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Hey look, another example of why trying to sell the rights to light sucks. We are going to see AT&T / Verizon / etc go the way of Comcast soon. The cost to imp
by zanny 10y ago
Hey look, another example of why trying to sell the rights to light sucks.
We are going to see AT&T / Verizon / etc go the way of Comcast soon. The cost to improve service will be high enough and the overhead of trying to get more spectrum when they hit physical limits annoying enough and their revenues large enough and the demand insane enough they are going to constantly try to buy each other out than actually invest anything until we have one big corrupt mess like Comcast is for physical wire service.
It seems like the inevitable outcome of having infrastructure services that should be public utilities instead be provided by private companies competing over who can exploit the state to get more unfair advantage, be it land access rights for wire carriers or FCC bribing for spectrum.
- JimboOmega 10y agoSad, because they're the best hope we have against Comcast - at least wireless providers (I'm stuck with DSL over AT&T copper because I absolutely refuse to deal with Comcast any further, and my phone is faster than my home internet). At least it's relatively easier to set up a cell tower as a new competitor than it is to wire the same number of homes; this is a big factor in why we've seen the explosion of wireless in the developing world (often in places where even basic electric service is unreliable). And hey, the feds DID block T-Mobile and AT&T from merging, so there's hope yet that they won't just roll over to every request.
- kalleboo 10y agoSoon? They're already at it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_purchase_of_T-Mobile_USA_by_AT%26T https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_purchase_of_T-Mobile... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/sprint-owner-is-said-to-still-hold-out-hope-for-a-t-mobile-deal http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/sprint-own...