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FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 edit

FFH5 to skeechan

Premium Member

to skeechan

Re: The whole discussion is bull

I get 60/11 mbps for $62/mo from Comcast and could get 105/20 mbps for $100/mo. And they have no competitor except Verizon offering 3/1 mbps DSL in my area. Why does Comcast offer these speeds at these prices if they have no realistic competitor?

rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

2 recommendations

rradina

Member

Perhaps because they do have competition in some areas. If they only offered those plans in some areas, it could open a can of worms that they prefer to remain in the shadows.

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

1 recommendation

djrobx to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

I get 60/11 mbps for $62/mo from Comcast and could get 105/20 mbps for $100/mo.

Why? Because you're lucky that you have a cable provider with a CEO who's somewhat interested in being a broadband leader. Comcast is also competing with Verizon FiOS and U-verse, just not in your area, but you benefit anyway.

If you had TWC you'd be paying $100/month for 50/5 (in many parts of the country, folks would be grateful to have that!).

Despite the "duopoly" complaining, I think the US has had reasonably healthy competition in the broadband market so far. DSL vs Cable vs independent third party ISPs / CLECs. What really worries me is telco abandonment of wireline services. That will leave us with cable as the only provider, and they WILL become abusive in that environment.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

It's is unfortunate, but not unexpected.
in the last 10 years TELCO wire lines have dropped to 40% of the previous peak usage, far below they sustainability level. In the meantime VoIP over Cable, and cell phones (and the revenues attached have soared for those providers)
USF has met it's goal of assured wide area availability of at least one TELEPHONY "line" at an affordable price (not as low as some would like, but a possibility for every person/house)
It may be time to do the same thing for broadband first building for availability past the 'burbs.
The pricing/competitions is another question, if there is money to be made you will see investment. if it's a lot of money(or a consistant little bit over a long time) you'll see multiple carriers.

Mention price controls and you may not see anyone.

Alex J
@184.105.146.x

Alex J to FFH5

Anon

to FFH5

Why does Comcast offer these speeds at these prices if they have no realistic competitor?

Because DOCSIS 3.0 is relatively cheap to upgrade, and unlike other cable operators, they do face more serious competition from AT&T and Verizon in many markets. Speed isn't the whole story either though. Their customer service continues to be among the worst in the industry. They also just struck a pact with Verizon to re-sell Verizon Wireless services, so enjoy the end result of that on your overall bill the next decade.

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

1 recommendation

Morac to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
The main reason is Verizon. You may not be able to get FIOS where you are (neither can I), but it's highly likely one of the neighboring towns in your Comcast area has FIOS.

So you are actually benefitting from competition.

PapaMidnight
join:2009-01-13
Baltimore, MD

PapaMidnight to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
You mean it is possible to have more than one ISP serve your area? Man, I wish I knew what that felt like....

xyzabcg
@rr.com

xyzabcg

Anon

That's most of America: cable co vs telco. In my backyard, there's three cable lines and AT&T's "U-verse" line. I also have a strong WiMax signal. One cable co bought out another, so now there's only two choices for cable. The top speed from anyone is 50/5. The choice is nice even though none of them is amazing. I used to live in an area with Fios haha.
yzor
Premium Member
join:2003-01-03
Jacksonville, FL

yzor to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
I could not get anywhere near that speed here even with doubleplay. for that price. 25/5 for about 65 a month here in Jacksonville and we have competition. even more sad while we got doc 3 now the speeds stil drop at peek times.