The companies that are looking to overcharge for the same or less service may actually cause their own downfall over the idea. Caps and limiting bandwidth is already showing signs of mass anger by the public.
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- "Techie" Jim |
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Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA
1 edit | Avoid competition at all costs! said by jimbo2150:said by insomniac84:That is the problem. Because of monopolies and duopolies, it's very easy to charge much more than is reasonable. For most people there is nowhere else to go. I suppose one good thing can come of this: if companies start seriously pushing this it can give a serious boost to the idea of making broadband a utility. The companies that are looking to overcharge for the same or less service may actually cause their own downfall over the idea. Caps and limiting bandwidth is already showing signs of mass anger by the public. Why does TWC want overage charges, to avoid video competition and price gouge. Why is the U. S. broadband network beginning to suck compared to some other countries, because AT&T, Comcast, TWC, and the other Dinosaurs think they're entitled to make outrageous profits and excessive top executive pay without competition. These Dinosaurs and their heavily lobbied (bribed?) Congress and State Legislature critters make sure the cost of entry for any new competitor is outrageously high. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | reply to jimbo2150
Re: Markup is whatever people will pay said by jimbo2150:Exactly. While people in a larger city may have a few more options, people in most suburbs and rural areas have 1 or no options and cannot switch except back to dial-up. Most do not want to do that, and have no other viable broadband offer. Also, most Starbucks don't suddenly add $3.00 markup to a product that has already been on the market for years at $1.10 and is consistently getting cheaper as time passes. Starbucks has been getting disruptive competitors, McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts "cheap latte" products being rolled out.
Now is there anything remotely on the horizon as being a disruptive technology to the duopoly other than BPL (LOL) and WiMAX (and Clear seems pretty dead by now, its only hope is business/govt contracts in the city it did manage to set up service, but many cities already have their own 4.9 ghz WiMAX or HSDPA networks). |
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| said by patcat88:Now is there anything remotely on the horizon as being a disruptive technology to the duopoly other than BPL (LOL) and WiMAX (and Clear seems pretty dead by now, its only hope is business/govt contracts in the city it did manage to set up service, but many cities already have their own 4.9 ghz WiMAX or HSDPA networks). Even those will be a joke. BPL will probably never see the light of day (for many reasons... it just isn't very feasible). WiMax will eventually come out and while a few cities are pushing their own networks, the rest will only see WiMax or any fixed wireless through the carriers that are already out there: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile... That will not create competition, just a new way to get same internet (probably less speed).
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- "Techie" Jim |
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