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Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Aug 8th 2003 1:05pm





You Call That Broadband?

from the I'll-show-you-broadband dept

Om Malik is taking the US telcos to task for not offering consumers real broadband. It's the same old story. The current telecom firms in the US think that the only way to profit is by controlling what people can do online. Whereas, if they were to offer true broadband speeds, that would greatly enhance the value of the internet, there would be many more opportunities to profit. In the meantime, it opens up the door for other firms to come and steal the telcos customers out from under them.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    nice

    identicon
    e g, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 2:10pm

    good article. We wont see broadband from the cable companies because then it would conflict with the high price margin profits they get from CABLE TV.

    The public would stop purchasing cable tv .

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Re: nice

    identicon
    Mike, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 2:18pm

    Actually, that's pretty much ignoring what's happening right now. The cable companies are forcing people to bundle their cable broadband and their cable TV, or they jack up the prices if you want them individually. So, the simplified argument doesn't work.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    It's always been about infrastructure.

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 3:38pm

    Phone companies take the cheap option of DSL as they already have the copper.

    Cable TV companies can bung a cable modem on the same line as your TV.

    Neither are prepared to invest in new/superior infrastructure like providing T1's over fibre to people's homes....

    Although it wasn't that long ago that AT&T customers were getting 8Mbps (if accidently left uncapped).

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Re: It's always been about infrastructure.

    identicon
    Mike, Aug 8th, 2003 @ 3:50pm

    Well, Verizon is actually investing in fiber to the home. Though, I'm not convince they're going to do a very good job of it.

    More info here.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    Re: It's always been about infrastructure.

    identicon
    SickOfRegisteringWithEverySite, Aug 11th, 2003 @ 8:59am

    It will be interesting to see if the power companies are able to offer, a "true" broadband service and if so, how will the other 2 "players" respond.

    The power companies already have the infrastructure, so they should be able to offer much greater speeds and a better pricing matrix!

    Why are companies so afraid to give consumers what they want? (baffled!)

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    Re: It's always been about infrastructure.

    identicon
    xdroop, Aug 11th, 2003 @ 9:25am

    Why are companies so afraid to give consumers what they want?


    There is a difference between "more opportunities for profit" and "my company's profit".

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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