 averagedude
join:2002-01-30
Mesa, AZ | Competion? "There's too much competition at just about every level."
Someone please explain this.
I thought we wanted competition in order to drive down prices for the consumer. | |
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Count Hogula$
Notorious Dog
Premium
join:2002-06-19
Corona, CA
| Re: Competion? Not always...otherwise there aren't enough profits to push forward innovation and new products. Companies just slug along fighting for continued survival. They have to prepare themselves for an economic bump and if some fail it makes investors nervous and that's where a lot of their money comes from. Companies need to be big enough to weather an occasional storm without severe changes in services or going under. Right now...there aren't enough profits being made by some telcos that they're desperate...and they run down prices damaging profitable companies like Verizon. It brings down average service as companies like Verizon have cut services (thus costs) to match the price point of a failing and desperate company.
Some consolidation is good...but not this crap that the FCC is permitting like the ATTB/Comcast merger.
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The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson
[text was edited by author 2002-12-09 20:12:26] | |
| | | averagedude
join:2002-01-30
Mesa, AZ
 ·Cox HSI
| Re: Competion? Still confused.
But, prices on internet and cell phones are still high (example ATTi/Comcast raising rates again). Isn't there a point where reducing prices to bring on board more customers will generate revenue that otherwise they would never had. They are suppose to make it up in bulk/quantity of sales. That is what Wal-Mart does.
I still feel that we as customers are still getting gouged (in general like internet and cell phone). I am tired of hearing that the customers have to carry the burden of all the mistakes of the big companies. It feels like the tele-coms can make stupid mistakes they want and they never "feel" the pain, but pass it on to the customers.
For example, I don't understand cell phones the take pictures, when I still get messages say "NO SERVICE" in populated area. I think they should focus on the basics first. Just my 2 cents. | |
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Count Hogula$
Notorious Dog
Premium
join:2002-06-19
Corona, CA
| Re: Competion? Prices on cell phones aren't high. Look how much minutes and hardware costs 7 years ago compared to today. Internet isn't expensive as it's relative. 10 years ago Netcom provided 14.4 service for $20...now you can get 10Mb for $40 if it's available. Deployment is a different issue from general telecom competition. ISP isn't a telecom's bread and butter business.
And lastly...your complaints about QoS is a direct result from competition. There aren't the profits to improve service, deploy, expand, etc. Technology advancements in phones while appearing to be part of the whole telco scene actually don't come from telcos...they come from manufactuers like Motorola who only make the phones but don't do the content providing.
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The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs: 
| Re: Competion? "If it's available" is the key problem.
"The U.S. telecom market might best be an inherent oligopoly, where you should have only have three or four players per region, because it is such a capital-intensive industry."
Too much competition? Ummmmm....kay.....I have one DSL choice, one cable choice, one satellite choice? That's too much competition? Please.
I wonder how much SBC paid that analyst to say what he said.
And Hog, according to your logic, then any "new" company that wants to provide competitive service has to start OUT as a large company, eh? Name ONE that started out large and got smaller, instead of the only other way, which is start small and get LARGER.
It is nice to see that one analyst acknowledges the oligopoly that exists, though.
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After ten long years they let him out of the home...(excitable boy, they all said)...and he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones...(excitable boy, they all said)... | |
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Hayward
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL
| Re: Competion? said by BrianDamage  :
I have one DSL choice, one cable choice, one satellite choice? That's too much competition?
Are you on a private or mini regional bell? If not how is it you only have one choice for DSL??? Cable I can understand that, but not DSL. Satellite you should have two.
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West) | |
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Count Hogula$
Notorious Dog
Premium
join:2002-06-19
Corona, CA
| Re: Competion? said by Hayward :
said by BrianDamage :
I have one DSL choice, one cable choice, one satellite choice? That's too much competition?
Are you on a private or mini regional bell? If not how is it you only have one choice for DSL??? Cable I can understand that, but not DSL. Satellite you should have two.
More if you count "big" dishes. And again...telco is more than just DSL. Telco is wireless, DSL, business data services, long distance...and much much more. ALL are having fierce competition...too fierce.
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The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs:
| Re: Competion? I'm not sure why people here think that the only business that telco's offer is DSL.
Boog, I never said that TA1996 was only for DCLECs, nor did I say that all RBOCs offer is DSL. When did I ever say that?
There were other CLECs who were interested in other things (local dial-tone services, long distance, per-paid local, pre-paid long distance,etc.)
