[TriLUG] TWC "Existing Customer Promotion"

[William Sutton]

So far, I'd say most of the people on this thread /disagree/ with you on 
your points.

>From the TV side of things, I watched Comcast increase my rates every year 
in NoVA, while removing channels from the lineup and degrading my 
signal--to force me from their cheap analog cable offering to their much 
more expensive digital service.

In Huntsville, AL, Comcast was the official city provider, with the city 
as a franchisee of the cable company (I'm not kidding).  That hardly 
sounds like "competition"... more like "company town".

>From the internet side of things... you could say that fiber provides 
competition for cable, but that assumes that fiber exists in your 
neighborhood.  If not, you're stuck with whatever the next best thing is 
(the local cable monopoly).  DSL, dialup, or HughesNet aren't competition 
to cable or fiber any more than a go-kart is competition for an indy car.

Maybe cable isn't a utility by your very strict definition, but they 
really ought to be regulated as such because when they aren't, their 
natural tendency is to squeeze the customer dry while providing the 
minimum amount of service possible.

William Sutton

On Fri, 14 Mar 2014, John Vaughters wrote:

> Ok let's be straight here, I never said I am happy with TWC, just they are no a utility. All I heard was how successful they were at cornering their market with the Gov to get their product placed. If that is what makes them a utility, then we have to reclassify a ton of HUGE corporations in our society. 
>
> - Not a single person touched on the fact that price per Mbps has plumeted. 
> - Not a single person ever admitted they could call the city water or electric company and get a promotional discount
> - I have never seen TWC cable forced to provide service to rural areas. Utilities do have to do this.
> - Rampant and growing competition
>    1. DSL always been there, and TWC upgraded to fiber and blasted DSL out of the water. ie they were competitive
>    2. Verizon has offered 4G for close to 2 years now. It works great and we even had people using it becasue it was faster than their office ISP
>    3. Clearwire been around for years, now part of sprint. I tried it years ago, it worked great everywhere except at my house. Not perfect but good for some.
>    4. Data Satellites have been upgraded and now have 12Mbps service for reasonable prices
>    5. RST fiber expanding rapidly
>    6. Google Fiber a possibility
>    7. Digital TV has been around forever
>    8. Cell phones have been around forever
>
> I am sure I left out some, but I hope that we can all agree:
>
> - We have a very healty competition in the communications market
> - Prices have dropped significantly over the years for Phone, Data, and TV services (Consider content imporvements on this calculation)
>
> - TWC is required to provide service to rural areas
>
> TWC is nothing remotely resembling a Utility. Not in any shape, form or fashion. 
>
> Sorry for rattling everyones cage, I am done now. 
>
> John Vaughters
>
>
>
>
> On Friday, March 14, 2014 8:28 AM, Sean Alexandre <sean at alexan.org> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 06:26:39PM -0400, bak wrote:
>> > This hardly seems like deregulation.
>> 
>> I agree completely.
>> 
>> I think the term is actually “regulatory capture”.
>
> A related article from yesterday:
>
> If You Want To Fix U.S. Broadband Competition, Start By Killing State-Level Protectionist Laws Written By Duopolists
> https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140308/06040526491/if-you-want-to-fix-us-broadband-competition-start-killing-state-level-protectionist-laws-written-duopolists.shtml
>
> "For fifteen years now I've watched as phone and cable duopolies lobby to pass
> draft legislation designed to keep broadband uncompetitive...
>
> "Fortunately, with Google Fiber's entry into the market I've seen a renewed
> flurry of attention on these bills, in large part because several would have
> impacted Google Fiber's expansion, and Google Fiber, as I've noted, appears to
> have captured the imagination of the public...
>
> "A few years ago, these bills would have flown through state legislatures with
> nary a mention. Not only are new bills starting to fail more regularly under
> heightened public awareness, I'm starting to see -- for the first time in my
> many years covering the industry -- pushes to roll back some of these
> ridiculous protectionist measures...
>
> "Yes, god forbid you'd have to face a new competitor and adjust your business
> model accordingly; you might even have to work with a local government to
> determine what works best in each region! Meanwhile, Google Fiber's recent
> announcement to help 34 cities in nine regional markets examine local fiber
> needs should bring greater attention to the issue. Google intentionally
> targeted regions like North and South Carolina, where regional incumbent Time
> Warner Cable passed protectionist bills a few years ago (on their fourth try).
> It only took fifteen years, but we're only just starting to see people realize
> that perhaps letting your regional duopolists write laws dictating what you can
> and can't do for your own community might not be the best idea."
>
>
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