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> The real answer is make it easier for there to be multiple companies to provide Internet access in a given area. How? This is a serious question. Laying cabl

by ch4s3 10y ago

> The real answer is make it easier for there to be multiple companies to provide Internet access in a given area. How? This is a serious question. Laying cable/fiber is tremendously expensive and is a natural monopoly. At best competing providers must lease infrastructure. So how does government induce "competition"?

scarface74 10y ago
And somehow in the more affluent parts of the city where I live, Comcast, Google and AT&T are all competing. AT&T and Google are both offering gigabit internet for $70 a month. I moved into a brand new subdivision and I had a choice between AT&T fiber and Comcast. It's also ranked as one of the 25 most affluent counties in the U.S. I'm not bragging, any senior software developer making an average salary in the city could easily afford a house here. On the other hand, in some parts of the state, they use to have a choice between low data cap cable and even lower capped DSL. But AT&T doesn't even offer DSL in some places that they use to. They either pulled out the market or are not accepting new customers. Make it easier to get right of way to lay cable for internet. Also state governments are making it illegal for counties to offer municipal broadband. The government gives incentives for everything else, why not internet service?
- Leon 10y ago
  > And somehow in the more affluent parts of the city where I live, Comcast, Google and AT&T are all competing. AT&T and Google are both offering gigabit internet for $70 a month. Google is offering service in limited areas of 8 cities and have put on hold any future expansion. That is not comparative to the rest of the country and shouldn't be used as an example of competition. The country has no real competition for internet service providers.
  - scarface74 10y ago
    Well, I guess that narrows down the metro area where I live.... But AT&T seems to be being more aggressive about their Rollout between DSL (slowly dying), and their newer fiber offerings. https://m.att.com/shopmobile/internet/gigapower/coverage-map.html?referrer=https%253A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F https://m.att.com/shopmobile/internet/gigapower/coverage-map...
jrcii 10y ago
Local loop unbundling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local-loop_unbundling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local-loop_unbundling

by ch4s3 10y ago

scarface74 10y ago

And somehow in the more affluent parts of the city where I live, Comcast, Google and AT&T are all competing. AT&T and Google are both offering gigabit internet for $70 a month. I moved into a brand new subdivision and I had a choice between AT&T fiber and Comcast. It's also ranked as one of the 25 most affluent counties in the U.S. I'm not bragging, any senior software developer making an average salary in the city could easily afford a house here. On the other hand, in some parts of the state, they use to have a choice between low data cap cable and even lower capped DSL. But AT&T doesn't even offer DSL in some places that they use to. They either pulled out the market or are not accepting new customers. Make it easier to get right of way to lay cable for internet. Also state governments are making it illegal for counties to offer municipal broadband. The government gives incentives for everything else, why not internet service?

Leon 10y ago
> And somehow in the more affluent parts of the city where I live, Comcast, Google and AT&T are all competing. AT&T and Google are both offering gigabit internet for $70 a month. Google is offering service in limited areas of 8 cities and have put on hold any future expansion. That is not comparative to the rest of the country and shouldn't be used as an example of competition. The country has no real competition for internet service providers.
- scarface74 10y ago
  Well, I guess that narrows down the metro area where I live.... But AT&T seems to be being more aggressive about their Rollout between DSL (slowly dying), and their newer fiber offerings. https://m.att.com/shopmobile/internet/gigapower/coverage-map.html?referrer=https%253A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F https://m.att.com/shopmobile/internet/gigapower/coverage-map...

jrcii 10y ago

Local loop unbundling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local-loop_unbundling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local-loop_unbundling