4 ms·

If local governments are the future of ISP services, I'm not sure we'll have made much progress at all on the anti-monopoly front.

JadeNB 9y ago
> If local governments are the future of ISP services, I'm not sure we'll have made much progress at all on the anti-monopoly front. It seems to me that this is real progress; or do you mean "this just replaces the private monopoly with a government monopoly"? Even just moving a monopoly from private to public hands seems to me like progress. Comcast, for example, doesn't need, or particularly care about, my vote, whereas local government does.
- fetus8 9y ago
  I think you're right, by moving the monopoly over to the local government, my vote now influences how the service works in a way that I can't control with Comcast. Living in Fort Collins and trying to help this get passed and put in to action has been great to see, but watching Comcast fight back has been quite disheartening considering the quality of service they provide. I am more than ready to give the City my money every month instead of the money hungry POS that is Comcast.
  - TallGuyShort 9y ago
    That's funny, I live in Fort Collins too, and they already take a large chunk of my money and despite my votes and my dissatisfaction with how they spend it now, they seem to be changing about as fast as Comcast's customer service is known to be.
- TallGuyShort 9y ago
  Comcast has done more when I've threatened to cancel than any politician has ever done when I've threatened not to vote for them, I'll tell you that. The difference is if I stopped paying for Comcast I would be without Internet. If I stopped paying for my local government I'd go to jail.
- rayiner 9y ago
  Depends on where you live, I guess. In the D.C. area, I'd rather have Comcast running my subway than WMATA running my internet.
- kodablah 9y ago
  > Comcast, for example, doesn't need, or particularly care about, my vote, whereas local government does. Not always your individual vote. A vote with your ballot often has little difference with a vote with your wallet when you can't easily/quickly switch.
adamsea 9y ago
Better the devil you know, eh?

JadeNB 9y ago

> If local governments are the future of ISP services, I'm not sure we'll have made much progress at all on the anti-monopoly front. It seems to me that this is real progress; or do you mean "this just replaces the private monopoly with a government monopoly"? Even just moving a monopoly from private to public hands seems to me like progress. Comcast, for example, doesn't need, or particularly care about, my vote, whereas local government does.

fetus8 9y ago
I think you're right, by moving the monopoly over to the local government, my vote now influences how the service works in a way that I can't control with Comcast. Living in Fort Collins and trying to help this get passed and put in to action has been great to see, but watching Comcast fight back has been quite disheartening considering the quality of service they provide. I am more than ready to give the City my money every month instead of the money hungry POS that is Comcast.
- TallGuyShort 9y ago
  That's funny, I live in Fort Collins too, and they already take a large chunk of my money and despite my votes and my dissatisfaction with how they spend it now, they seem to be changing about as fast as Comcast's customer service is known to be.
TallGuyShort 9y ago
Comcast has done more when I've threatened to cancel than any politician has ever done when I've threatened not to vote for them, I'll tell you that. The difference is if I stopped paying for Comcast I would be without Internet. If I stopped paying for my local government I'd go to jail.
rayiner 9y ago
Depends on where you live, I guess. In the D.C. area, I'd rather have Comcast running my subway than WMATA running my internet.
kodablah 9y ago
> Comcast, for example, doesn't need, or particularly care about, my vote, whereas local government does. Not always your individual vote. A vote with your ballot often has little difference with a vote with your wallet when you can't easily/quickly switch.

adamsea 9y ago

Better the devil you know, eh?