[TriLUG] TWC "Existing Customer Promotion"

[Nathan Yinger]

'TWC is not a Utility by plain virtue of the rampant and consistent growing
competition. Meaning little restrictions to the market.' -
What??!?!!!?!??!!!

I live in Raleigh, right next to NC State, and until a few months ago the
only company that offered hi speed internet was Time Warner.  (Dial-up does
NOT count, and cellular is not much better). AT&T recently started offering
up to I think 6mbps, but that is not exactly 'rampant' competition. I there
actually were any competition, I would have been able to switch providers
two years ago when Time Warner refused to fix my internet for over a week.
Instead we have a market where a monopolist can offer poor service at high
prices, then leave it unrepaired with no explanation, and still keep
customers who don't have a choice.

~Nathan


On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM, John Vaughters <jvaughters04 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> > "an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service".
>
>
> Traditionally in the US we had a problem in dealing with Monopolies
> derived from limited access to the market. Electricity, Water/Sewer and
> Phone being the best examples. The only one that has changed is phone,
> which has changed into communication services ie. TV/Internet/Phone.
> Clearly I have struck a cord on this group, but technically Communications
> has rightly been deregulated for all the reasons mentioned. There is enough
> competition to remove regulation and everyone should be happy about it. I
> am thinking many may not remember how horrific the phone company was to
> deal with. Regulated Utilities are generally horrible.
>
> It is possible to set up the markets as you stated in Austrailia and it as
> been tried in the US as well. It generally has failed though becasue the
> limited access to the market is still the problem. I have not read the
> Wikipedia definition, but I don't need to when explaining the logic and
> reasoning behind the legalities of why Utilities exist.
>
> TWC is not a Utility by plain virtue of the rampant and consistent growing
> competition. Meaning little restrictions to the market.
>
> John Vaughters
>
>
>
> On Thursday, March 13, 2014 2:20 PM, Bill Farrow <bill at arrowsreach.com>
> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:13 PM, John Vaughters <jvaughters04 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I work for utilites and TWC cable is nothing close to the definition of
> a Utility.
> > This is reserved for businesses for which competition cannot easily
> occur.
>
> The natural monopoly due to high infrastructure costs is not an
> essential part of being a utility. Wikipedia defines it as "an
> organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service".
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_utility
>
> In Australia you can choose to buy your electricity from a number of
> different electricity retailers. There is only a single set of poles
> and lines, and these are run as a utility. The retailers and power
> generators (coal, gas, solar, hydro, etc) compete for your consumer
> dollar.
>
> Bill
> --
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