6 ms·

Good. Municipal broadband is only a thing because Comcast services are terribly below par

fps 9y ago
Some communities aren't profitable to serve with broadband. The first municipal broadband efforts I was aware of were created because no commercial ISPs wanted to compete in an area. Broadband, like water and electricity, is a natural monopoly - there's only so much room on the poles, and there's significant economies of scale by having everyone in a neighborhood connected to the same infrastructure. I hope that Municipal broadband becomes more available and more common. On average, the service provided by the municipalities is much better, and much cheaper than the commercial alternatives.
- vvanders 9y ago
  Yup, this ars article about Orcas Island a while back[1] perfectly illustrates that you can build a good local service that out performs and is cheaper if you aren't chasing a profit motive. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/how-a-group-of-neighbors-created-their-own-internet-service/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/how-a...
hood_syntax 9y ago
I've never understood this. If you have a real or de-facto monopoly, why would you jeopardize it by providing poor service/overpricing your product? That just draws attention to the situation. Keep things reasonable and it's a lot harder for people to make noise because the majority will be fine with the way things are.
- SkyMarshal 9y ago
  When you have a real or de-facto monopoly you just assume you can get away with poor/overpriced service. Most corporate bean counters making such decisions don't take into account the second-order effects you describe, until they materialize into a real problem.
  - bpicolo 9y ago
    At which point they choose lobbying to double down on monopolyship over caring.
    - seanp2k2 9y ago
      Call up your representatives and tell them that you won’t vote to re-elect them unless they turn down the lobbying efforts. I get that this sucks but this is literally why companies like Comcast are allowed to continue their shenanigans.
  - seanp2k2 9y ago
    And how long have they been milking that for? Boss says “make us the most money you can figure out how to”, finance people optimize for the most short-term profits because they’re required to. We must also consider the legal frameworks which allow such companies to operate in these ways. I don’t have my energy company sending me emails and mailers urging me to get PG
- JustSomeNobody 9y ago
  Because they don't serve the customer, they serve the investor. In the short term (quarter to quarter), you'll make the investor happier which means more money (or at least not a drop in share price.) You can deal with the loss of any customers by slowly raising prices and charging extra made-up fees.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
pavel_lishin 9y ago
Just about every internet provider has shitty service. Time Warner Cable - the only option in many parts of New York City - is the bane of our existence. Literally, literally every time we move, we've tried to cancel the internet at our old apartment and set it up at our new apartment - and had them end up canceling the internet at the new place. (What happens with the old internet is different every time; either it gets cancelled as well, or it remains an active account that we get billed for, or some other egregious customer service failure.)
- corey_moncure 9y ago
  Do you then have to pay the "installation fee" of $50 so a guy in a truck and a polo shirt can come out to your house and enter the numbers from the back of your modem into a cellphone?
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    Nah, we paid the self installation fee, so that guy doesn't track dirt all over our apartment and try to drill a hole through a wall because he doesn't notice the coax cable we already plugged into the modem.
- british_india 9y ago
  Time Warner Cable bought Brighthouse, my local ISP, and promptly jacked up the monthly rate 50%. I cancelled. I would rather go without.
- acdha 9y ago
  Everyone without competition. I live in a neighborhood with 3 ISPs offering gigabit service. I use RCN since they're contract-free and cheaper and their service is great (entirely available over Twitter DM, I might add). The trick is that Comcast and Verizon are also apparently good in my neighborhood. According to multiple neighbors who've moved around the area, service is notably better when you're in the competitive neighborhoods — someone who moved just a few blocks south reported a big difference since they were in the Comcast-and-slow-DSL area. Not surprising since I've heard at least one former employee say that one of the prominent bits of information show onscreen with support calls is the competition level of the caller's address.

fps 9y ago

Some communities aren't profitable to serve with broadband. The first municipal broadband efforts I was aware of were created because no commercial ISPs wanted to compete in an area. Broadband, like water and electricity, is a natural monopoly - there's only so much room on the poles, and there's significant economies of scale by having everyone in a neighborhood connected to the same infrastructure. I hope that Municipal broadband becomes more available and more common. On average, the service provided by the municipalities is much better, and much cheaper than the commercial alternatives.

vvanders 9y ago
Yup, this ars article about Orcas Island a while back[1] perfectly illustrates that you can build a good local service that out performs and is cheaper if you aren't chasing a profit motive. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/how-a-group-of-neighbors-created-their-own-internet-service/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/how-a...

hood_syntax 9y ago

I've never understood this. If you have a real or de-facto monopoly, why would you jeopardize it by providing poor service/overpricing your product? That just draws attention to the situation. Keep things reasonable and it's a lot harder for people to make noise because the majority will be fine with the way things are.

SkyMarshal 9y ago
When you have a real or de-facto monopoly you just assume you can get away with poor/overpriced service. Most corporate bean counters making such decisions don't take into account the second-order effects you describe, until they materialize into a real problem.
- bpicolo 9y ago
  At which point they choose lobbying to double down on monopolyship over caring.
  - seanp2k2 9y ago
    Call up your representatives and tell them that you won’t vote to re-elect them unless they turn down the lobbying efforts. I get that this sucks but this is literally why companies like Comcast are allowed to continue their shenanigans.
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  And how long have they been milking that for? Boss says “make us the most money you can figure out how to”, finance people optimize for the most short-term profits because they’re required to. We must also consider the legal frameworks which allow such companies to operate in these ways. I don’t have my energy company sending me emails and mailers urging me to get PG
JustSomeNobody 9y ago
Because they don't serve the customer, they serve the investor. In the short term (quarter to quarter), you'll make the investor happier which means more money (or at least not a drop in share price.) You can deal with the loss of any customers by slowly raising prices and charging extra made-up fees.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

pavel_lishin 9y ago

Just about every internet provider has shitty service. Time Warner Cable - the only option in many parts of New York City - is the bane of our existence. Literally, literally every time we move, we've tried to cancel the internet at our old apartment and set it up at our new apartment - and had them end up canceling the internet at the new place. (What happens with the old internet is different every time; either it gets cancelled as well, or it remains an active account that we get billed for, or some other egregious customer service failure.)

corey_moncure 9y ago
Do you then have to pay the "installation fee" of $50 so a guy in a truck and a polo shirt can come out to your house and enter the numbers from the back of your modem into a cellphone?
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  Nah, we paid the self installation fee, so that guy doesn't track dirt all over our apartment and try to drill a hole through a wall because he doesn't notice the coax cable we already plugged into the modem.
british_india 9y ago
Time Warner Cable bought Brighthouse, my local ISP, and promptly jacked up the monthly rate 50%. I cancelled. I would rather go without.
acdha 9y ago
Everyone without competition. I live in a neighborhood with 3 ISPs offering gigabit service. I use RCN since they're contract-free and cheaper and their service is great (entirely available over Twitter DM, I might add). The trick is that Comcast and Verizon are also apparently good in my neighborhood. According to multiple neighbors who've moved around the area, service is notably better when you're in the competitive neighborhoods — someone who moved just a few blocks south reported a big difference since they were in the Comcast-and-slow-DSL area. Not surprising since I've heard at least one former employee say that one of the prominent bits of information show onscreen with support calls is the competition level of the caller's address.