They have had the same problems with RBOCs with respect to the unbundling of facilities, so don't confuse the issue. It just so happened that the DCLECs were more gung-ho about chasing up violations of the act and seeing them through a court of law.
Others could just ride the coat-tails of the decisions, because when the DCLECs got the decisions, it would benefit all of the others too.
It's called letting someone else do the work.
They have complained when the news stated that SBC is lowering prices- claiming that it was anti-competitive. They have complained when the news stated that Verizon had layoffs- claiming that it was affecting DSL rollouts.
SBC lowered prices to an unfair level while charging CLECs so much that they could not possibly offer a service at the same price. THAT is what was anti-competitive, because it was a deliberate attempt at undercutting competitors by using unfair practices. At to "add insult to injury" as you put it, the RBOCs would sic their own sales people on those who had contacted competitors for service, telling them that "we" could offer you service cheaper than the "competitor".
SBC got sued over this very tactic.
As far the layoffs go, it was the RBOCs that claimed that competition was forcing layoffs, thereby delaying the Pronto deployment, which continues to be a hostage tactic in getting their agendas through Congress.
This idea was the basis for Tauzin-Dingell.
The CLECs decried the misinformation being disseminated by the RBOCs.
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After ten long years they let him out of the home...(excitable boy, they all said)...and he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones...(excitable boy, they all said)... | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | BigMac777
join:2001-07-21
Green Valley, AZ
 ·Qwest.net
| I am in San Antonio, Tx. And I don't have a DSL provider in my area. SBC SW Bell is the local phone carrier. Also I have (1) one cable choice, Time Warner. I choose Dish Satellite and Earthlink Cable for the computer. As I said this is San Antonio. These are my only choices. SBC SW Bell might wire my part of town next year. Who knows, This is a town of (1) million plus. | |
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boogie74
join:2001-06-19
Neenah, WI
clubs:
| Re: Competion? quote:
I am in San Antonio, Tx. And I don't have a DSL provider in my area. SBC SW Bell is the local phone carrier. Also I have (1) one cable choice, Time Warner. I choose Dish Satellite and Earthlink Cable for the computer. As I said this is San Antonio. These are my only choices. SBC SW Bell might wire my part of town next year. Who knows, This is a town of (1) million plus.
As it's been stated before, I will say it again- this article isn't saying that there is too much broadband competition. It's saying that there is too much telecom competition.
There is a HUGE difference. As far as broadband, no one wants to invest in it when there is no profit to be made- and that includes the RBOC's. There is NO incentive to deploy a product when you are required to share your investments with your competitors who invest nothing.
Boogie | |
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Count Hogula$
Notorious Dog
Premium
join:2002-06-19
Corona, CA
| said by BigMac777 :
I am in San Antonio, Tx. And I don't have a DSL provider in my area. SBC SW Bell is the local phone carrier. Also I have (1) one cable choice, Time Warner. I choose Dish Satellite and Earthlink Cable for the computer. As I said this is San Antonio. These are my only choices. SBC SW Bell might wire my part of town next year. Who knows, This is a town of (1) million plus.
How many choices do you have for wireless? Long distance? The world of Telco goes far beyond DSL.
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The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs:
| Are you on a private or mini regional bell? If not how is it you only have one choice for DSL??? Cable I can understand that, but not DSL. Satellite you should have two.
The RBOC I have is Verizon.
Rhythms used to be in my area, as was Covad. Rhythms went Chap11, and Covad pulled out of my CO.
Earthlink offers re-packaged Verizon DSL-so it is that any one independent ISP offering "competitive" DSL 9 times out of 10 is selling a bundled RBOC-provided DSL service-which is really not competition at all. You are still getting an RBOC offering, just re-badged. A lot of people don't realize that. Lastly, it is dynamic with no choice of static-even if I would consider it, it's not what I want. I can't run my home LAN off of a static IP. So do I have choice? No.
Cable? AT&T Broadband is the only game in town. To get it, I have to buy their cable service too. Is this choice? No.
Satellite? I have DirectTV, but don't want DirectPC because of the caps and latency. Dish? Can't get it. Choice here? No.
There are no wireless providers that have a viable alternative, like fixed wireless (Axcelerra, etc.), RBOC or not. Choice? You see where I'm going with this.
