Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

AT&T has never been noted for being in a hurry to give customers the fastest speeds and the best service. Comcast is really bad too, though at least they do try to have faster speeds.

The internet companies compete with each other on the basis of speed, but the key to a fast connection is $$$.$$.

[…] the record provides substantial evidence that broadband providers have significant bargaining power in negotiations with edge providers and intermediaries that depend on access to their networks because of their ability to control the flow of traffic into and on their networks.
Another way to describe this significant bargaining power is in terms of a broadband provider’s position as gatekeeper—that is, regardless of the competition in the local market for broadband Internet access, once a consumer chooses a broadband provider, that provider has a monopoly on access to the subscriber.
(my emphasis)

I first got Internet access via an AOL promotional disk.

If an old sot like me, such as I was, can manage this, I'm pretty sure there is no monopoly.

, that provider has a monopoly on access to the subscriber.

Seems silly now.

In fact, at present most of these offerings from the ISPs are below the standard set by the edge providers and simply can't compete on level playing field.

In fact, at present most of these offerings from the ISPs are below the standard set by the edge providers and simply can't compete on level playing field.

You want regulation, because you believe functionaries and bureaucrats are better, more rational, more moral than the rest of "us"…?

Today's ferrymen go by the names AT&T, Comcast, etc. Perhaps AT&T invents an business online web-application, but another company that doesn't happen to own the network builds a superior one. By having the ability to slow traffic to the competitor instead of being forced through competition to improve its own product, they're damaging the entire economy by defacto forcing other businesses to use an sub-par ordering system, network monitoring system, etc.

DELETED, DELETED AND DELETED.

It is now the 21st century.

Another one of those pot and kettle things

This "monopoly" argument fails to account for the government's exercise of regulatory force in creating monopoly in the first place!

He's so plastered that Howie's posts are the epitome of conciseness and clarity by comparison.

That, in turn, fails to account for the role of the industry in shaping government policy.

I'm afraid you were right, this time. My apologies…

As Sang will vouchsafe, I fear regulatory capture much more than I fear actual over-regulation or anti-competitive violations.

Entered thread expecting the topic to be about the Welsh Gov't

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai warned consumers that free mobile video streaming might be found in violation of the agency’s new rules and that a national broadband tax could soon pop up on consumers’ Internet bills.