5 Signs Our Broadband Plan May Already Be In Trouble → Re: Letter to the FCC Chairman

if you think ISPs stifle innovation, where do you think we'd be with MORE government regulation? jesus christ...

almost every single new product, advancement, and idea comes from the private market whether they have stiff competition or not.

do u honestly think we'd have 50/10 plans commonly throughout major markets if not for Verizon/ATT/Comcast trying to 1-up each other? i dont.

That's the whole problem: It's only in select markets... namely large cities (and most do not even cover the majority of the city). If we give businesses freedom to do as they please that is all that will happen in the next 10-20 years. The largest of cities will have the most choices while smaller cities and suburbs will have the same access they do today: One or two providers, same speed, same or higher prices as today because noone will want to budge when there is few or no competing companies. Esentially those in larger metro areas will be paying similar pricing to other nations per bit while smaller cities and suburbs will still be paying out massive markup for technology that (at that time) will be decades old.

Note I am not even referring to uncovered rural areas that companies do not want to touch.

The whole problem is the digital divide that was brought up before all the 'next-gen' services came out. They were silenced by companies claiming that that would never happen, "see? we built out in one or two small towns / rural areas to please you, now go away." Unfortunately they did go away and what they feared is happening: That large cities may have competition but just about anywhere else will be left in the 90s in terms of service, pricing, etc.

I'm not for more or bigger government with this one exception. I grow sick of big business lobbyist having their way and no voice for the little guy.

As the poster mentions below...rural communities are not represented. And as these large corporations drive the smaller guys out of the market, and there is little or no competition, in the end it's bad for the consumer.

Deregulation of the Telecom Sector has not had the impact that was expected. Sure, early on there was innovation, and in the whole dot.com boom we saw the competition the way it ought to be. But who is left...you have a handful of large carriers going out of their way to make it difficult or impossible for the small guy. And at every turn, their looking at ways to add additional revenue streams on the backs of consumers. Sure, I agree that is how things are in a capitalistic society. However, when it comes to the Internet, using caps as a way to do this is not good business. I have an unlimited service today and I pay a reasonable price for it. Whether I choose to get my streaming video\television, streaming audio, data or telephony services from the incumbent carrier, or from any other Internet Connected provider should be something I can do without the fear of hitting some arbitrarily imposed cap based on junk data.

What made the Internet great is the openness and the transparent nature of the network. Lets not stifle things through the imposition of caps.