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This article is wrong. There exists a duopoly all over the US in broadband Internet - one can choose DSL or Cable - because every local municipality grants a lo
by javert 19y ago
This article is wrong. There exists a duopoly all over the US in broadband Internet - one can choose DSL or Cable - because every local municipality grants a local monopoly to one phone company and one cable company (and they usually choose one of the largest national companies in each case).
We need to break these monopolies and allow any company to build infrastructure. Then we will see competition increase and prices go down.
Not mentioned in the article is the UK, which has exactly the system I am proposing - one with almost no government regulation - and is at least on par with all the countries listed in the article, if not doing better. This example goes to show that socialist infrastructure and regulation is not the essential factor that makes broadband access better.
- xlnt 19y agoaccording to my friends in the UK, the internet options available for their home are bad/unreliable.
- menloparkbum 19y agoBroadband access in the UK is definitely not on par with the countries listed in the article.
- paulsb 19y agoSo very true. The best you can get in the UK is about 24 Mbps down, and 1.3 Mbps up - and that is with ADSL. When it comes to cable, there is only really one operator and that is Virgin Media. When it was NTL it was really good: fast, reliable, no throttling and no monitoring. But when Virgin bought it, then everything went tits-up: throttling, unreliable and part of the phorm debacle. If I had my choice I would go for the Scandinavian or Japanese system, i.e. fast and relentless.
- nki 19y agoYep, UK access isn't that great. 24Mbps down? Only if you're sitting directly on top of the exchange! From Be*, I get around 13-14Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up with the option to move to Annex M to increase my upload speed to around 2.3Mbps, for an equivalent (or greater) drop in download speed. However, a very good thing about unbundling is the ability to combine several SDSL lines from different providers to give a leased-line-like connection for a fraction of the cost.
- javert 19y agoSo maybe it's not that great (that's not what I had heard), but you have different providers!! That is at least a huge step up from what we have here. That is like music to the ears of an American. Here you pretty much have no choice except, Cable or DSL.