Even with the DSL faux "choices" available, they are all re-packaged RBOC services, and given the "choice",I would choose DSL because it is superior to cable and satellite. But I DON'T have any choices. Period.
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After ten long years they let him out of the home...(excitable boy, they all said)...and he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones...(excitable boy, they all said)... | |
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sadowski
I Am My Own Doppelganger
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-14
Buffalo, NY
clubs:
| Re: Competion? said by BrianDamage :
Rhythms used to be in my area, as was Covad. Rhythms went Chap11, and Covad pulled out of my CO.
I used to have Rhythms, NP, Covad and VZ. Now I have VZ and Choice One (and the evil Adelphia on the cable side). Covad is still here but doesn't service my CO. The CC's got into a big price war and killed themselves off. It's predominantly their own fault. Greed kills. Additionally, DSL is not so prevalent that every company can have facilities at every CO. I would rather have one reasonably priced resource than a bunch of instable wildly priced services of questionable service and lifetime. Competition has become an unthinking mantra, but it only works when a critical mass has been exceeded and there is room for competitors to succeed.
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In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. -- H.L. Mencken | |
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Hayward
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL
| said by BrianDamage :
Lastly, it is dynamic with no choice of static-even if I would consider it, it's not what I want. I can't run my home LAN off of a static IP.
Is that last line what you meant to say???
Not sure what a WAN IP has to do with running LAN anyway that is all internal.
Many people run home networks using dynamic IP as well as static.
It being a Verizon piece of copper or even the DSLAM has nothing to do with the connection being static or dynamic... that is all the ISP's doing. (for instance here Bell South is dynamic, but my DTVDSL (via BS infrastructure is static)
So yes you are stuck with the Verizon copper & DSLAM but there are many different things individual ISP's can do to offer "choices".
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West) | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs:
| Re: Competion? No, that last line isn't what I meant to say.
I understand how the infrastructure is built. I built many of the backbone connections out between the companies I worked for (Covad, Rhythms) and our partners (Flashcom, JumpNet, etc.) I know that the back door to the ISP can give rise to service differences. I know this. I ran DS3 backbones between ATM switches in our POPs to Redback and Cisco routers that belonged to our partners, and configured them, on several occasions.
What we have now though, is a fundamental LACK of competitive choice, even under these circumstances. Most of the independent ISPs like we had before have "gone the way of the boneyard" as Gump put it, and those like Prodigy, etc., and just the long arm of SBC.
In my area, I have no choices. Period. It is just the same way in 95% of the rest of the country.
For someone to say that there is "too much competition" is just friggin' ridiculous.
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After ten long years they let him out of the home...(excitable boy, they all said)...and he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones...(excitable boy, they all said)... | |
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footballdude
Premium
join:2002-08-13
Imperial, MO
| said by averagedude :
It feels like the tele-coms can make stupid mistakes they want and they never "feel" the pain, but pass it on to the customers.
Believe it, the Telcos are feeling much pain right now. The RBOCS are losing land lines at an alarming rate due to competition from other phone companies and cannibalism from wireless. Regardless of profits (which can be manipulated by accountants) the real statement of position for a company is the stock price and the telco stocks have taken a real beating in the last couple of years with no relief in sight. The only way this pain can be passed on to customers is through rate hikes or service degradation. Rates are regulated by the public service commissions in each state. If you think your rates are too high you complain to your state's commission, not the telcos. For service degradation you'd complain to the telco, but who amongst us can say their phones don't work? | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs:
| Re: Competion? Believe it, the Telcos are feeling much pain right now. The RBOCS are losing land lines at an alarming rate due to competition from other phone companies and cannibalism from wireless. Regardless of profits (which can be manipulated by accountants) the real statement of position for a company is the stock price and the telco stocks have taken a real beating in the last couple of years with no relief in sight.
Really? Funny, the RBOCs are the only ones to turn profits in the last ten years. So as to say that even during the CLEC "heyday" only the RBOCs turned profits.
So now the RBOCs are guilty of cooking the books too, are they? You an SBC accountant? I guess you slipped up and spilled the beans. Hey SEC........!!!!
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After ten long years they let him out of the home...(excitable boy, they all said)...and he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones...(excitable boy, they all said)... | |
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footballdude
Premium
join:2002-08-13
Imperial, MO
| Re: Competion? said by BrianDamage :
So now the RBOCs are guilty of cooking the books too, are they
Note the words 'can be'. They make a difference. You really are an 'excitable boy', aren't you? | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs: | Re: Competion? You implied it, not me.
