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Comcast lobbied so hard to get our local mileage for fiber expansion voted down. When it passed, they suddenly decided they’re going to spend 6 figures worth of

Comcast lobbied so hard to get our local mileage for fiber expansion voted down. When it passed, they suddenly decided they’re going to spend 6 figures worth of money to expand their own fiber backdown (they’re not even to the house). Its amazing when corporations will spend more money fighting something than actually implementing said thing.

fragmede 2y ago
when you can simplify things down to a number on a spreadsheet, it's a simple math equation. It doesn't make sense if you step back and look at what's actually best, but money warps everything it touches.
- yourapostasy 2y ago
  > money warps everything it touches. I wonder what would happen if money transactions frame dragged transaction metadata along with the money. Today, the money is public data, but the far more interesting transactional metadata exchange is a hyper-fragmented market.
rolobio 2y ago
I’ve had fiber at my house from day one provided by a local ISP. Comcast came in and buried their own fiber lines (years later) for all the houses in my neighborhood. Soon after, my ISP bumped my speed and lowered my monthly bill. We desperately need more competition. It’s the only thing that actually lowers prices. Also, I will happily pay higher prices to never pay for Comcast again. So they won’t see a penny from me.
- troupo 2y ago
  > We desperately need more competition. It’s the only thing that actually lowers prices. Unless it's a deep pocketed behemoth coming and stomping out local competition because they can afford to lose money on price dumping. Though I agree with the general idea of the competition.
  - Diesel555 2y ago
    This is all covered in microeconomics. Competition is very good for society. Things that stop competition are bad and require government action. The scenario above is describing the behaviors of a “natural monopoly” due to the barriers to enter the market. As with all monopolies, regulation or some government action is normally required to promote competition and stop bad behavior (some examples of government actions are described in the link below / the root article is an example). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly I really wish microeconomics was a required course in high school or primary. I find it to be one of the least understood of the well-established fields, and one that matters when we get older and vote or debate on these topics.
    - Qwertious 2y ago
      I hate how corporate lobbying is described as "government action", as if the government here is the actor and not the condom.
      - soerxpso 2y ago
        The government is the actor. Do you think that corporate lobbying gives corporations the right to write their own laws, or something? Lobbying is paying someone to speak to a government representative. Every government representative has the full authority to respond, "No? That's stupid," and if they respond any other way they should be the one held accountable for it.
        Qwertious 2y ago
        >Do you think that corporate lobbying gives corporations the right to write their own laws, or something? Given how common it is for politicians to pass bills directly written by corporate lobbies, yes. I think exactly that.
  - roenxi 2y ago
    People worry about price dumping waaay out of proportion to how often it is a problem. Usually when there is a deep-pocketed entity stomping out local competition they are using regulatory capture as their main tool (this is what Comcast seems to do) and the problem is competition has been made illegal. In situations like this, my default assumption is that it is illegal to lay competing cables until proven otherwise. We had a similar situation of massive monopoly provider in Australia back in the early 2000s, the economics didn't stop new companies laying new cable to compete with the incumbents. That all died when the government launched a new national network though.
vasco 2y ago
6 figures? For a single house or?
- catlikesshrimp 2y ago
  He explained himself in the last sentence >"Its amazing when corporations will spend more money fighting something than actually implementing said thing."
  - lazide 2y ago
    [flagged]
xnx 2y ago
Corporate ISPs take the same approach to community ISPs as they do to unions. Any hint of their existence must be crushed immediately and forcefully regardless of cost. If community ISPs (or unions) succeed, it shows what is possible.

fragmede 2y ago

when you can simplify things down to a number on a spreadsheet, it's a simple math equation. It doesn't make sense if you step back and look at what's actually best, but money warps everything it touches.

yourapostasy 2y ago
> money warps everything it touches. I wonder what would happen if money transactions frame dragged transaction metadata along with the money. Today, the money is public data, but the far more interesting transactional metadata exchange is a hyper-fragmented market.

rolobio 2y ago

I’ve had fiber at my house from day one provided by a local ISP. Comcast came in and buried their own fiber lines (years later) for all the houses in my neighborhood. Soon after, my ISP bumped my speed and lowered my monthly bill. We desperately need more competition. It’s the only thing that actually lowers prices. Also, I will happily pay higher prices to never pay for Comcast again. So they won’t see a penny from me.

troupo 2y ago
> We desperately need more competition. It’s the only thing that actually lowers prices. Unless it's a deep pocketed behemoth coming and stomping out local competition because they can afford to lose money on price dumping. Though I agree with the general idea of the competition.
- Diesel555 2y ago
  This is all covered in microeconomics. Competition is very good for society. Things that stop competition are bad and require government action. The scenario above is describing the behaviors of a “natural monopoly” due to the barriers to enter the market. As with all monopolies, regulation or some government action is normally required to promote competition and stop bad behavior (some examples of government actions are described in the link below / the root article is an example). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly I really wish microeconomics was a required course in high school or primary. I find it to be one of the least understood of the well-established fields, and one that matters when we get older and vote or debate on these topics.
  - Qwertious 2y ago
    I hate how corporate lobbying is described as "government action", as if the government here is the actor and not the condom.
    - soerxpso 2y ago
      The government is the actor. Do you think that corporate lobbying gives corporations the right to write their own laws, or something? Lobbying is paying someone to speak to a government representative. Every government representative has the full authority to respond, "No? That's stupid," and if they respond any other way they should be the one held accountable for it.
      - Qwertious 2y ago
        >Do you think that corporate lobbying gives corporations the right to write their own laws, or something? Given how common it is for politicians to pass bills directly written by corporate lobbies, yes. I think exactly that.
- roenxi 2y ago
  People worry about price dumping waaay out of proportion to how often it is a problem. Usually when there is a deep-pocketed entity stomping out local competition they are using regulatory capture as their main tool (this is what Comcast seems to do) and the problem is competition has been made illegal. In situations like this, my default assumption is that it is illegal to lay competing cables until proven otherwise. We had a similar situation of massive monopoly provider in Australia back in the early 2000s, the economics didn't stop new companies laying new cable to compete with the incumbents. That all died when the government launched a new national network though.

vasco 2y ago

6 figures? For a single house or?

catlikesshrimp 2y ago
He explained himself in the last sentence >"Its amazing when corporations will spend more money fighting something than actually implementing said thing."
- lazide 2y ago
  [flagged]

xnx 2y ago

Corporate ISPs take the same approach to community ISPs as they do to unions. Any hint of their existence must be crushed immediately and forcefully regardless of cost. If community ISPs (or unions) succeed, it shows what is possible.