Service Providers (Internet, TV, Etc)
- Thread starter Denamian
- Start date
Reading this inspired me to actually look at my router's usage stats. I'm surprisingly close to 300GB for December, and I'd say my girlfriend and I don't stream nearly as much as most people. I don't torrent either. I don't know how a house with a full family would be able to stay below the cap.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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It's time we turned it into a utility and put real monitoring in place. You can't trust a company to meter your Internet when they're designed to charge for overages.
Tarrant
<Prior Amod>
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Palum
what Suineg set it to
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Arative
Vyemm Raider
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Comcast doesn't expect a family to stay under it because it generates revenue for Comcast. But they will exempt their own streaming service from your cap and they will let pay $30 more a month for unlimited data. It's why the fcc has gotten over 10k complaints about the caps.
Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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Yeah our cell phone market is fairly competitive. Especially with all the mvno options. Home broadband is another thing entirely except in a few areas where municipal companies were allowed to open or Google fiber blessed you with their presence.
You can still get dial up. Bro. Obvious competition. Free market at work. Having a single realistic option is in no way virtually a monopoly nor will it encourage monopolistic practices because our corporate overlords have consumer interest at heart.
Tarrant
<Prior Amod>
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Haha I know. I'm in the same boat and I feel the same as many do regarding it, but the fact of the matter is, it's not a monopoly. It's not even about regional availability it also factors in diversity of product nation wide on the whole as well.
I'm just as salty as anyone else here, but it doesn't change the facts.
Cad
scientia potentia est
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What market definition are you using to claim cable in most areas doesn't have monopoly?
Noodleface
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what Suineg set it to
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Most cable companies ARE natural monopolies in specific regions. No other companies offer similar services and no, saying use DSL or dial-up is not comparable. The infrastructure cost is too prohibitive or blocked by regulation to disallow or dissuade competition. However in aggregate the cable companies are really a cartel, they've etched out their markets where they have sole control and gouge just under the critical mass to trigger investigations or overwhelming public outcry leading to regulatory changes.
Monopolies aren't illegal, they are just under heavy DoJ scrutiny to ensure they are not monopolies because of illegal business practices to stifle competition. That is, monopolization is illegal but a monopoly is not necessarily illegal because a company can simply be the only provider or supplier.
You can't possibly argue that huge metro areas with only one broadband provider are not served by a monopoly. There's a reason they call related utilities state monopolies and it's because are. They are not literally the only power/gas company in the world but they certainly are in that one market.
Monopolies aren't illegal, they are just under heavy DoJ scrutiny to ensure they are not monopolies because of illegal business practices to stifle competition. That is, monopolization is illegal but a monopoly is not necessarily illegal because a company can simply be the only provider or supplier.
You can't possibly argue that huge metro areas with only one broadband provider are not served by a monopoly. There's a reason they call related utilities state monopolies and it's because are. They are not literally the only power/gas company in the world but they certainly are in that one market.
BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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So I'm looking at the Verizon's plans and they seem pretty shitty. I can stick with my old plan (450 minutes/10c per text/2GB data/subsidized phone every 2 years/$69.99) or the "verizon plan" (unlimited talk & text/3GB data/no phone subsidies $64.99). I was resigned to losing the device subsidies but I had hoped to get some savings in return. Yeah it's $5 a month less and yes it's more service, but the extra service means very little to me since I have never gone over on my minutes and only once or twice on my data and text usually less than 50 times per month.
TMO and Sprint are not available in my area and the only provider that has any coverage in my rural area is the local telephone co-op. They are a CDMA carrier so historically Verizon has been able to roam on their towers but ATT hasn't. Is there an MVNO that is compatible with Verizon (and would presumably be compatible with the local co-op) that is significantly cheaper than $65/month plus tax that anyone has history with? I just ordered a Nexus 6P from google that i assume will be unlocked and work on any carrier so I had thought I would activate it on Verizon but now I'm thinking I should explore my options.
TMO and Sprint are not available in my area and the only provider that has any coverage in my rural area is the local telephone co-op. They are a CDMA carrier so historically Verizon has been able to roam on their towers but ATT hasn't. Is there an MVNO that is compatible with Verizon (and would presumably be compatible with the local co-op) that is significantly cheaper than $65/month plus tax that anyone has history with? I just ordered a Nexus 6P from google that i assume will be unlocked and work on any carrier so I had thought I would activate it on Verizon but now I'm thinking I should explore my options.
Denamian
Night Janitor
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Straight Talk and Net10 (they're both run by Tracfone) have Verizon options. $45/mo + tax gets you unlimited talk, text and 5GB of data. The catch is that you don't get roaming, so you might be fucked. Might want to check their coverage map and see if it includes your area.
You also might want to check the listherefor other MVNOs that might work for you.
You also might want to check the listherefor other MVNOs that might work for you.