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Its an improvement but Comcast has been delaying real improvements for years but collect insane profits (afaik). I would love to see the numbers as well. The

Its an improvement but Comcast has been delaying real improvements for years but collect insane profits (afaik). I would love to see the numbers as well. The X1 DVR as far as I am concerned was horrible compared to the ReplayTV or Tivo circa 2001 (except for obviously HD improvement). It only took 15 years and lots of legislation mandating cablecards and whatnot to get them to get there. I don't have hope that they will act in our best interests given past actions but I have to use them because there are no other real options. Honestly I would like to see the effective monopoly on physical layer internet broken up. Allow municipalities own the cables under the street and and not allow Comcast and others to block companies like Google from expanding by blocking access to the last mile. There is a lot of unused dark fiber in lots of places that could have supported 1Gbps a long time ago but doesn't

smsm42 9y ago
Comcast profit margin is 12%: https://ycharts.com/companies/CMCSA/profit_margin https://ycharts.com/companies/CMCSA/profit_margin That's on the high side, usually it's around 10%. For comparison, profit margins for Internet/IT companies are around 25%, Google's 24%. Facebook's a whopping 45%. Microsoft's a remarkable 26%. Is 12% "insane"? Which one would be the "sane" one?
- harikb 9y ago
  For a company not having any R&D cost, granted monopoly/duopoly via lobbying, yes 12% may be insane.
  - smsm42 9y ago
    Why do you think they don't have any R&D cost? They just launched a mobile network, you don't think that involved at least some R&D investment? How much would be sane in your opinion? 1%? No profit at all?
rayiner 9y ago
> Its an improvement but Comcast has been delaying real improvements for years but collect insane profits (afaik). Comcast has raised speeds from about 16 mbps to gigabit in the last ten years, through multiple rounds of DOCSIS upgrades. As to access to the last mile: that’s already the law. Pole and conduit owners are required to lease out access at non-discriminatory rates. Comcast owns few if any poles. They lease access from the power company or the phone company, just like Google would have to do.
- mrguyorama 9y ago
  They've only done that in very specific areas
  - rayiner 9y ago
    It's widespread: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30960001-Speed-Report-DOCSIS-3-1-Gigabit-Service-Here http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30960001-Speed-Report-DOCSI.... Anecdotally, I've lived in five cities in Comcast territory, and four of the five show gigabit cable for $80 and multi-gig fiber for $150 at my former address.
    - mrguyorama 9y ago
      I don't count "A couple of cities in each state" as widespread

smsm42 9y ago

Comcast profit margin is 12%: https://ycharts.com/companies/CMCSA/profit_margin https://ycharts.com/companies/CMCSA/profit_margin That's on the high side, usually it's around 10%. For comparison, profit margins for Internet/IT companies are around 25%, Google's 24%. Facebook's a whopping 45%. Microsoft's a remarkable 26%. Is 12% "insane"? Which one would be the "sane" one?

harikb 9y ago
For a company not having any R&D cost, granted monopoly/duopoly via lobbying, yes 12% may be insane.
- smsm42 9y ago
  Why do you think they don't have any R&D cost? They just launched a mobile network, you don't think that involved at least some R&D investment? How much would be sane in your opinion? 1%? No profit at all?

rayiner 9y ago

> Its an improvement but Comcast has been delaying real improvements for years but collect insane profits (afaik). Comcast has raised speeds from about 16 mbps to gigabit in the last ten years, through multiple rounds of DOCSIS upgrades. As to access to the last mile: that’s already the law. Pole and conduit owners are required to lease out access at non-discriminatory rates. Comcast owns few if any poles. They lease access from the power company or the phone company, just like Google would have to do.

mrguyorama 9y ago
They've only done that in very specific areas
- rayiner 9y ago
  It's widespread: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30960001-Speed-Report-DOCSIS-3-1-Gigabit-Service-Here http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30960001-Speed-Report-DOCSI.... Anecdotally, I've lived in five cities in Comcast territory, and four of the five show gigabit cable for $80 and multi-gig fiber for $150 at my former address.
  - mrguyorama 9y ago
    I don't count "A couple of cities in each state" as widespread