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> You are not driving prices down by regulating them, you are driving them down by introducing more choice and competition Deregulation has proven _not_ to work
by markvdb 6y ago
> You are not driving prices down by regulating them, you are driving them down by introducing more choice and competition
Deregulation has proven _not_ to work for internet service providers. They're natural monopolies and oligopolies and as such antithetic to free market competition.
There are some relatively good examples around the world of regulated, utility like fiber networks in particular that _do_ work at actually encouraging free market competition between internet service providers.
- janeroe 6y ago> Deregulation has proven _not_ to work for internet service providers. Proved by whom exactly? It works perfectly in the rest of the world. I've got a choice of 5 internet providers. People living closer to the central part of the city have 10 to 15.
- southerntofu 6y agoMy experience from western Europe is that only regulation forces ISPs to play fair with competitors. Even while the law is VERY VERY clear about it, they're still playing deaf and you essentially have to go to court to have the law applied (which smaller providers can't afford). Deregulation means supremacy of the private company, without any legal recourse, which can never be fair to users.
- markvdb 6y agoI am genuinely very curious to learn about a deregulated place with 15 competing providers available to a single place to live. I wonder what drives that rare phenomenon. Please tell me more about this!
- EdwinLarkin 6y agoDensely populated areas are worth the shot even if you compete with 14 other providers.
- markvdb 6y agoI am certainly not saying that is not the case. I'd just like to have practical examples of success stories of deregulation in this area. I haven't found any yet myself, and I have plenty of counter examples...