FCC Done With ISPs Making Excuses

[Alurit]

This is both good news and bad.

The good news being that ISPs no longer e.g. TWC, Comcast to name a few, can hide behind shitty excuses to ignore their customers demands. Also its good for where I live as there have been rumors of either TWC or Comcast looking to buy out MediaCom in the Midwest (USA) which would be very very bad.

Iowa has the country's longest and fastest fiber network, the INS (http://iowanetworkservices.com/maps/network_maps) it was mostly put in place some time ago and is mostly used by hospital, government and other isp connections here and it is increasing in size all the time. Unfortunately it doesn't have any direct use for consumers but will be changing in the future though.

The bad news, though its been said already, is the direct oversight of government forcing companies (ISPs) to upgrade or else which goes against fundamental capitalistic views here in the US. I am not saying that this is not needed which I am happy for in this one partcular instance but it could be done differently.

ISPs have been monopolizing internet here for way to long. I mean TWC and Comcast customer paying $150 US for the same thing or slower than what I have to which I pay $30 US for . . INSANE. And sometimes getting throttled or having caps in place seriously?!? capping internet usage? how stupid can you be? there is not a shortage on data and it doesn't cost anything to have or make data and once the network is in place its not like its a physical thing that can run out so they are going to ration it like water in a drought.... <_< (sorry Californians no pun intended there).

Like I said this is both good and bad.

I never understood why americans want pure capitalism, it is almost as bad as pure socialism. Something like a healthy mix of the 2 with other elements are much better. Look at scandinavian countries, it works really fine for them. Germany would have already collapsed like 5 times if it had american capitalism, but stayed despite losing 2 major wars and half of it getting the worst of cold war. I don't say it doesn't have it's own problems, but sticking to as pure capitalism as possible just because historic roots is not good for a country.

[zMeul]

capitalism

what happens in the US is not capitalism, it's pure unadulterated greed

add to that a justice system that's out of whack - when I heard that the Supreme Court declared corporations as people ... my brain froze

[ApolloX75]

My ISP just pulled a fast one on us. Been with them  for ten years and have had 20d/1u cable with no bandwidth limit. Now all of a sudden we're being billed for overages. They state that they notified us of an 80GB bandwidth limit (We pay $74/mo for this crap) months ago on our paper bills.

 

 

We don't get paper bills. We signed up for their online billing program. No notifications in those.

[shirokado]

what happens in the US is not capitalism, it's pure unadulterated greed

And? The basis of capitalism is greed.... with no greed, you might as well go command.

[zMeul]

And? The basis of capitalism is greed.... with no greed, you might as well go command.

my understanding of capitalism is that is based on supply and demand on a free market

when corporations make deals between them to screw the consumer, then and there capitalism goes in smoke - that how crime families opperate

[LukaP]

I genuinly dont understand how some people think governmet regulations are a bad thing. Like seriously, youve had no regulation till now, and look what that brought you. Meanwhile the most succesful countries in europe (scandinavia) have quite a few rules in place for everyone (since you think obama is a socialist, im scared of what you think the entirety of europe is) and everyone is doing fine.

 

You people need to get of your high horse and realise your way is broken and should be fixed. And for that you could maybe look up to those who have a working system

[SansVarnic]

I never understood why americans want pure capitalism, it is almost as bad as pure socialism. Something like a healthy mix of the 2 with other elements are much better. Look at scandinavian countries, it works really fine for them. Germany would have already collapsed like 5 times if it had american capitalism, but stayed despite losing 2 major wars and half of it getting the worst of cold war. I don't say it doesn't have it's own problems, but sticking to as pure capitalism as possible just because historic roots is not good for a country.

 

 

what happens in the US is not capitalism, it's pure unadulterated greed

add to that a justice system that's out of whack - when I heard that the Supreme Court declared corporations as people ... my mind froze

 

 

And? The basis of capitalism is greed.... with no greed, you might as well go command.

 

 

I genuinly dont understand how some people think governmet regulations are a bad thing. Like seriously, youve had no regulation till now, and look what that brought you. Meanwhile the most succesful countries in europe (scandinavia) have quite a few rules in place for everyone (since you think obama is a socialist, im scared of what you think the entirety of europe is) and everyone is doing fine.

 

You people need to get of your high horse and realise your way is broken and should be fixed. And for that you could maybe look up to those who have a working system

There is nothing wrong with capitalism. As it stands by definition.

Capitalism was started as part of a way to keep government out of our lives (mostly the economy) Capitalism is is put in place to encourage competition within an economy, ISP dont follow that model they are in essence a monopoly (I know somebody will correct me here But this is essentially what it is) which by chance the FCC has finally chose to stop ignoring.

Unfortunately we Americans take on Capitalism all wrong these days because of the incessant growth of big government (which by the way is why the independence from Great Britain happened) but also there are a whole slew of reason why is it currently broken. Capitalism is not broke the system that pretend to be capitalism today is. I don't know a better way to explain this at the moment with out turning my brain back on for a few moments to put real thought into it.

I honestly don't need a government to tell me how to live my life, what to buy, what to eat, etc, etc......

