| reply to dvd536
Re: m00t point While I largely agree with what you are saying, I do not agree that it is entirely moot. There is, effectively, the connection side and the feature side. The connection, as you indicate, is controlled by the cable company regardless of the "ISP". Features, on the other hand, are an area that can differ and offer an area of competition that could potentially benefit all subscribers. Customers in Time Warner Cable (as well as the Bright House Networks systems spun off of TWC) systems have a choice of AOL, EarthLink, and RoadRunner available. Different features for different needs. |
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| As a consumer I feel that competition on the lines is a good thing.
As a realist I look at dsls crappy roll out and slow deployment and realize that a company is much less likely to spend money to upgrade a network it has to lease out to competition at firesale prices.
I would prefer to have a good fast network and pay a bit more than have dialup waiting for hsi access to come to my area because the cable company(JUST like the phone companies) dosent see an acceptable profit/risk margin to spend x million upgrading the network.
PS: anyone who thinks it would be any different is living in a fantasy world, regulation is not the end all be all of consumer issues, look to the telco fee bonanza for evidence. |
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| said by Matisaro:
As a realist I look at dsls crappy roll out and slow deployment and realize that a company is much less likely to spend money to upgrade a network it has to lease out to competition at firesale prices.
The problem is that the phone company was caught with their pants down.
Cable internet got a jump and was winning. The telcos HAD an opportunity to do it right the first time. What they did was slap something together real quick, barely test it, throw it out and claim it was a "quality" product. What consumers got was a shoddy ISP with an even more tenuous connection.
I have said time and time again, had the telcos done it right the first time, cable would be crying. No one would want Earthlink if the Telcos did a better job with the ISP side and even could roll it out. Instead, they took the profits and ran looking for short term gain instead of long term growth. Even the cable isp's can cut back services and still claim to be better than DSL in many places. |
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