On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 1:00 PM, Curt Raymond via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > People getting their internet through a telco are already being taxed, > Comcast has been getting a free ride in that regard.
I am 100% with Dan and Curt on this, in theory. The cable and telephone companies have been enjoying enforced monopoly status, but (at least since they stopped rolling out wire) haven't been providing any real benefit to the public in exchange for their continued monopoly position. At least in the urban central NC areas, this means they have perpetually raised rates without investing in infrastructure, and so now have a non-competitive, unreliable, overpriced product - or at least, it seems like it should be relatively so, given that we aren't allowed to get offerings from other companies. If I wouldn't get shot or put in jail for calling Comcast or Charter or some other non-preordained wireline service provider, I would probably be against incremental regulation... But the fact is that I -would- end up facing the full force of the law, and Time Warner could call the cops if I got Charter to agree to service my house - a house they won't actually service, incidentally, but that got put in their territory long before I was born. If the providers are going to get unique protection of government then they should at least suck it up and not abuse their customers. When Great Britain has a freer ISP market than the US, you know there is a problem. That said the FCC document is still secret, so who knows what was actually recommended. Best, Tim does not pull cable with his MBZs... yet... also does not have broadband access, according to the federal definition _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