The worst of it is most US citizens have become so stupefied, under educated and so on that we let big government and big corporations walk around and do what they want. So ya keep telling us our ways don't work, it makes feel good about myself all over.

I could go on and on and on about this subject but unfortunately explaining capitalism to another countryman is like trying to explain the difference between feminism and liberalism . . . you cant. Now please don't get me wrong here I am not saying other countrymen are dumb it just Americans are exposed to capitalism from the day of birth and other countries are not. You know what you are used too, that's just all there is to it.

 

Oh and Americans don't sit on a high horse, I don't see any evidence that a socialist economy is outstandingly better.

[Polyvalent]

I genuinly dont understand how some people think governmet regulations are a bad thing. Like seriously, youve had no regulation till now, and look what that brought you. Meanwhile the most succesful countries in europe (scandinavia) have quite a few rules in place for everyone (since you think obama is a socialist, im scared of what you think the entirety of europe is) and everyone is doing fine.

 

You people need to get of your high horse and realise your way is broken and should be fixed. And for that you could maybe look up to those who have a working system

 

every man and woman in america knows their system has been broken for years.  we'd just rather take to social media about it then take up a career in politics.

 

as if being a politician would make any actual difference - lobbyists run this country now.

[SansVarnic]

every man and woman in america knows their system has been broken for years.  we'd just rather take to social media about it then take up a career in politics.

 

as if being a politician would make any actual difference - lobbyists run this country now.

Yup.

What we need is a good 'ol civil war to shake things up a bit.

 

What this country needs what every country needs occasionally is a good hard bloody war to revive the vice of patriotism on which its existence as a nation depends.

Ambrose Bierce

History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.  

RONALD REAGAN, speech, January 16, 1984

[pspfreak]

I just thought i would post this here. 

[ManWithBeard1990]

This is both good news and bad.

The good news being that ISPs no longer e.g. TWC, Comcast to name a few, can hide behind shitty excuses to ignore their customers demands. Also its good for where I live as there have been rumors of either TWC or Comcast looking to buy out MediaCom in the Midwest (USA) which would be very very bad.

Iowa has the country's longest and fastest fiber network, the INS (http://iowanetworkservices.com/maps/network_maps) it was mostly put in place some time ago and is mostly used by hospital, government and other isp connections here and it is increasing in size all the time. Unfortunately it doesn't have any direct use for consumers but will be changing in the future though.

The bad news, though its been said already, is the direct oversight of government forcing companies (ISPs) to upgrade or else which goes against fundamental capitalistic views here in the US. I am not saying that this is not needed which I am happy for in this one partcular instance but it could be done differently.

ISPs have been monopolizing internet here for way to long. I mean TWC and Comcast customer paying $150 US for the same thing or slower than what I have to which I pay $30 US for . . INSANE. And sometimes getting throttled or having caps in place seriously?!? capping internet usage? how stupid can you be? there is not a shortage on data and it doesn't cost anything to have or make data and once the network is in place its not like its a physical thing that can run out so they are going to ration it like water in a drought.... <_< (sorry Californians no pun intended there).

Like I said this is both good and bad.

The bad is a point of view, you know. A monopoly is, strictly speaking, circumventing capitalism by having no real competition, so they can do whatever the hell they want. In the past when this happened the company can be split in two to maintain competition and to protect the consumer and capitalism. These companies though go out of each others way to maintain each others monopoly, and get legislation into place to prevent other parties from breaking the game. That shouldn't be right, neither legally nor morally. If you wanted this whole thing to be a giant free-for-all at the very least it shouldn't be possible for the big ISPs to prevent startups or municipal broadband from becoming a thing and competing with them, because that's the whole point of capitalism. Pure capitalism is a lot less Orwellian than what's really going on right now.

[SansVarnic]

I just thought i would post this here. 

 

Totally epic. I could not stop laughing.

[SansVarnic]

The bad is a point of view, you know. A monopoly is, strictly speaking, circumventing capitalism by having no real competition, so they can do whatever the hell they want. In the past when this happened the company can be split in two to maintain competition and to protect the consumer and capitalism. These companies though go out of each others way to maintain each others monopoly, and get legislation into place to prevent other parties from breaking the game. That shouldn't be right, neither legally nor morally. If you wanted this whole thing to be a giant free-for-all at the very least it shouldn't be possible for the big ISPs to prevent startups or municipal broadband from becoming a thing and competing with them, because that's the whole point of capitalism. Pure capitalism is a lot less Orwellian than what's really going on right now.

Yes I know. Hence the smaller font sizing...

Monopoly or in this case an Oligopoly, like I said somebody will correct me but I'll do it myself.   

You made me turn on my brain and burn some brain cells so it stinks in here and its all hazy with smoke now, Happy? 

[Bensemus]

I actually don't agree with this too much. The FCC having that much power over service providers isn't a good thing, my concern with the original ruling over Net Neutrality. It's one thing requiring service providers to play fair for businesses and consumers, but another to force them into what isn't fully required.

They aren't forcing the big guys. They are supporting the littles guys so they can compete with the big ISPs. Right now and in the recent past this was very hard or all the way to illegal for local ISPs to start up as the big ones would use their money to keep them down.

