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What a coincidence; I just posted this to my Facebook feed yesterday: Dealing with ISPs (and mobile providers, for that matter) is a never-ending hell of time-

What a coincidence; I just posted this to my Facebook feed yesterday: Dealing with ISPs (and mobile providers, for that matter) is a never-ending hell of time-sucking and abysmal customer service. Communications as a business has some unfortunate features that drive its pathologies. The overhead of the infrastructure is very high and the marginal cost for adding a customer is relatively low. When there's more than one option, there's very little practical difference to distinguish the competitors from each other. Whether it's wireless or wired, I suspect we're doomed to be subjected to this kind of bullshit until the businesses in question are treated and regulated as the basic utilities that they have become. I don't know anyone who's frustrated with their electrical or gas service.

djrogers 12y ago
Wait a second, every single negative you've described here can also be applied to other utilities who have been regulated under title II for as long as it's existed. They've yet to find a way to 'regulate' human decency and good customer service...
- lightbritefight 12y ago
  Adding viable competitors is how. Title 2 will make it so other companies have a chance to exist on the government sponsored lines. Once Comcast sees its lifeblood spilling into the streets, Im betting their CS will be as sweet as pecan pie.
  - skuhn 12y ago
    Title II regulation will not necessarily open up the copper wiring to your house to competitors. The FCC is expected to forebear a lot of the Title II rules, and that may well be one of them.
  - briandear 12y ago
    But what's the incentive? How many people want to start water companies? If it's highly regulated the margins will also disappear. It turns it into a commodity. It isn't like you can do any real innovation.
  - rhino369 12y ago
    Title II can't force Comcast to share their lines. It can only force ILEC's to share their lines. So Verizon, AT&T, CenturyLink, and Frontier could be forced to unbundle. But Comcast can't be.
    - wtallis 12y ago
      Can't Comcast be treated as a comparable carrier under section 251(h)(2) and thus also qualify as an ILEC?
bane 12y ago
One of the interesting side-effects of utilities is you have a big group of trades that exist only to service that utility once it's inside your home. Nobody really complains about the water company, but they sure do complain about rip-off artist plumbers.
rayiner 12y ago
> I don't know anyone who's frustrated with their electrical or gas service. Only because they're not paying attention. Electric and water utilities are limping along with century-old plant in many cases. They have little incentive to invest in less-polluting or safer technologies, and not much capital dollars with which to do it.

djrogers 12y ago

Wait a second, every single negative you've described here can also be applied to other utilities who have been regulated under title II for as long as it's existed. They've yet to find a way to 'regulate' human decency and good customer service...

lightbritefight 12y ago
Adding viable competitors is how. Title 2 will make it so other companies have a chance to exist on the government sponsored lines. Once Comcast sees its lifeblood spilling into the streets, Im betting their CS will be as sweet as pecan pie.
- skuhn 12y ago
  Title II regulation will not necessarily open up the copper wiring to your house to competitors. The FCC is expected to forebear a lot of the Title II rules, and that may well be one of them.
- briandear 12y ago
  But what's the incentive? How many people want to start water companies? If it's highly regulated the margins will also disappear. It turns it into a commodity. It isn't like you can do any real innovation.
- rhino369 12y ago
  Title II can't force Comcast to share their lines. It can only force ILEC's to share their lines. So Verizon, AT&T, CenturyLink, and Frontier could be forced to unbundle. But Comcast can't be.
  - wtallis 12y ago
    Can't Comcast be treated as a comparable carrier under section 251(h)(2) and thus also qualify as an ILEC?

bane 12y ago

One of the interesting side-effects of utilities is you have a big group of trades that exist only to service that utility once it's inside your home. Nobody really complains about the water company, but they sure do complain about rip-off artist plumbers.

rayiner 12y ago

> I don't know anyone who's frustrated with their electrical or gas service. Only because they're not paying attention. Electric and water utilities are limping along with century-old plant in many cases. They have little incentive to invest in less-polluting or safer technologies, and not much capital dollars with which to do it.