Lack of Competition Holds Back U.S. Broadband
Linked by Howard Fosdick on Thu 24th Jan 2013 10:12 UTC
Internet & Networking In the past, OS News has discussed how U.S. broadband access lags many other countries in terms of cost, speed, and availability. Now, this detailed report from the New America Foundation tells why. It all comes down to a lack of competition among the carriers, which can be traced back to the days when cable companies were granted local monopolies. The report argues that "...data caps... are hardly a necessity. Rather, they are motivated by a desire to further increase revenues from existing subscribers and protect legacy services such as cable television from competing Internet services." The report's conclusion: don't expect improvements without legislative action.
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While much of it is true
by deathshadow on Thu 24th Jan 2013 17:54 UTC
deathshadow
Member since:
2005-07-12

It really is a matter of finance -- in particular that NOBODY in this economy is planning a long term outlay for new infrastructure given the high initial investment. Copper costs money, fiber costs money, and NOBODY is going to pony up the front money to run the new lines needed to handle it when there's an existing infrastructure they can charge more for -- and that to be frank isn't even paid off yet in many places!

That's why so much effort went into re-using the existing copper in the first place! Sure in a handful of crowded cities you might maybe see FiOS -- but don't count on seeing it in places like Northern New Hampshire, Western Maine or the Dakota's where 33.6 dialup is a good day; you'd think the population density in such places was below 20 people per square mile or something.

What, you thought the places with the highest speed landlines corresponding to the highest population densities was a coincidence?

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