Screw you, FCC

[old_gregg]

fixed commodity

lol knock it off. bandwidth is not natural gas.

[Katy Lied]

yeah but why did the government have to get involved? Why can't we just litigate throttled speeds and other issues? The government is just going to eat up costs which we will pay for as taxes, plus at least the lawyers will go away having brushed back the throttlers and collected their cash. The government will stay past their point of usefulness.

[Moliere]

yeah but why did the government have to get involved? Why can't we just litigate throttled speeds and other issues? The government is just going to eat up costs which we will pay for as taxes, plus at least the lawyers will go away having brushed back the throttlers and collected their cash. The government will stay past their point of usefulness.

Government beaurocrats are cheaper than private lawyers

[Uncle Ted]

What incentive is there for Comcast to innovate today? They are the only broadband provider in my area. The barrier to entry for anyone else is enormous. They not only have very limited competition that cant match their speeds (DSL, over the air providers, etc.) but they also can throttle the content of other companies thus squeezing out video streamers that they don't like.

The internet is a commodity, it's no longer a luxury. Given the enormous costs of infrastructure it certainly should be regulated and be open access in the same way the electrical and gas grids and even the oil pipelines are governed. Companies will still invest in infrastructure and they'll still make a decent return, but they just have to compete on the same playing field with their content as other content providers.

Very little except for this company called Google. I have a friend in Austin that has two gigabit fiber connections to his home right now: AT&T and Grande Communications. He told me that Google is pulling fiber into his neighborhood as well and he plans to hook up for a third FTTH connection sometime in the near future. (He is rather eccentric, drives a very fast Tesla, has his own computer networking parts supply company, and is very well connected in more ways than just one.) It will be interesting to see how each of these companies do. AT&T and Grande may have not stepped up and made the investment in infrastructure if it wasn't for google.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Very little except for this company called Google. I have a friend in Austin that has two gigabit fiber connections to his home right now: AT&T and Grande Communications. He told me that Google is pulling fiber into his neighborhood as well and he plans to hook up for a third FTTH connection sometime in the near future. (He is rather eccentric, drives a very fast Tesla, has his own computer networking parts supply company, and is very well connected in more ways than just one.) It will be interesting to see how each of these companies do. AT&T and Grande may have not stepped up and made the investment in infrastructure if it wasn't for google.

Holy crap. Did Uncle Ted just say something positive about Google?

[Moliere]

Very little except for this company called Google. I have a friend in Austin that has two gigabit fiber connections to his home right now: AT&T and Grande Communications. He told me that Google is pulling fiber into his neighborhood as well and he plans to hook up for a third FTTH connection sometime in the near future. (He is rather eccentric, drives a very fast Tesla, has his own computer networking parts supply company, and is very well connected in more ways than just one.) It will be interesting to see how each of these companies do. AT&T and Grande may have not stepped up and made the investment in infrastructure if it wasn't for google.

Laying another fiber line isn't innovating.

[Uncle Ted]

Holy crap. Did Uncle Ted just say something positive about Google?

Yeah, they got AT&T off their butts to install fiber to my house. Good for them.

[Uncle Ted]

Laying another fiber line isn't innovating.

A lot more innovating than doing internet over a cable coax.

[Paperback Writer]

lol knock it off. bandwidth is not natural gas.

You misread me or I was not clear: "The thinking of many in favor of net neutrality is that government regulation is needed of a fixed commodity". IMO, many in favor of net neutrality treat bandwidth as a fixed commodity. Agree that bandwidth is not natural gas. Regulating the internet via net neutrality is not an incentive for service providers to expand and innovate - that was my point - not that bandwidth was like natural gas.

For lack of a better example, think of a service provider wanting to add a toll lane on a highway for those willing to pay. Other motorists driving at slower speeds, don't like being passed by those in the toll lane. They want everyone to have to drive the same speed. The reality is that a toll lane will take some traffic off the other lanes resulting in higher speeds for everyone. Without the toll lane, everyone drives slower.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yeah, they got AT&T off their butts to install fiber to my house. Good for them.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Is Comcast against what the FCC is doing? If so, then I support the FCC. Comcast is the reverse GM, one can assume something that is bad for Comcast is good for the country.