(wipes the drool from his chin) | |
| | | | | | | | | | | pkust
join:2001-08-09
Houston, TX
| said by averagedude :
I thought we wanted competition in order to drive down prices for the consumer.
Consumers want competition because it lowers prices. Suppliers don't want competition for exactly the same reason.
Whether there is too much or too little competition is highly dependent on which side of the supply and demand equation you happen to be standing.
--
Cordially,
Peter Nayland Kust
pkust@tekmedia.com
TEKMedia Communications
www.tekmedia.com | |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
 ·PHONE POWER
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
| Nothing is that black-and-white. Certainly not economics!
Ideally:
Competition amongst a handful of vendors ensures that each vendor strives to have customers give them their dollars. They provide incentives and the most reasonable price possible while maintaining enough profitability to have good service quality, ensuring that they are chosen over the competition.
(Let's use a bread shop as an example)
One bread shop, having cornered the market, overcharges $10 for a bland loaf of bread. Then 4 new competitors come in with new types of breads and better prices (say $2 a loaf), forcing the original company to do better. Everyone enjoys better tasting bread at lower prices.
Less ideally:
A big corporation comes in and competes with smaller companies in town. To do this, they sell their product at a loss long enough to put the smaller guys out of business. The consumers benefit from this practice, until the competition is gone and the prices go up.
BreadMart comes in and sells halfway decent bread for .10 a loaf, for 6 months. Even if the local mom'n pop bread tasted better, it's just hard for the consumer to pass up such a good deal. Since nobody's buying mom'n pop's bread, they and other's like them can't withstand to lose money for that long and all go out of business. BreadMart jacks the prices back up to $5 a loaf.
Even less ideally:
There's so much competition in the sector that none of the companies are turning enough of a profit to maintain a decent service level.
Since bread was such a hot item, everyone is trying to sell it at $2 a loaf. There are 30 vendors selling bread. Not enough variety to make any one vendor noticeably better than the other (they're all selling pretty much the same thing), so people more or less choose at random. There's only 200 people in town that buy bread, so each vendor is only selling 5 or 6 loaves a day on average. The profits from 5 loafs a day isn't enough to pay the rent and for the employees, so they all shorten their hours, hire the cheapest help they can find, and resort to using inferior quality ingredients to stay alive. People get so used to inferior service but continue to pay because they "need" bread. A couple companies attempt to sell good quality bread with good service at $3 to turn a proper profit, but people are now so used to *cheap bread with mediocre service* that it seems overpriced.
So, competition isn't *always* the answer.
[text was edited by author 2002-12-09 21:56:14] | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| Re: Competion? said by djrobx :
One bread shop, having cornered the market, overcharges $10 for a bland loaf of bread. Then 4 new competitors come in with new types of breads and better prices (say $2 a loaf), forcing the original company to do better. Everyone enjoys better tasting bread at lower prices
The problem is is that nobody is making a better loaf of bread. its all this sleepy 1500/128 crap. us consumers have been crying for YEARS for BETTER UPLOAD RATES. now its the same 1500/128 but who has the most liberal TOS. that isnt better, thats just who's tightening the screws to us the least. if they can have 10,000/10,000 for $22 in sweden why cant we even have 2,000/2,000 for $50? | |
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boogie74
join:2001-06-19
Neenah, WI
clubs:
| Re: Competion? said by dvd536 :
said by djrobx :
One bread shop, having cornered the market, overcharges $10 for a bland loaf of bread. Then 4 new competitors come in with new types of breads and better prices (say $2 a loaf), forcing the original company to do better. Everyone enjoys better tasting bread at lower prices
The problem is is that nobody is making a better loaf of bread. its all this sleepy 1500/128 crap. us consumers have been crying for YEARS for BETTER UPLOAD RATES. now its the same 1500/128 but who has the most liberal TOS. that isnt better, thats just who's tightening the screws to us the least. if they can have 10,000/10,000 for $22 in sweden why cant we even have 2,000/2,000 for $50?
If you need better upload rates than 128 Kbps, then you are doing MUCH MORE than Joe Consumer surfing the web, playing an occasional online game, checking and sending email, and downloading music/video files.
When you want consumer rates for non-consumer use and complaining because the TOS doesn't allow for that, something besides the TOS stinks.
