 KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | reply to Karl Bode
Re: Am I missing something? said by Karl Bode:Earthlink (and others) argued that as traditional TV sees an increased challenged from Internet video and "TV cord cutters," incumbent ISPs will increase the cost of standalone broadband and/or punish unbundlers in order to protect TV revenues. And they are being proven correct.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
|
|
|
|
jcremin
join:2009-12-22
Siren, WI
kudos:2 | said by KrK:And they are being proven correct. Because the prices/caps have nothing to do with the soaring consumption? |
|
KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | Very little. It has much much more to do with lack of serious competition amongst larger players so they don't feel the need to upgrade capacity.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
|
|
jcremin
join:2009-12-22
Siren, WI
kudos:2 | said by KrK:Very little. It has much much more to do with lack of serious competition amongst larger players so they don't feel the need to upgrade capacity. You and many other people (some who know little to nothing about the real costs of delivering bandwidth) believe that the lack of competition is the biggest problem.
I don't disagree that is PART of the problem. Many ISPs (especially the biggest) do find sneaky ways to gouge customers with above the line fees.
But there is a real cost to upgrading capacity too, and the customers want prices to go down more than the cost of technology has gone down. |
|
 DrModemPremium
join:2006-10-19
USA
kudos:1 | said by aaronwt:Thirteen years ago in 1998 I had 5mbps down/ 1mbps up for $16 a month..
|
|
jcremin
join:2009-12-22
Siren, WI
kudos:2 | Introductory rate? Bundled rate? Threatened to cancel? I have to imagine to be paying that price you were getting a heck of a deal back then.  |
|
KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | reply to jcremin
Bandwidth isn't like electricity or even water.
Everything has costs.... but bandwidth on the network is about as close to zero as it can get. The costs are entirely in the network expense and the overhead.... so obviously, it has to be sold for a profit. $2-$5 a GB isn't it. That's pillaging. Real competition and actual choices keep that in line.... which we don't have, ergo, the results and the direction we're heading.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
|
|
jcremin
join:2009-12-22
Siren, WI
kudos:2 | said by KrK:Bandwidth isn't like electricity or even water.
Everything has costs.... but bandwidth on the network is about as close to zero as it can get. The costs are entirely in the network expense and the overhead.... so obviously, it has to be sold for a profit. $2-$5 a GB isn't it. That's pillaging. Real competition and actual choices keep that in line.... which we don't have, ergo, the results and the direction we're heading.
Almost everyone underestimates an ISP's costs for ongoing expenses and upgrades. How many people really NEED more than 6 megs? Very few. Single digit percentages. Do I think $50 is overpriced? Yeah, probably for a big company like Comcast in a metro area. Do you think $30-$40 would be a fair rate?
In all honesty, this is business. The cost that they sell services for have to be higher than the cost to provide service, otherwise they don't make money. I do agree there is a real competition problem in most of the country, and I firmly believe that if the FCC thinks it is in charge of making sure everyone has affordable broadband, then they should do it by encouraging competition, not by forcing regulations on ISP's. Those regulations carry an additional price tag and don't do much to fix the real problem. |
|
