Net Neutrality

[The Conservative]

In the dark ages before 2015, Comcast made Netflix inoperable during the evening hours for me. If I tried to stream Netflix, my internet traffic slowed to almost nothing. I could restore my internet traffic by purchasing a Comcast On Demand product. Weird.

Thanks, fam. Great fucking idea. Let's deregulate the power utilities next!

I pay for 1Gb Internet, I never see it. So since I don't get what I pay for, I think Comcast has bigger issues to worry about than actual "limiting" bandwidth to anyone.

[pineapplemike]

Why aren't there more companies offering internet access? Is there some sort of barrier to entry or what? Net Neutrality is appealing only for the fact that I have (I think) one choice for internet provider, rather than several to choose from

[The Conservative]

Why aren't there more companies offering internet access? Is there some sort of barrier to entry or what? Net Neutrality is appealing only for the fact that I have (I think) one choice for internet provider, rather than several to choose from

Ask your town/city why that is so... I can tell you right now the issue is that towns don't want to pay to have the infrastructure laid down, or they want a percentage of all money that goes to the internet company.

I talk to RCN and they want in my town, but the town wants a percentage of all revenue that comes in... above taxes. RCN is unwilling to be blackmailed like that.

[Speaker to Animals]

There can be only one cable network on the powerlines. It's no different than the power company.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Those lines were laid down by the local cable conglomerate, when cable first became a thing. You might get some fiber backbone upgrades, between your local interchange and the IEX, but the rest of the network won't be replaced until it breaks - and certainly never duplicated.

Again, you only have one set of power lines to your house. You don't have competing providers of infrastructure. They compete for who you pay the bill to.

[Speaker to Animals]

Those lines were laid down by the local cable conglomerate, when cable first became a thing. You might get some fiber backbone upgrades, between your local interchange and the IEX, but the rest of the network won't be replaced until it breaks - and certainly never duplicated.

Again, you only have one set of power lines to your house. You don't have competing providers of infrastructure. They compete for who you pay the bill to.

You can explain this to them as you would to your children and, somehow, I don't think they will really understand the problem. In their deluded minds, all regulation equals evil and all deregulation equals freedom. All they hear is you wanting to snuff out freedom. Sad.

[The Conservative]

There can be only one cable network on the powerlines. It's no different than the power company.

Bullshit. You can have multiple on the power lines, the companies and the towns came up with an agreement to make it so that there would be a non-compete clause.

Verizon, Comcast, and RCN are in my building at work, your logic fails.

[SuburbanFarmer]

There can be only one cable network on the powerlines. It's no different than the power company.

Bullshit. You can have multiple on the power lines, the companies and the towns came up with an agreement to make it so that there would be a non-compete clause.

Verizon, Comcast, and RCN are in my building at work, your logic fails.

There would be, in the middle of a fucking major city, you dipwad. We're talking about a slightly larger area tho.

[The Conservative]

There can be only one cable network on the powerlines. It's no different than the power company.

Bullshit. You can have multiple on the power lines, the companies and the towns came up with an agreement to make it so that there would be a non-compete clause.

Verizon, Comcast, and RCN are in my building at work, your logic fails.

There would be, in the middle of a fucking major city, you dipwad. We're talking about a slightly larger area tho.

Yeah, except that places like the next town over to where I live also have RCN, Verizon and Comcast... so what's your logic on that one?

[SuburbanFarmer]

Bullshit. You can have multiple on the power lines, the companies and the towns came up with an agreement to make it so that there would be a non-compete clause.

Verizon, Comcast, and RCN are in my building at work, your logic fails.

There would be, in the middle of a fucking major city, you dipwad. We're talking about a slightly larger area tho.

Yeah, except that places like the next town over to where I live also have RCN, Verizon and Comcast... so what's your logic on that one?

You're in the middle of fucking New England. Jesus H, do I even have to explain this to you? LOL

EDIT: I have no idea what RCN is, but I'm guessing cable company. So, when you sign up for them, do they re-run a coax line to your house? Are there duplicate coax cables on every power pole? Seriously, look around.
Verizon doesn't do coax, so I have no idea what you're on about there.

Here in The Rest of America, you have one of the local cable companies, or fuck-off. One may take this side of town, and the other takes the other side. But you will never EVER have a choice between them.

This is because people might realize that they’re paying the equivalent of another power bill, for some low-voltage connection to internet exchanges, and nothing more.