Cable Industry Finally Admits Caps Not About Congestion > In other news...

reply to skeechan

Re: In other news...

If you're willing to pay it, it's not too much.

We're going to start charging for oxygen. $100 a breath. Since you want to live and all you'll be willing to pay so it's not too much!

reply to Qwest exec
Indeed, because Americans have so many choices. Oh you mean it's 'your choice' to use electricity or running water.

reply to Qwest exec
There's a difference between being "willing" to pay something and not really having a choice, isn't there? Some people work from home, and therefore have no choice but to pay for "high speed" Internet... even if they are price gouged.

And then we have the really anti-competitive businesses like AT&T and Verizon, who somehow magically will all die fiery deaths in hell if they aren't allowed to place ridiculously low caps on usage and bill for overages at ludicrous rates. They use the mythical "bandwidth hog" as their example, trying to paint a false picture about others' greed and habits when it's simply their own greed and desire to screw consumers which have led to their pricing model.

I'm not a big fan of big government... I'm really not. And I don't like it when government passes a whole bunch of new laws that aren't really necessary. But in this case, I believe we're almost at a point where our government has somewhat of a duty to step in and begin treating broadband as a utility... just like electricity and water. If we're going to be stuck in a nation with little to no choice of "high speed" Internet providers in most areas, then consumers should be at least entitled to the same protections afforded to them when faced with other monopolies.

reply to Xioden
We are charged for air already try felling your tires at a gas station sometime.

The air is free, you pay to use the compressor.

reply to Scree

reply to Qwest exec
Yes because there's so much f'king choice in this non-monopoly driven communications market we have here in the U.S.

Please, leave the gems of wisdom home if they contain no wisdom, spouting lines like that requires willful ignorance of the situation.

reply to chip89
Actually you are not paying for the air. You are paying for the use of the equipment and electricity it takes to pump that air. But their profit is still 99.9% of that cost.

reply to Qwest exec

That is the very definition of and inelastic item. People need insulin and to avoid death will pay whatever it costs to get it but that doesn't mean that the cost paid can't be excessive.