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chocolateTHUNDER posted:Why aren't cable companies allowed over each others lines? I mean, you could get DSL and phone service from multiple companies, why not cable? Mainly because cable carriers own the entire local loop and hate competitors. It's also tricky (if not impossible) to compete over the same cable infrastructure because cable is a shared medium - one end of the fiber is connected to the CMTS at the cable company's central office, and the other end of the fiber is in a tiny box on your street where it's converted to coax and shared with the entire block. Phone lines and DSL are a bit different - your phone line is a single twisted pair that runs all the way back to the central office, and it's yours and yours alone. From there, you've got an incumbent carrier that laid the lines or at least has legal possession of them (the ILEC), and you've got competitive carriers (the CLEC) who are given the right to lease lines from the ILEC at fair rates, and either one can take your twisted pair and give you service over it. Another factor preventing shared cable markets is that many municipalities offer a pseudo-"protected monopoly" status to cable carriers in exchange for the carrier agreeing to provide service to the entire area. The local government gets their constituents internet access, and the cable company gets so many years of almost guaranteed  .
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Feb 15, 2014 01:56
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chocolateTHUNDER posted:Man, this poo poo fuckin' sucks. This merger is going to gently caress so many people over (even more than they're being hosed over now). I refuse to let myself get hosed over. I live in Kansas City, I'm currently a Time Warner subscriber, and I happen to be in the market for a house. Now I'm restricting my search to places where Google Fiber has announced service, because gently caress Comcast. Google Fiber 4lyfe. (Once they get around to me in 2016 - oops, I mean 2116.)  psydude posted:Electric companies are required by law to do this, which is why you can usually choose from 4-5 different ones in your area. Cenodoxus fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 02:52
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deadtear posted:You pick a company. Ok done. From the consumer's point of view, sure, but how do four electric companies on the same block play nicely with each other? Four sets of lines on four poles? It's tough for me to imagine because everywhere I've ever lived, you have one choice, and it's either municipal public power ($0.07/kWh  ) or a single private company.
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Feb 15, 2014 03:44
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shizengiggles posted:I don't understand how this will get approval. It'll get approved very easily just like Stanos said. You don't ascend the ranks of the FCC without making a few friends in the business. There will probably be a hearing of sorts. Comcast will make vague, hand-waving arguments about "fairness for the consumer" and "saving billions but we'll still raise rates because yacht party" and "well technically it won't create a monopoly because most people didn't have a choice in the first place". The commissioners will take their hands out of Comcast's back pocket long enough to give them the stamp of approval, and in 1-4 years when each of their terms expires, they'll become lobbyists or officers at the same companies they regulated just months prior.  For $3000 + roof access fees at the data center downtown, I can have a 24GHz backhaul to an ISP that won't actively try to gently caress me over. It would be the gooniest internet connection known to man.  shizengiggles posted:I think AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS, and Google Fiber are all fiber based, and DirecTV is satellite service. DirecTV might as well be Comcast in the sky. Teaser rates, obscenely long contracts, horrible support, pushy salespeople, and so on. Cenodoxus fucked around with this message at 07:44 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 07:36
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