Why is USA so dependent on a small amount of ISP's?

[Horrorfull]

Because, Money.

[BurgerBum]

again, remember,

united states is no longer a democracy, and hasnt been in a long time.

[Guest]

Yeah I didnt know what word to put.

Oligopoly

 

again, remember,

united states is no longer a democracy, and hasnt been in a long time.

There has never been a pure democracy by any standard....

 

Every modern "democracy" has been hijacked by technocrats and experts and lobbyists to a certain extent and the "people" as individuals don't have all that much power, so I can understand what you're saying about the current state of affairs... However... when the fuck do you think the US was a democracy? It started with most people being unable to vote, women and black people eventually got to vote for representatives which have, for as long as the United States have existed, lied about their purpose to an extent. In the 1800's the US creeped east to west and oppressed people to no end, in the early 1900's the conscripts were sent to war on false pretenses, during the cold war the government had a solid grasp on everything. So I ask again, when was the US a democracy? When is this golden era where the people actually had the power?

 

It's kind of a myth, but it's also a reality, because people in the US don't realize the power that they actually have. And they DO have some power. Sure there's a problem with corporations having a disproportionate amount of political power, but what's really hurting people's grasp on US politics is that new mentality that nothing matters and nothing changes anything. People are blaming the corporations as they should but it makes them forget about doing the real things that matter. If all the 18-30 year olds stopped being cynics tomorrow we'd eclipse republicans and wipe those backward assholes off the map for good. But young progressive people stay home and bitch and moan while old people go vote.

 

The US's democracy is rotting away from its core. And the government is rotten because people don't care. The US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is led, since the last midterms, by a climate change denier. This is the most powerful and influential senator on environmental matters and he doesn't believe in climate change. Now you might argue that he's a paid shill by some multi-billion dollar industry, but this deluded elected moron couldn't possibly have been sitting on that chair if young people had stood the fuck up for their future. Sure multi-billion industries can buy some votes but surely not all of them. They can influence some senators, but again not all of them. So the people are to blame too.

[BurgerBum]

Oligopoly

 

There has never been a pure democracy by any standard....

 

Every modern "democracy" has been hijacked by technocrats and experts and lobbyists to a certain extent and the "people" as individuals don't have all that much power, so I can understand what you're saying about the current state of affairs... However... when the fuck do you think the US was a democracy? It started with most people being unable to vote, women and black people eventually got to vote for representatives which have, for as long as the United States have existed, lied about their purpose to an extent. In the 1800's the US creeped east to west and oppressed people to no end, in the early 1900's the conscripts were sent to war on false pretenses, during the cold war the government had a solid grasp on everything. So I ask again, when was the US a democracy? When is this golden era where the people actually had the power?

 

It's kind of a myth, but it's also a reality, because people in the US don't realize the power that they actually have. And they DO have some power. Sure there's a problem with corporations having a disproportionate amount of political power, but what's really hurting people's grasp on US politics is that new mentality that nothing matters and nothing changes anything. People are blaming the corporations as they should but it makes them forget about doing the real things that matter. If all the 18-30 year olds stopped being cynics tomorrow we'd eclipse republicans and wipe those backward assholes off the map for good. But young progressive people stay home and bitch and moan while old people go vote.

 

The US's democracy is rotting away from its core. And the government is rotten because people don't care. The US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is led, since the last midterms, is led by a climate change denier. This is the most powerful and influential senator on environmental matters and he doesn't believe in climate change. Now you might argue that he's a paid shill by some multi-billion dollar industry, but this deluded elected moron couldn't possibly have been sitting on that chair if young people had stood the fuck up for their future.

because here in the states our history books tell us ''we are a democracy, always have been and always will be''

tells you how much they want us to know.

ontop of the fact that they tell us we moved here ebcause taxes from the king were too high. when infact it was for religious freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i just hate our government.

hell, i hate people.

3 friends, and my spouse. i'll be happy with those 4 people. 

out in a big house.

in the cold cold snowy hell that is nothern canada.

gimme great internet out there and im moving ASAP.

[Guest]

Good luck finding great internet here . Our telecoms are just as bad.

[Trik'Stari]

Basically, rich bastards pretending they are arguing with other rich bastards that are guilty of the exact same thing. The next time you hear someone arguing about republicans VS democrats remember this:

 

 

The only difference is which company backs them.

 

 

because here in the states our history books tell us ''we are a democracy, always have been and always will be''

tells you how much they want us to know.

ontop of the fact that they tell us we moved here ebcause taxes from the king were too high. when infact it was for religious freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i just hate our government.

hell, i hate people.

3 friends, and my spouse. i'll be happy with those 4 people. 

out in a big house.

in the cold cold snowy hell that is nothern canada.

gimme great internet out there and im moving ASAP.

 

I will gladly patrol your perimeter daily, and hunt and cook for you, in exchange for some of "that there internet" and a small cabin of my own.

[s4spencer]

It's mostly business interests and, especially in Canada less density. From most stories you hear coming from the states, companies are pretty vicious about keeping their customers their customers, and possible competition beaten down.

In Canada, esp. Saskatchewan here, a set of infrastructure that would reach 100 million in europe, can reach as few as a million here.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

Hi,

Maybe this was already said but help me understand something....

In Europe, I can build my own company and buy a big bandwidth from a major ISP.

