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This is a sub-selection from Cable wants MAX profits - what a shock

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

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djrobx to whiteshp

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Re: Cable wants MAX profits - what a shock

News flash it's been 10+ years and we still have the same monopolies grinding startups into dust. Nothing is changing.

I think things are far worse from a competitive viewpoint than they were 10 years ago.

10 years ago, telephone companies were phone companies that also provided data services. Within DSL, there were lots of competitive sub-choices (third party CLECs, third party ISPs). There was a healthy rivalry between cable and DSL.

Today, the two biggest telcos are now providing video service (U-Verse and FiOS). That puts them in the same position as the cable companies - Netflix and satellite VOD competes with them, so limiting internet consumption gives their own service a competitive advantage. Their next gen networks are faster, but they're also closed to competitors.

The higher speeds are great, but they put a nail in the coffin to old, unlimited third party ADSL services and all of the competitors that don't own their own infrastructure.

The telcos are now looking at heavily capped wireless services as their new cash cow. Innovation from them has pretty much stopped. New U-verse and FiOS deployments have ceased. Without competition, what incentive do cable providers have to do anything other than offer sub-par service? They don't even do that well with TV service, where there is at least SOME competition.

I don't have a lot of hope for Google Fiber coming to my neighborhood, but I sure hope it or something like it takes off in the US. If it doesn't, I'm very concerned about the future of US broadband.
« REDUHHH »
This is a sub-selection from Cable wants MAX profits - what a shock