Boogie | |
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alex4life
Alex4life
Premium
join:2001-06-22
Delta, BC
| Re: Competion? said by boogie74 :
If you need better upload rates than 128 Kbps, then you are doing MUCH MORE than Joe Consumer surfing the web, playing an occasional online game, checking and sending email, and downloading music/video files.
When you want consumer rates for non-consumer use and complaining because the TOS doesn't allow for that, something besides the TOS stinks.
Boogie
That's a matter of opinion, not fact. 128 is a crap upload. What if you want to send a big file to a friend? It takes forever! Why can't our speeds be more synchronous? Why is that considered to be criminal by you?
If these services don't offer what people want, then maybe they shouldn't be offering them at all. Maybe that's the problem. The demand is there, but the companies can't supply it.
And he has a point. No one is offering anything better.
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"A Festivus for the rest of us" -Seinfeld Drop by the Canadian Forum! | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs:
| Re: Competion? Boogie takes that position because he is "Pavlov's dog" in this area. He works for an RBOC. What position do you expect him to take?
Normally, Boog has good opinions on things, but I continually disagree with him on this topic.
I agree that 128k is garbage. I know that if you want to send a large attachment to anyone then you will waiting quite a while at that upload speed, and the whole "anything above 128k is a business rate and not a consumer rate" is a bogus argument. The RBOCs can provide it but won't. It is a matter of the consumer "sheeple" being forced to buy what THEY choose to offer.
My opinion also is that it is a tactic to hold the consumers and government "hostage" under the premise that unless the RBOCs get all of the pro-RBOC legislation that they seek as well as dismantling what is left of TA1996, then no innovation such as Project Pronto will go forward.
It's all a political tug-of-war to move their agendas through Congress to reinforce the same monopolies that they have enjoyed for over 100 years.
--
After ten long years they let him out of the home...(excitable boy, they all said)...and he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones...(excitable boy, they all said)... | |
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See 15 replies to this post | |
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weebies$
What The Heck?
join:2002-10-26
Wayne, MI | Nice post. Really enjoyed reading it. | |
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BrianDamage
We Are The Hounds From Hell
Premium
join:2001-08-14
Rowlett, TX
clubs:
| Re: Competion? Yeah, nice lengthy post. I will point out that the analogy is kinda flawed, being that hundreds of bakeries make bread, and you can get it anywhere, anytime, for around the same price.
The same can't be said for broadband of any flavor.
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After ten long years they let him out of the home...(excitable boy, they all said)...and he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones...(excitable boy, they all said)... | |
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macyh
Ex-Isp
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-24
Medina, OH
·Armstrong Zoom In..
| Da, we must remove messy and inefficient competition from market. Congress and FCC know best what is good for American people. The solution is central planning from out find government, comrade.
Large telco, cable and media monopolies make large political contributions and pay for expensive lobbying and many fine dinners, this keeps large government officials well fed, satisfied and happy. Large media organizations support think tanks which issue reports in favor of big government, media consolidation and controlled competition. In this way, large media monopoly owned news and PR organizations have much to report about that is good for large media.
Much more efficient that all those small players nipping at our heels and supporting pesky organizations like EFF and EPIC who always ask embarrassing questions. And the small players don't contribute to campaigns or run feel good news stories, either.
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Macy Hallock APK Net, Inc. Cleveland, Ohio
[text was edited by author 2002-12-10 08:08:32] | |
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BBC4544
join:2002-03-12
Saint Peters, MO
| why should you force a company to provide a service at what you deem a reasonable price?? if you have a problem with sbc providing a service and making a profit please pack up and move to china or cuba and get your broadband there. you are not an excitable boy, you are a communist boy.
As far as cooking the books, i think mci and at&t are guilty of that not sbc. | |
| | jethrogump
Premium
join:2001-03-02
Mesquite, TX
| With all this consider several thousand companies providing Internet service have gone to the bone yard over the last several years.
Your backbone providers L-3, WorldCom, TWTC and such want to raise prices on bandwidth now like right now. Dial up already got 1-2 bucks per sub about a month ago.
Your pricing from the ISP for service each month is barely covering the bandwidth cost today and if you’re a bandwidth hog they lose money same for sharing connections with the neighbors. This is really a kicker to wireless as most of those guys buy bandwidth from a middle company with a NOC.
Today when you talk broadband really very few ISP's run the pipes. Most of the DSL you see from someone besides WorldCom, SBC, Verizon and a few more are just resale’s making about 5 bucks a month per sub.
