[TriLUG] TWC "Existing Customer Promotion"

[Steve Litt]

On Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:43:33 -0400
Chris Merrill <chris at webperformance.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> On 3/14/2014 9:16 AM, Brian Henning wrote:
> >> AT&T recently started offering up to I think 6mbps, but that is
> >> not exactly 'rampant' competition.
> > 
> > This was the point I was trying to make earlier about
> > cable/DSL/WiMAX not being truly in competition.
> > 
> > Fastest cable speed available to me at any cost: 50Mbps/5Mbps
> > Fastest DSL speed available to me at any cost: 6Mbps/??? (Frontier
> > does not advertise their upstream bandwidth) Fastest WiMAX speed
> > available to me at any cost: 5-12Mbps/2-5Mbps
> > 
> > Tell me exactly how 6Mbps competes with 50Mbps, or with 5-12Mbps
> > that might drop to .001 when it rains or the wind is blowing or I
> > walk through a particular room in the house.
> > 
> > If I'm a 50/5 Wideband customer with Time Warner Cable, there *is
> > no alternative.*  Even in the case of reality (I'm a 15/2 Broadband
> > customer) there's no alternative.
> > 
> > Where are these "competitors" you speak of?
> > ~B

> So you're saying that if there are multiple options and one suits
> your needs much better than the other, then there is no competition?
> 
> That's an unusual definition of competition.

Imagine a world with one car company, one bicycle company, and one
skateboard company. You work forty miles from home. You can buy a car
for $100K, a bicycle for $10K, or a skateboard for $1K. You gripe about
having to spend $100K, and you assert there's no competition. In
passing, you mention that a bike would be $10K and a skateboard $1K.

Your friend says to you: "So you're saying that if there are multiple
options and one suits your needs much better than the other, then
there is no competition?"

The bike is a different product than the car. And, unless you live very
close to the telephone exchange building, twisted pair is a different
product than coax (or fiber).

SteveT

Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance