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I'm not sure utilities are a good comparison point for two reasons. The first is that the marginal cost of internet data is near zero while the marginal cost o

I'm not sure utilities are a good comparison point for two reasons. The first is that the marginal cost of internet data is near zero while the marginal cost of electricity generation is not. Secondly, utilities generally are more highly regulated than ISPs. The reason it can be distasteful when an ISP raises its rates or limits its services is that ISPs often have a monopoly over many of their customers. At best most people get to choose from a duopoly, so the ISPs don't really have to compete in a free market.

walkon 15y ago
The marginal costs of commercial software is even lower, but most vendors charge in a mostly linear manner; it's not like they decrement their prices for each sale they make to keep a steady cost-to-price ratio. Why should they? If enough people want to still voluntarily purchase their product/service, they should continue to try and make as much money as possible. If their are few good options, then the market is ripe for competition to help bring the incumbents back to offering better values. Isn't this a site revolving around entrepreneurs in IT? Doesn't everyone want to make more money then they spend?
- jbri 15y ago
  If the market was actually open for competition, then there would be alternatives and no-one would complain about caps, they'd just move to another provider. The fact that bitching about the caps is people's only option should tip you off to the fact that the market is not, in fact, open.
  - walkon 15y ago
    There is definitely competition, but even if there wasn't, that would mean that the existing provider was good enough. What's stopping more alternatives from appearing besides this? Probably looming legislation more than anything. If you really hate it, instead of spending your energy lobbying for regulations, go start your own ISP that gives everyone the world for a lower flat rate. I'm sure you'll stay in business for a long time.
    - henrikschroder 15y ago
      In countries where there is actual competition between ISPs, such as Sweden, and other parts of Europe, there are no caps. And our ISPs don't seem to suffer for it. I'm sure they'd love to have caps, but the first one to do it will just start bleeding customers, and none of them can afford that since the market is saturated. I have a throttle cap on my mobile internet though, I can use as much internet as I like on my iPhone for a flat fee, but if I go over 5GB in a month, they may throttle my speed for the next month. That's pretty fair, I guess, but they're building out 4G now with even faster mobile internet, so those caps are probably going to disappear slowly as people move over to newer technology with more bandwidth than the current 3G/EDGE systems. Stop being an apologist.
      - jasonlotito 15y ago
        > In countries where there is actual competition between ISPs How do you define competition between ISPs?
        henrikschroder 15y ago
        Where I am, I can choose between nine different ADSL providers, one cable provider, and about six different mobile broadband providers. All of them want me to switch to them, and they differ slightly in pricing, bundling, triple-play, customer service, speed, etc.
        jasonlotito 15y ago
        That's not what I'm asking. I have multiple providers of DSL internet, cable, and mobile providers, all with varying services, pricing, etc. Each one applies caps. Where you are, are their lies that affect providers in that area? Or is it all pure competition? Did those 9 ADSL providers all lay their own line, or is their laws in effect that make those providers lease their lines out to other providers? Basically, is it pure competition?
        15y ago

walkon 15y ago

The marginal costs of commercial software is even lower, but most vendors charge in a mostly linear manner; it's not like they decrement their prices for each sale they make to keep a steady cost-to-price ratio. Why should they? If enough people want to still voluntarily purchase their product/service, they should continue to try and make as much money as possible. If their are few good options, then the market is ripe for competition to help bring the incumbents back to offering better values. Isn't this a site revolving around entrepreneurs in IT? Doesn't everyone want to make more money then they spend?

jbri 15y ago
If the market was actually open for competition, then there would be alternatives and no-one would complain about caps, they'd just move to another provider. The fact that bitching about the caps is people's only option should tip you off to the fact that the market is not, in fact, open.
- walkon 15y ago
  There is definitely competition, but even if there wasn't, that would mean that the existing provider was good enough. What's stopping more alternatives from appearing besides this? Probably looming legislation more than anything. If you really hate it, instead of spending your energy lobbying for regulations, go start your own ISP that gives everyone the world for a lower flat rate. I'm sure you'll stay in business for a long time.
  - henrikschroder 15y ago
    In countries where there is actual competition between ISPs, such as Sweden, and other parts of Europe, there are no caps. And our ISPs don't seem to suffer for it. I'm sure they'd love to have caps, but the first one to do it will just start bleeding customers, and none of them can afford that since the market is saturated. I have a throttle cap on my mobile internet though, I can use as much internet as I like on my iPhone for a flat fee, but if I go over 5GB in a month, they may throttle my speed for the next month. That's pretty fair, I guess, but they're building out 4G now with even faster mobile internet, so those caps are probably going to disappear slowly as people move over to newer technology with more bandwidth than the current 3G/EDGE systems. Stop being an apologist.
    - jasonlotito 15y ago
      > In countries where there is actual competition between ISPs How do you define competition between ISPs?
      - henrikschroder 15y ago
        Where I am, I can choose between nine different ADSL providers, one cable provider, and about six different mobile broadband providers. All of them want me to switch to them, and they differ slightly in pricing, bundling, triple-play, customer service, speed, etc.
        jasonlotito 15y ago
        That's not what I'm asking. I have multiple providers of DSL internet, cable, and mobile providers, all with varying services, pricing, etc. Each one applies caps. Where you are, are their lies that affect providers in that area? Or is it all pure competition? Did those 9 ADSL providers all lay their own line, or is their laws in effect that make those providers lease their lines out to other providers? Basically, is it pure competition?
        15y ago