 

They're also calling out all the BS excuses the ISPs have used to not upgrade.

 

lol i've edited this three times to fix grammar

[Dabombinable]

They aren't forcing the big guys. They are supporting the littles guys so they can compete with the big ISPs. Right now in in the recent past is was very hard to illegal for local ISPs to start up as the big ones would use their money to keep them down.

 

They're also calling out all the BS excuses the ISPs have used to not upgrade.

Australian ISP Telstra and Optus need the exact same treatment.

[Trik'Stari]

GET EM TOM.

 

I actually reported my ISP to the FCC last night (filed a complaint with their website). They were throttling me down to 1Mbps from the 10 I am supposed to get, meanwhile the modem access window (reached by typing my gateway IP address into a browser) claims to be providing 11Mbps.

[Techhog]

I actually don't agree with this too much. The FCC having that much power over service providers isn't a good thing, my concern with the original ruling over Net Neutrality. It's one thing requiring service providers to play fair for businesses and consumers, but another to force them into what isn't fully required.

So, you're in favor of permanent stagnation?

[Suika]

So, you're in favor of permanent stagnation?

I'm in favor of a free market, with light regulation. This is neither free or light regulation.

[Lays]

I actually don't agree with this too much. The FCC having that much power over service providers isn't a good thing, my concern with the original ruling over Net Neutrality. It's one thing requiring service providers to play fair for businesses and consumers, but another to force them into what isn't fully required.

 

You're right, let the FFC let them do whatever they want so ISP's can continue charging $100 for laughable speeds and throttling.  Whilst other countries like Romania have $14 a month Gigabit as stated earlier in the thread.

 

The FCC is supposed to be doing what they're doing now, keeping track of these companies, and keeping them in check.

[stconquest]

Let's try:  The current system of capitalism in the USA is causing the government to increase in size while allowing that government to directly affect the state of competition between corps in the the country/state/city/municipality.

 

This is not sourced, it is speculative.

 

Corporations buy government; Government writes legislation; Legislation dictates policy.

 

ISPs take a hell of a lot of liberties with the truth in light of a very nontechnical community.  I used to pay $60 (Toronto) for decent speeds (50D / 1UP), but a cap of 120GB monthly.  I would have to watch my usage very carefully and would go over sometimes if I got lazy.  That was costly.

 

One month on the last day I knew I had only 2-3 GB for that time period left.  I had a secondary DSL line (7D / 3UP) that I would switch to during these times of the month.  So I disconnected my cable line and went wireless for the day.  So I was shocked to see the bill for that month indicating a 30GB usage for that day alone (that was like a $75 extra charge).  I am the only one using the line.

 

After two hours on the line with them, they retracted that month's penalty and credited two overcharges in previous months.  They also increased my cap to 270GB per month (75D / 7UP).  I started monitoring my usage with third party software.  Within a few months I noticed that they were not recording my usage properly.  They were way under.  I would use between 150-175GB monthly and their software reported around 100GB for those same months.  I stopped monitoring them (after 3-4 months), I was just too disillusioned and lazy to make a report to send to them.

 

I don't trust companies like this. 

 

Good on the FCC Chair... someone that is actually technically knowledgeable.

[Trik'Stari]

I'm in favor of a free market, with light regulation. This is neither free or light regulation.

You are correct, and usually I am not in favor of heavy regulation, but in this instance it is warranted. I blame congress for pushing us to this point. If congress would do their job, and force these major ISP's to break up (which congress could do, these ISP's have been violating anti-trust laws for years. Not to mention not fulfilling their obligations to the tax payers made during the 1996 telecommunications act). Not to mention outlawing "exclusive provider" deals, and forcing the companies to overbuild into each others areas.

[Techhog]

I'm in favor of a free market, with light regulation. This is neither free or light regulation.

Well, the "free market" has failed in this case, hasn't it?I can't blame you for sticking to your guns no matter what, but you can't deny that without this regulation it's unlikely that things will ever improve. I wish that it could remain free, but there are just too many barriers to entry to allow there to be more competition.

 

That said, the FCC should probably have gone after the exclusive contracts ISPs made with local governments first and waited to see if that would allow more small ISPs to pop up. That would probably still take a decade or more to make a difference though.

[Trik'Stari]

Well, the "free market" has failed in this case, hasn't it?I can't blame you for sticking to your guns no matter what, but you can't deny that without this regulation it's unlikely that things will ever improve.

This isn't a free market, it's something created as a result of corporate and political shenanigans, compounded by no one paying attention to what their "representatives" are doing.

[Suerlink]

I laugh

welcome to the 21th Century, USA [emoji38]

Romania:

14$ / month - 1 Gbps fiber optic for home use

Romania has the fastest Internet access in the European region. Taipei has it for The Asian region and the Americas? Well it's between The Midwest USA and New York city. (Backbone Internet access)

[Techhog]

This isn't a free market, it's something created as a result of corporate and political shenanigans, compounded by no one paying attention to what their "representatives" are doing.

Hence the quotes.