a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  2438 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Let's formulate an official Hubski response to the FCC

    More choice, less force. "That’s freedom, isn’t it?"

No.





wasoxygen  ·  2438 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Suppose everything in the video is true. ISPs fix prices by colluding. There's not enough competition.

How does the FCC placing restrictions on what ISPs can offer improve competition?

user-inactivated  ·  2438 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's the wrong question. We (at least, we who know things about the networking) know what a good ISP should look like. Internet service is a utility. There is no competition because there shouldn't be, you only need one provider in the area doing the job, you just need them to be doing the job right. If, because we're America and we're not happy unless suits are bending us over, we aren't going to have public ISPs, we need regulation to force ISPs to prioritize being ISPs over whatever their business interests are with regulation. If that's unacceptable than the solution is public ISPs, not allowing ISPs to bend the Internet into a shape more like TV and print for the majority of users where the media companies that own them aren't dinosaurs on their way out.

wasoxygen  ·  2438 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You make "a good ISP" singular, as if one product at one price point can satisfy all customers. Only a fifth of internet users subscribe to Netflix. 13% of Americans don't go online at all.

Telephone service is a utility, and there is a huge variety of offerings.

Water is a utility, and I know of only one kind of water, but you still get more when you pay more.

Devac  ·  2438 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
wasoxygen  ·  2438 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks for jumping in!

    If you don't have choices you are almost always stuck with AT&T or Verizon and bitching at those two is practically a meme now.

Not everyone complains, but those who do are more noticeable. Just about everyone has choices, even in the countryside satellite and mobile hotspot options are available.

My idea of improving the situation is to give the ISPs more freedom to innovate and compete, rather than putting restrictions on them.

I don't follow the logic saying that since we are unsatisfied with a small number of big players giving mediocre service, let's have one huge player provide all the service -- and make it the player that gets 20% positive reviews.

    I get my internet connection from the one provider (please read about its history, it's actually relevant) available in the area.

Two of the six paragraphs in that history are complaints!

Also:

    According to Eurostat, OECD and others, Internet access in Poland is among the most expensive in Europe. This is mostly caused by the lack of competitiveness and lack of know-how. New operators like Dialog and GTS Energis are making their own provider lines and offer more attractive and cheaper service. In February 2011, the Polish Office of Electronic Communication issued an order forcing the TPSA to rent 51% of their ADSL lines to other ISPs at 60% discount of their market pricing. As the result the prices are non-competitive, other ISP charge as TPSA making a guaranteed 40% profit, while TPSA has no incentive to lower its consumer prices, because it would result in lowering of wholesale prices as well.[citation needed]
Devac  ·  2437 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.