Just thought I'd toss this little bit of info into the fray. I live in Japan, and was on a 30 Mbps connection which I was paying $50 a month for. Just the other day I switched to a shared line of up to 100 Mbps (usually running around 30) for $10 less and the 1st 2 months free. Then a few weeks ago I get a pamphlet advertising another company's service, and on top of the decent speed for a decent price they were willing to sell new customers a PS3, PSP, Wii, or an eeePC for 100 yen if you also switched your cable and phone to them. Yes, that's like a $1 for a brand new PS3. And they weren't even charging much more for the cable and phone connections.
And it all comes from having 3 major and a bunch of minor companies that all provide broadband to the same area. Better competition gets better deals for the customers, and gets more money for the providers (not less), because their good deals and incentives are enough to get even old people and others who usually wouldn't care about getting broadband to sign up.
I feel sad for my family living back in the States when I hear about the insane prices the 1 company that gives "real" (8 Mbps) broadband in the area charges.
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Just thought I'd toss this little bit of info into the fray. I live in Japan, and was on a 30 Mbps connection which I was paying $50 a month for. Just the other day I switched to a shared line of up to 100 Mbps (usually running around 30) for $10 less and the 1st 2 months free. Then a few weeks ago I get a pamphlet advertising another company's service, and on top of the decent speed for a decent price they were willing to sell new customers a PS3, PSP, Wii, or an eeePC for 100 yen if you also switched your cable and phone to them. Yes, that's like a $1 for a brand new PS3. And they weren't even charging much more for the cable and phone connections.
And it all comes from having 3 major and a bunch of minor companies that all provide broadband to the same area. Better competition gets better deals for the customers, and gets more money for the providers (not less), because their good deals and incentives are enough to get even old people and others who usually wouldn't care about getting broadband to sign up.
I feel sad for my family living back in the States when I hear about the insane prices the 1 company that gives "real" (8 Mbps) broadband in the area charges.