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> The trend in broadband has been more competition. In the past decade I've lived in three different cities, and in each one Comcast was the only provider avai

> The trend in broadband has been more competition. In the past decade I've lived in three different cities, and in each one Comcast was the only provider available. Do we really not think Comcast has a monopoly?

rayiner 8y ago
Google has 90% search market share--Comcast doesn't have that even in areas where it is the sole high-speed wired provider (because DSL and cellular are viable alternatives for a significant part of the population). And over large swaths of its service area it isn't the only high-speed wired option. I don't know where you're located, but I've lived in Chicago, Atlanta, DC, Baltimore, Annapolis, New York, and Philadelphia over the last decade. Each place except Baltimore has multiple providers. And Comcast competes with cellular everywhere. If you take the view that cellular or DSL aren't legitimate competition (despite having double-digit marketshare even where Comcast has no other competition), then Bing and Yahoo! aren't competition for Google either. In which case Google has a nationwide monopoly in search.
- f-securus 8y ago
  It isn't about market share. It is about consumer choice. Access to google alternatives are available to everyone. Many people don't have a reasonable choice when it comes to broadband.
  - rayiner 8y ago
    Economists traditionally analyze market concentration in terms of market share, not the mere existence of choice. I will point out that you felt the need to qualify "choice" with "reasonable"--because Comcast competes with DSL and cellular almost everywhere. But that some qualifier applies to search. Even in markets where Comcast is the only cable provider, it usually doesn't have anything close to 90% market share, because DSL and cellular are a "reasonable choice" for quite a lot of people. (About half of households don't subscribe to any streaming video service.) Thus, judging by market share, Google alternatives are apparently even less viable in the search industry than DSL and cellular are in the home broadband industry.
    - 0815test 8y ago
      > Economists traditionally analyze market concentration in terms of market share, not the mere existence of choice. Actually, many economists - and perhaps most of them - argue that what's fundamental to monopolization concerns is the presence of undue barriers to entry that make the market non-contestable. "Market share" and "choice" are not helpful on their own, because a big market share could be entirely due to the incumbent pursuing efficiency and the consumer's best interests, so as to keep themselves ahead of any possible competitors. But this is a benign dynamic that will be quickly corrected should the incumbent fall behind, as competitors would quickly enter the market.
    - gowld 8y ago
      Competitive markets tend toward monopolies because everyone wants the best product. Monopolies are only prevented by vendor lock in or natural barriers (like geography, which mostly does not exist on the Internet), which is why you have a few pseudo competitors in broadband and cellular.

rayiner 8y ago

Google has 90% search market share--Comcast doesn't have that even in areas where it is the sole high-speed wired provider (because DSL and cellular are viable alternatives for a significant part of the population). And over large swaths of its service area it isn't the only high-speed wired option. I don't know where you're located, but I've lived in Chicago, Atlanta, DC, Baltimore, Annapolis, New York, and Philadelphia over the last decade. Each place except Baltimore has multiple providers. And Comcast competes with cellular everywhere. If you take the view that cellular or DSL aren't legitimate competition (despite having double-digit marketshare even where Comcast has no other competition), then Bing and Yahoo! aren't competition for Google either. In which case Google has a nationwide monopoly in search.

f-securus 8y ago
It isn't about market share. It is about consumer choice. Access to google alternatives are available to everyone. Many people don't have a reasonable choice when it comes to broadband.
- rayiner 8y ago
  Economists traditionally analyze market concentration in terms of market share, not the mere existence of choice. I will point out that you felt the need to qualify "choice" with "reasonable"--because Comcast competes with DSL and cellular almost everywhere. But that some qualifier applies to search. Even in markets where Comcast is the only cable provider, it usually doesn't have anything close to 90% market share, because DSL and cellular are a "reasonable choice" for quite a lot of people. (About half of households don't subscribe to any streaming video service.) Thus, judging by market share, Google alternatives are apparently even less viable in the search industry than DSL and cellular are in the home broadband industry.
  - 0815test 8y ago
    > Economists traditionally analyze market concentration in terms of market share, not the mere existence of choice. Actually, many economists - and perhaps most of them - argue that what's fundamental to monopolization concerns is the presence of undue barriers to entry that make the market non-contestable. "Market share" and "choice" are not helpful on their own, because a big market share could be entirely due to the incumbent pursuing efficiency and the consumer's best interests, so as to keep themselves ahead of any possible competitors. But this is a benign dynamic that will be quickly corrected should the incumbent fall behind, as competitors would quickly enter the market.
  - gowld 8y ago
    Competitive markets tend toward monopolies because everyone wants the best product. Monopolies are only prevented by vendor lock in or natural barriers (like geography, which mostly does not exist on the Internet), which is why you have a few pseudo competitors in broadband and cellular.