Reviews:
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
| the broadband war that wasn't The cable-tv service IMO HAS NO VALUE, no time in my life for commercials!! Broadband did not see real competition, just choice.. Verizon raised both speeds and pricing across the board, so that gave cablevision breathing room, and how did cablevision respond? Build a higher walled garden around it's exclusive sports programming. IMO, the $29.95 promo rate for 15/2 should be a standard 'lite tier' by now and the $49.95 should be a matching 25/15 to Verizon's $65 priced tier. Obviously the $15 premium is because FTTP can deliver the goods 24/7/365, while docsis the way it's deployed does not. While not raising prices, they certainly SHOULD HAVE RAISED SPEEDS BY NOW!!
My speeds range from 5/1500 to 20/2 (highest speeds can be seen at 6am when the node is quite empty). So, if this is an experiment in boosting node capacity for new speed tiers, you'll need to offer it more than at near zero percent node usage times.
The complex issue is that cable and telco offer services with variation in the technology and feature sets which either make the service more or less of a value to the consumer. Consumers want the thruput of FTTP Broadband from Verizon, but get socked with higher cost. Consumers find value in VOIP vs POTS, but even there... unlimited prepaid cellular service is offering an alternative should consumers choose not to bundle.
Cable-Tv from my perspective offers NO VALUE, therefore I do not want it.. raising standard prices makes me laugh though. There are alternatives: satellite tv, the internet and OTA broadcasts. Digital OTA offers more channels that it used to (not that all stations use the channels effectively).
Outside NY Metro, companies such as AT&T and COMCAST are chomping at the bit to introduce data caps and find ways to gouge consumers, so in comparison we're doing quite well here (the oversupply of fiber laid in the northeast does help too). If they have problems buying wholesale broadband transport around the country, they must build/expand their own infrastructure (think LONG TERM HERE, broadband isn't going away, it's not a FAD or something that can be metered, sliced and diced and sold by the bit like printer ink cartridge prices). What is a bit disappointing is that not enough profits are going into investment of non-last mile infrastructure. Until there is a network as saturated as the northeast, there will be much less of a reason to deploy last mile infrastrucure if the QOS suffers. If there isn't capacity to have 60 million+ 50/50 megabit connections throughout comcast & at&t's footprint, it's time to get cracking to make it a happen! |
