[TriLUG] TWC "Existing Customer Promotion"

[John Vaughters]

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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