Comparing Internet services is tough because service providers price and market their services based on a best-case scenario connection that most consumers will never enjoy.
In fact, telcos HAVE to improve how they do this or they'll soon be out of work.
The same telcos like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast who are showing record earnings in recent years despite the economic slow-down, and are some of the largest lobbyists in Washington D.C. Sorry, they won't be out of work.
They might cut jobs to save money but the executives and the companies as a whole will keep on chugging along and people like us, and those cash-restricted watchdog groups have very little power to do anything about it - perhaps make a slight dent in their corporate machine (but not much else).
When Washington abolishes lobbyist efforts to sell out their public servants (which isn't going to happen, ever), and when regulators like the FCC actually truly stand up for the little guy instead of making small in-roads to appease the public (veneer of progress and back room deals), then the telcos, in my opinion, will be shaking in their Lucchese 1883 beeswaxed calfskin boots.
ILEC Ma Bell and her CLEC children are not afraid! Expect much of the same for a while.
You can't make marketers honest. But you can measure what people do on your network. In fact, telcos HAVE to improve how they do this or they'll soon be out of work.
So, yes, measure me and bill accordingly. You can't call it price gouging if I'm completely in control of what I use and when.
Are you advocating measured service, Phil? i.e., Bill me per bits downloaded and uploaded every 30 days? This might make more sense as voice and video get Internet Protocol-ized, but promises to create even greater apples-oranges problems betwen carrier/ISP billing plans. I for one, do not miss the morning-daytime-evening-nighttime charges of yesteryear's long-distance carriers. While I agree that you should get what you pay for, seems like what needs to change here is the ways carriers/IPs talk about or emphasize what customers should expect in re average performance times.
"... smart people because they agree with me." - That made me laugh. But you're right about all the points laid out.
As for the pay-per use model - personally it doesn't matter to me since my Internet is paid for by my employer, but it's at least worth investigating further. So I'll have to say; no opinion yet, but I would like to see further research done. Great video. Thank you!
interesting view point. I just filed a vblog which is going to make me feel rather foolish when it hits tomorrow. wish i'd spoke to you first. you can feel free to post a more erudite retort, if you like
I don't need to be your "friend," but I would like my real friends to be able to find ME, not some other Phil Harvey. That's why I'm using Google Profile and Twitter, but tapping the brakes on Facebook and giving up on LinkedIn.
AT&T showed off lots of improvements to its IPTV service this week. The overall message: IP, Good! Cable, Bad! Phil predicts what it all means for the broadcast proletariat.
At The Cable Show in LA, Phil concludes that it doesn't matter how cable companies label mobility – if they don't have it in their DNA, consumers will eventually leave them. Eyes on the road, Phil!
Four things stuck out at CTIA: Sprint's scramble for subscribers, Clearwire's 4G difference, consumer-friendly marketing, and a rise of content and application aggregators.
Comcast and other broadband providers just might exempt content they own from counting against consumer Internet usage caps. Would that make their broadband services more desirable?
Many enterprises view high-speed broadband connections as ubiquitous. Yet in about 20 percent of the country, businesses and their employees do not have access to even DSL connections. This shortcoming diminishes enterprises' ability to support their employees.
Comcast and other broadband providers just might exempt content they own from counting against consumer Internet usage caps. Would that make their broadband services more desirable?
A recent scandal involving a school's use of remotely activated Webcams to locate lost or stolen laptops may portend, not only legal action against the school, but also a loss of trust in video that is critical to developing video collaboration over the Internet.
Congress is considering a bill to extend a moratorium on Internet regulation changes for two years. But with issues like service quality, cloud performance, and privacy looming, we risk contaminating the Internet with fraud.
Netflix seemed to be a threat to all of TV, but with the current quarterly earnings report, it sure doesn't look as if that's true now. Netflix really proves that even Internet viewing of video isn't immune to profit and other business issues. This is a lesson we need to learn if we want a viable online video model.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
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