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I read some of the other comments and don't understand your point 3. Do you expect huge demand to drive the price down? I'd tend to expect the opposite.

by pseut 14y ago

trentmb 14y ago
I dunno, bandwidth doesn't seem to be finite in the same sense that oil or gold are. Not to mention that bandwidth doesn't 'roll-over.'
- pekk 14y ago
  Bandwidth isn't a non-renewable resource but supply won't increase without incentive. Why isn't there sufficient incentive?
  - gbhn 14y ago
    Most would-be providers of bandwidth to consumers are guarding legacy premium bandwidth sales. The phone company would like to sell you differentiated phone bandwidth at 10x market rates. The cable company would like to sell you differentiated TV bandwidth at 10x market rates. One approach would be to unbundle internet from premium bandwidth services offered by the same company over the same channel. Suppose the US was organized with a tier of companies competing to offer you cheap, reliable bandwidth, and a tier of companies competing to offer you premium services riding atop that bandwidth. Other countries have a model similar to this, and they generally have much better bandwidth services. In the US, we're tied to legacy investments in carrier infrastructure that make moving to such a system very difficult. Personally, I think we should just pay them off and start fresh. Unfortunately, that ends up basically looking like nationalization, which in the US is extremely difficult politically.
    - crusso 14y ago
      Personally, I think we should just pay them off and start fresh. Unfortunately, that ends up basically looking like nationalization, which in the US is extremely difficult politically. Actually if the Government broke up the monopolies that have a stranglehold on connection points and wires to the homes -- competition would sort everything out without a bunch of needless Government bureaucracy creating huge unintended consequences.
Dylan16807 14y ago
Technology improvements that enable decreased price combined with massive demand should cause competition and price drops.

I read some of the other comments and don't understand your point 3. Do you expect huge demand to drive the price down? I'd tend to expect the opposite.

by pseut 14y ago

I read some of the other comments and don't understand your point 3. Do you expect huge demand to drive the price down? I'd tend to expect the opposite.

trentmb 14y ago

I dunno, bandwidth doesn't seem to be finite in the same sense that oil or gold are. Not to mention that bandwidth doesn't 'roll-over.'

pekk 14y ago
Bandwidth isn't a non-renewable resource but supply won't increase without incentive. Why isn't there sufficient incentive?
- gbhn 14y ago
  Most would-be providers of bandwidth to consumers are guarding legacy premium bandwidth sales. The phone company would like to sell you differentiated phone bandwidth at 10x market rates. The cable company would like to sell you differentiated TV bandwidth at 10x market rates. One approach would be to unbundle internet from premium bandwidth services offered by the same company over the same channel. Suppose the US was organized with a tier of companies competing to offer you cheap, reliable bandwidth, and a tier of companies competing to offer you premium services riding atop that bandwidth. Other countries have a model similar to this, and they generally have much better bandwidth services. In the US, we're tied to legacy investments in carrier infrastructure that make moving to such a system very difficult. Personally, I think we should just pay them off and start fresh. Unfortunately, that ends up basically looking like nationalization, which in the US is extremely difficult politically.
  - crusso 14y ago
    Personally, I think we should just pay them off and start fresh. Unfortunately, that ends up basically looking like nationalization, which in the US is extremely difficult politically. Actually if the Government broke up the monopolies that have a stranglehold on connection points and wires to the homes -- competition would sort everything out without a bunch of needless Government bureaucracy creating huge unintended consequences.

Dylan16807 14y ago

Technology improvements that enable decreased price combined with massive demand should cause competition and price drops.