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>ended up getting a fiber line. This seems like the market functioning correctly. People who can be hardwired should be hardwired, so that scarce RF spectrum i

>ended up getting a fiber line. This seems like the market functioning correctly. People who can be hardwired should be hardwired, so that scarce RF spectrum is available for those who don't have an alternative.

ulrikrasmussen 6y ago
I'm not sure an economist would call that a case of a well-functioning market. The parent poster pretty much gave up on a product because the information asymmetry made it impossible to choose something that could satisfy his/her needs, and to compare options. If there had been an option to pay maybe twice as much for the subscription to get a reliable connection while saving the cost for establishing fiber, wouldn't all market participants then have been better off?
eru 6y ago
Economics is seldom about absolutes. It's about trade-offs. Ie how much would it inconvenience you to be hardwired vs the other guy? How much are you willing to pay?
- closeparen 6y ago
  I’m sure there is a price for which you could actually saturate an LTE connection around the clock, but it would be a “we’ll fly out some engineers to sit down with your engineers” kind of deal. Not offered through a mass market consumer sales channel.
  - eru 6y ago
    Depends on the market, I guess? Saturating the connection between your handset and the LTE cell tower shouldn't put that much of a strain on the fibre glass backhaul of the tower. At least where I live, I doubt it would warrant flying engineers around some planes. (But then, you'd be hard pressed to find a domestic hardwired connection below 500 Mbps. 1 or 2 Gbps are more common for domestic connections here. And we have some spots with faster than gigabit LTE connections.)
devxpy 6y ago
Your argument might be null though, because I still end up paying for mobile data, so I can use it outside my house. And the tariff here is kinda rigged to make you buy data. The economics don't work out unless you subscribe to a daily data plan in addition to the voice plan.
m463 6y ago
If you dropped the second sentence your comment would be a fine statement about the united states and market failures.

ulrikrasmussen 6y ago

I'm not sure an economist would call that a case of a well-functioning market. The parent poster pretty much gave up on a product because the information asymmetry made it impossible to choose something that could satisfy his/her needs, and to compare options. If there had been an option to pay maybe twice as much for the subscription to get a reliable connection while saving the cost for establishing fiber, wouldn't all market participants then have been better off?

eru 6y ago

Economics is seldom about absolutes. It's about trade-offs. Ie how much would it inconvenience you to be hardwired vs the other guy? How much are you willing to pay?

closeparen 6y ago
I’m sure there is a price for which you could actually saturate an LTE connection around the clock, but it would be a “we’ll fly out some engineers to sit down with your engineers” kind of deal. Not offered through a mass market consumer sales channel.
- eru 6y ago
  Depends on the market, I guess? Saturating the connection between your handset and the LTE cell tower shouldn't put that much of a strain on the fibre glass backhaul of the tower. At least where I live, I doubt it would warrant flying engineers around some planes. (But then, you'd be hard pressed to find a domestic hardwired connection below 500 Mbps. 1 or 2 Gbps are more common for domestic connections here. And we have some spots with faster than gigabit LTE connections.)

devxpy 6y ago

Your argument might be null though, because I still end up paying for mobile data, so I can use it outside my house. And the tariff here is kinda rigged to make you buy data. The economics don't work out unless you subscribe to a daily data plan in addition to the voice plan.

m463 6y ago

If you dropped the second sentence your comment would be a fine statement about the united states and market failures.