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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.
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nice
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 .
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Re: nice
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.
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It's always been about infrastructure.
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).
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Re: It's always been about infrastructure.
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.
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Re: It's always been about infrastructure.
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!)
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Re: It's always been about infrastructure.
There is a difference between "more opportunities for profit" and "my company's profit".
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