4 ms·

I don't really understand what people are getting upset about. Isn't this just a business decision on their part not to invest $XXmillions on deploying out fibe

I don't really understand what people are getting upset about. Isn't this just a business decision on their part not to invest $XXmillions on deploying out fiber when there's uncertainty about what regulations they will be subjected to? The big debate around net neutrality is that Comcast throttled Netflix users, but I can't help but think that there's a real cost associated with the massive amounts of bandwidth that hi-def video streaming consumes. If AT&T has no scope to offset that cost to either Netflix or the customer, then doesn't it make perfect sense for them to not deploy this until they know all the details? Granted, I have absolutely no knowledge about any of this stuff...I'm hoping someone on HN can educate me about why this isn't just a logical business decision, and why I should be upset about this as a whole.

revelation 12y ago
Right, that massive 4MBit of bandwidth that passes for Netflix HD. I think thats about the state of art in 1970. Not to mention that the Netflix congestion isn't happening in the last mile, it's at interconnection points that could be trivially upgraded for very, very little money (compared to expanding fiber). Unless they are trying to hide that they have been massively overselling bandwidth to customers, in which case a class lawsuit would probably be in order.
- FlyingLawnmower 12y ago
  Gotcha. I guess I've had some misconceptions after viewing charts like this: http://cdn.bgr.com/2013/11/sandvine-2h-2013.png http://cdn.bgr.com/2013/11/sandvine-2h-2013.png that show huge amounts of (relative) netflix consumption.
guelo 12y ago
Net neutrality is not about Netflix vs Comcast. It's about preserving the internet as a free speech venue.
tzs 12y ago
AT&T has said they had plans for fiber expansion in 100 cities, and they have had to halt those plans because of uncertainty over net neutrality regulation. Many suspect that this is simply not true--they never actually had plans in the first place. Hence, the FCC would like to know what plans they have actually halted.
- FlyingLawnmower 12y ago
  Ooh, I see. I'm still confused about the net neutrality debacle, but this sheds some light on this issue specifically. Thank you!
- hga 12y ago
  "AT&T has said they had plans for fiber expansion in 100 cities" At DRLRports.com, this is referred to as "Fiber to the Press Release". AT&T all but stopped their fiber rollout after the Great Recession started (along with Verizon), all current action is just to try to avoid too much embarrassment from Google Fiber and the like. And of course sooner or later the Net Neutrality dance would give them a convenient excuse to not even pretend to do it.
ianstallings 12y ago
Well the main reason the FCC is getting ruffled is because ATT is a licensee and they only operate because the FCC enables it. Without the pull of the US government no company would be able to install cables all across the country. It would be similar to the railroads telling the US government to shove off. They are already bordering on being a utility. It's only a hop, skip, and jump to nationalization if they don't do the government's will.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> The big debate around net neutrality is that Comcast throttled Netflix users That's not so much the big debate as the most recent highly-visible example. When net neutrality first became a point of debate, Netflix didn't even have a streaming service.

revelation 12y ago

Right, that massive 4MBit of bandwidth that passes for Netflix HD. I think thats about the state of art in 1970. Not to mention that the Netflix congestion isn't happening in the last mile, it's at interconnection points that could be trivially upgraded for very, very little money (compared to expanding fiber). Unless they are trying to hide that they have been massively overselling bandwidth to customers, in which case a class lawsuit would probably be in order.

FlyingLawnmower 12y ago
Gotcha. I guess I've had some misconceptions after viewing charts like this: http://cdn.bgr.com/2013/11/sandvine-2h-2013.png http://cdn.bgr.com/2013/11/sandvine-2h-2013.png that show huge amounts of (relative) netflix consumption.

guelo 12y ago

Net neutrality is not about Netflix vs Comcast. It's about preserving the internet as a free speech venue.

tzs 12y ago

AT&T has said they had plans for fiber expansion in 100 cities, and they have had to halt those plans because of uncertainty over net neutrality regulation. Many suspect that this is simply not true--they never actually had plans in the first place. Hence, the FCC would like to know what plans they have actually halted.

FlyingLawnmower 12y ago
Ooh, I see. I'm still confused about the net neutrality debacle, but this sheds some light on this issue specifically. Thank you!
hga 12y ago
"AT&T has said they had plans for fiber expansion in 100 cities" At DRLRports.com, this is referred to as "Fiber to the Press Release". AT&T all but stopped their fiber rollout after the Great Recession started (along with Verizon), all current action is just to try to avoid too much embarrassment from Google Fiber and the like. And of course sooner or later the Net Neutrality dance would give them a convenient excuse to not even pretend to do it.

ianstallings 12y ago

Well the main reason the FCC is getting ruffled is because ATT is a licensee and they only operate because the FCC enables it. Without the pull of the US government no company would be able to install cables all across the country. It would be similar to the railroads telling the US government to shove off. They are already bordering on being a utility. It's only a hop, skip, and jump to nationalization if they don't do the government's will.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> The big debate around net neutrality is that Comcast throttled Netflix users That's not so much the big debate as the most recent highly-visible example. When net neutrality first became a point of debate, Netflix didn't even have a streaming service.