said by NOVA_Guy:To an extent, this makes sense. Why should an ISP provide service to an area if they feel it's not profitable for them to do so? Would you also expect Starbucks to open a coffee shop next door to you simply because you want it, and ignore the ROI of doing so? ISPs are
businesses after all, and as such have a responsibility to their owners/shareholders of engaging in profitable activity. Nobody has a
right to broadband.
That being said, I do not support the status quo of little to no government oversight, even less competition, and anti-consumer practices engaged in by the big guys (like Time Warner, Comcast, etc.). As long as the broadband service sector remains segmented to the extent that it offers an oligopolistic (at best) choice to consumers, some regulation is warranted-- especially when some ISPs engage in anticompetitive activities solely designed to allow them to to prevent any entry into their marketplace.
It should be the function of government to facilitate and foster the growth of competition in the marketplace to the greatest extent feasible. This isn't happening in the vast majority of places when it comes to broadband.
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