[Moliere]

You misread me or I was not clear: "The thinking of many in favor of net neutrality is that government regulation is needed of a fixed commodity". IMO, many in favor of net neutrality treat bandwidth as a fixed commodity. Agree that bandwidth is not natural gas. Regulating the internet via net neutrality is not an incentive for service providers to expand and innovate - that was my point - not that bandwidth was like natural gas.

For lack of a better example, think of a service provider wanting to add a toll lane on a highway for those willing to pay. Other motorists driving at slower speeds, don't like being passed by those in the toll lane. They want everyone to have to drive the same speed. The reality is that a toll lane will take some traffic off the other lanes resulting in higher speeds for everyone. Without the toll lane, everyone drives slower.

Roads are a great example. They compete with very little and are heavily regulated....and on top of that they work really well. Imagine if roads were built by large companies like Comcast and Comcast also owned Swift trucking. Now imagine if Comcast decided that only Swift trucks could use the fast lane and all others were required to not only use the regular lanes, but other trucking companies had to use a really slow lane. Now imagine how many people would use a trucking company other than Swift. Not many, and I'd also imagine there would be limited other start ups due not only to the barriers to entry but the uneven playing field.

I'm sorry, but I trust the government more to regulate this stuff than private business. At least with the government there is more transparency.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Roads are a great example. They compete with very little and are heavily regulated....and on top of that they work really well. Imagine if roads were built by large companies like Comcast and Comcast also owned Swift trucking. Now imagine if Comcast decided that only Swift trucks could use the fast lane and all others were required to not only use the regular lanes, but other trucking companies had to use a really slow lane. Now imagine how many people would use a trucking company other than Swift. Not many, and I'd also imagine there would be limited other start ups due not only to the barriers to entry but the uneven playing field.

I'm sorry, but I trust the government more to regulate this stuff than private business. At least with the government there is more transparency.

The government is becoming increasingly less transparent, the news about the IRS today is maddening.

I don't think this has anything to do with trust or transparency, it has to do with monopolistic behavior which Comcast was beginning to engage in. It's something that inherently happens when you're dealing with a service that eventually gets consolidated to one party. My dad was telling me the other day how he had to pay close to $100 for a telephone back in the late 70s. A cheap landline, corded phone costs around 10 bucks now. Parties that attain a market position where they can gouge and screw you will always take the opportunity to do so. It's the main reason why medical costs are so high.

[Uncle Ted]

Roads are a great example. They compete with very little and are heavily regulated....and on top of that they work really well. Imagine if roads were built by large companies like Comcast and Comcast also owned Swift trucking. Now imagine if Comcast decided that only Swift trucks could use the fast lane and all others were required to not only use the regular lanes, but other trucking companies had to use a really slow lane. Now imagine how many people would use a trucking company other than Swift. Not many, and I'd also imagine there would be limited other start ups due not only to the barriers to entry but the uneven playing field.

I'm sorry, but I trust the government more to regulate this stuff than private business. At least with the government there is more transparency.

Yeah, this is a great example... I have seen parts of the road where trucks are required to stay in the right lanes (the slow lane). I guess I am paying more taxes than them. Maybe those truck drivers should become welders. Al Gore Sr. built the government roads these trucks travel on just like Al Gore Jr. built the government "information superhighway" that we all virtually travel on. Let's keep the internet trucks in the slow lanes so they don't slow me down.

The government is becoming increasingly less transparent, the news about the IRS today is maddening.

I had to go to Rush Limbaugh's web site to figure out what the hell you were talking about. I don't believe anything on that website or fox news. I am waiting for the Rev. Al Sharpton and his crack news team at MSNBC to break this before I believe anything.

I don't think this has anything to do with trust or transparency, it has to do with monopolistic behavior which Comcast was beginning to engage in. It's something that inherently happens when you're dealing with a service that eventually gets consolidated to one party. My dad was telling me the other day how he had to pay close to $100 for a telephone back in the late 70s. A cheap landline, corded phone costs around 10 bucks now. Parties that attain a market position where they can gouge and screw you will always take the opportunity to do so. It's the main reason why medical costs are so high.

I recall my father paying something crazy like $12/mo to lease the telephone from MaBell back in the day. The service was on top of that and it was a party line. (We lived on the far side of BFE.) I pay $3/mo for a VoIP with Ooma. Of course, I wonder why I pay that when I talk on my cell phone most of the time.

[byu71]

Krauthammer and George will said it is bogus what the FCC is doing. I am now back to neutral on it. Some of you had me thinking it was OK