You also might see another big flame out this year if COVAD doesn’t see good numbers. Now this is a company html MICROSOFT SHOULD BUY  | |
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TheGiant
Next Year Is Here.
join:2001-03-28
Knoxville, TN
| Beyond Repair? Too much competition??? I am lost here. How many choices do you have for Broadband and Phone service in your area? I have ONE. Seems like no Competition to me. One for Phone another for broadband internet not even the same here. The only thing we get choice on is who you pay your long distance phone bill to. What's that like 50 cents a month? I never make a phone call. E-mail and IMs are better. Cell Towers are all over the place. I wish someone would use them for a Wireless ISP soon.
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its a slow night if your replying in dev/null | |
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See 9 replies to this post | |
jethrogump
Premium
join:2001-03-02
Mesquite, TX
| beyond repair??? Yes unless your SBC or Verizon it may really be beyond repair. Financing is like a nuclear winter its impossible or carries ridiculous terms like 15% int and a huge amount of your companies equity I see some real assinine deals. Taking this sort of funding just spells eventual disaster for an ISP or equipment manufacturer.
We need to be able to sell our tax losses for the last few years to get back on our feet. Something like the Broadband Investment act the moron's in Washington are kicking around. Never know they may yet do something benificial for broadband. | |
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JakCrow
join:2001-12-06
Palo Alto, CA | FUD Aberdeen Group will say whatever their clients (the bells and cable companies) want them to say. Their "conclusion" doesn't surprise me. | |
| jdir
join:2001-05-04
Santa Clara, CA |  What the RBOC forgot
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| | mc5w
join:2002-06-14
Independence, OH
| Re: What the RBOC forgot
If you think that you have no competion then go with a satellite ISP. I know some people who have it and they think that it is great. Only takes about 3 minutes to download Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 which is 124+ megabytes. The one thing that can happen to satellite is death due to a meteor or old age while Hughes still has birds waiting to go up. If Congress which is the exact opposite of progress were to stop treating the space shuttle as a first class mail truck, Hughes could get more birds into orbit. | |
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rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY
| excuse me ?? to much competition ? not enough profit? Verizon made 4 billion in profit last quarter, yes that was 3 months time. they're doing just fine. they sing the blues to raise rates. they don't give a shit about us nor their employees. they're laying off a ton of people this month and they will probably out source the labor to non union, under paid, under qualified repair people. | |
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hurleyp
join:2000-06-20
Ottawa, ON | Competition isn't the problem The problem isn't too much competition, it's too much capacity, over production, and not enough demand. These are all problems that follow the bursting of the telco-tech bubble. Only time can fix these problems. | |
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asdfdfdf
@xtraport.net
| I think it's a half truth ... to say that the problem is too much competition. The problem is intense competition in some areas(namely low growth areas, long distance voice for example) combined with little to no competition in others(especially the last mile).
Two things have happened simultaneously and it will simply take time for the market to adapt.
We had a typical boom/bust cycle.
Companies ran up massive debt and leveraged themselves trying to outgrow their competition during the boom time and the constriction of the last few years has led to a bloodbath.
These companies put themselves in a situation where they couldn't weather the downturn. Frankly, they have been poorly managed. The key test of quality management isn't how well the company floats when everyone's boat is rising. Lots of fools make money in the market boom. It is how well one can ride out the downturns. It doesn't help that some of the major players are still carrying the lingering effects and attitudes of a 3/4 century regulated non-competitive market.
At the same time there has been a huge change in communications as tcp based data networking, rather than voice comm is becoming the center of world communications growth.
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There are areas where there is intense competition, but clearly the last mile isn't one of them. The last mile bottleneck is a big part of what is holding things back. Long distance voice, local voice, even perhaps cellular voice, are no longer the future growth areas. Unfortunately the data networking growth area is constipated. You have massive backhaul capacity with dropping costs, but the last mile is still clogged by monopoly control and pent up demand is not being tapped.
So you have intense competition in areas where growth is reaching a plateau and you have too little competition in a key area which is holding back the data communication demand surge that could mop up this backhaul "glut".
The solution to this isn't to let the market stagnate into massive consolidation. We need MORE competition in the last mile. The government needs to be more aggressive in reevaluating wireless spectrum rules, since wireless is the best hope we have for a last mile laxative in the near term. I don't think capital intensive fiber development is going to float in this near term. | |
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