I can share by selling that bandwidth with whomever, of course I must build my own infrastructure (From the place of practice/company work point to the end user) and figure out all legal parts (Pay taxes, licences and authorisation, contracts with end-users etc....as any other company).

 

But that is what a lot of micro-companies are doing here, and this is happening in most countries inside Europe.

The difference is, when you buy a bulk package with a huge bandwidth and share it with let's say 200 users, putting down an infrastructure, you gain competition and you lower the costs!

And YES, you can make a profit! I have friends which started with 3-4 users inside their apartment blocks, extended to 250+ users in matter of a few months.

These companies are extending more and more, some of them become major players and have their own national infrastructure and international pairing with other major IPS'...

 

Why is this not an option in USA, Canda, Australia...?

 

[Not bragging, just comparing!] The last time I've checked, my country was 2nd place world wide on Internet speed... and we are not "all rich people" here, in fact we are far from that.. for a 1000Mbps connection you pay something like 18 Dollars (13.5 Euro).

And all this is possible only because.... well, if the price and quality is not right I have SOOO MANY options! The ISP's are forced to bring down the prices and to ensure quality in order to survive.

 

Equipment is lower in Price here?

NO! EU is known to have higher prices on electronics than USA, if a company as Digi Net (RCS&RDS) can have millions of users and sustain gigabyte connections to each end-user... the Equipment is, well at least professional and as expansive (Or even more because of added taxes) as what ISP's are using in USA.

 

So what is the reason?

Is taking authorisations more difficult in those parts of the world?

Is it so much more expansive?

Are people not likely to move to an unknown (Starter) company?

 

I see all this complains about net neutrality which I understand and empathised with, I am doing my best to help (Virtually) in any way I can, but I do not understand how come it got to this point?

How is a company able to change the rules of a game they are playing just to be sure they will be the winners.

The price for maintaining an already constructed infrastructure is not like adding fuel to an engine. Internet consumes nothing but electric power and of course, maintaining the current infrastructure (Because we cannot speak about Upgrades as long as the internet speeds remain the same since years or even got worse, and as we speak about a few ISP's i do not think the number of new subscribers is a concern for upgrading the network, from the looks of it, they are only raising the price/connection speed because the users do not have where to migrate to...)

 

This is more a question for my own knowledge and those interested, i really want to know how the system works over there.

In Europe we consume a lot of tech content created by you, the people from USA/Canda and Australia. I always her complains on this matter.

 

I remember the time when in my country there were two major Phone companies, Vodafone and Orange (Big players inside the EU).

They charged prices like 7c / min after 18:00 until 06:00am and something like 30c/min the rest of the time... All this until a new company come into the market and said "Fuck all of you, buy our pre-paid cards and with 3 Dollars / month you can speak 5000 Free Minutes inside our network without a contract, just recharge the pre-paid card once a month with 3 Dollars".

Well, since then Vodafone and Orange totally change their policy after they lost millions of users. Now we literally speak for free....It's an insignificant amount of money for thousands of National minutes (On all networks).

Imagine if they now still MAKE a profit, how much money they were making before?

Because they value fast internet over their principles and values.

[Stadiz]

If there is one thing I know about the USA.

Money talks not the people.

People talk -- nothing happens --- wave some money -> attention.

[Redtiger]

Money under the table and Monopolies more like Oligopolies sometimes but look at this video below, it's mostly comedy but makes a lot of sense.

))

[Redtiger]

I have no clue what roadblocks there are if you wanted to make a small start up like the ones you described here in Canada, I haven't done nor have i looked into so really this section is just guessing and my assumptions. However The small internet providers that do show up are often squeezed by the larger companies whether it be that they can't match price, incentives or just can't enough users because they are overshadow by again larger companies marketing campaigns. And if you take the largest ISPs in Canada and look at them they aren't just Internet providers but cable providers, Telephone and cellphone carriers at the same and so they often do really good bundle deals. 

 

Also the large companies fear that a smaller company may impede on its territory and because the infrastructure isn't public the smaller guy may not be allowed to use certain pieces of the current infrastructure. Here's an example that really did happen. A cable and telephone line was put in to connect a new public building. The operators of the new building paid money to SHAW (isp/cable in western Canada) But it turned out that the line the building was connected to was owned by Telus and so Shaw had to raise the fee for the new buildings operators in order to offset the added cost of paying Telus to use their lines. 

Well, Here i can pay a major ISP like vodafone for a Fiber connection of let's say 1gbps, Vodafone will bring me the fiber to the place I ordered, from there own it's my duty to bring the connection to each individual. in one word I build my own infrastructure and I see the internet provided by vodafone under my own name and under my own rules. The only thing i must respect is the contract between my own company and vodafone. The rest is no ones business but mine.,

[Tacitus]

Well, I honestly think what you describe wouldn't work in the UK.

 

My internet is £24/month, no download limits. But £16 of that goes straight from the ISP to BT to pay for line rental, the ISP paid for the router and installation, and I got an £80 voucher for signing up for a year.

 

24 x 12 = 288

16 x 12 = 192

              - 80

              -  router/installation costs

 

£192 + 80 = 272.

 

There's literally £16 left in it; though I'm sure the £80 food voucher comes at a discount and maybe bulk line rental is a bit cheaper, but the installation costs are not even factored in. It took the guy like an hour.