The Telecom Industry Is Very Mad Because The FCC MIGHT Examine High Broadband Prices

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨L4s@lemmy.world [bot]⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/12/12/the-telecom-industry-is-very-mad-because-the-fcc-might-examine-high-broadband-prices/

The Telecom Industry Is Very Mad Because The FCC MIGHT Examine High Broadband Prices::We’ve long noted how the FCC (regardless of party) largely ignores how muted competition and monopolization drives up prices for consumers. The agency often talks a good (if ambiguous) game about “bridging the digital divide,” but they don’t collect and share pricing data proving market failure, nor are they capable of admitting monopolies exist and…

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foggy@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
God I would love to see the government sacrifice Comcast to please us peons.

Just put their balls in a vice grip already. Fuck.

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Tosti@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Would it just not be better to manage all unavoidable charges to be included in the sticker price?

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- nous@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  What?!? But then how are companies going to manipulate their pricing to attract new customers away from their competitors without actually cutting any revenue? They neeeed this to keep their numbers up so they look more attractive to investors and get more money. Are you not thinking of the shareholders? Why won’t anyone think of the shareholders!
  
  /s … if that was not obvious
  
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  - Drusenija@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Sorry, no, not obvious, this is likely exactly what they’re thinking, no sarcasm needed.
    
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- shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  So, it goes like this:
  
  “WE only want to charge you $X! But here are the fees the government tacks on. For your benefit, we’ll break those fees out local/state/federal. See? It’s them fucking you, not us.
  
  And because we’re all being hit so unfairly, we’re just passing it on, cost of doing business. And there’s overhead to dealing with all that nonsense, tacking that on as well. And one more, because fuck you gonna do? Break down all this mess and point fingers?”
  
  Enrages everyone, but deflects blame from the ISP. Perfect, ain’t it?
  
  Funny thing is, much of that bullshit talk is true! If they roll it up in a nice total, you don’t what or why you’re paying. And yes, many of those fees, especially the small ones, are government taxation. Taxation they have to account for, and someone has to pay.
  
  OTOH, the “fuck you” charges are disingenuous. Those should be wrapped up in $X.
  
  Only answer I got is to make ISPs quasi-government/private hybrids, and regulate them like the utilities they are in 2024.
  
  I expect them to profit. I expect them to provide for investors. That’s how corporations work. You bet your money, you expect a fair return, and much of our individual funds (retirement) get a tiny piece. They should have money in the bank to absorb future risk, unknown costs. That’s OK!
  
  But why the hell are basic services, and I now count telecom as “basic”, allowed such wild profit margins?!
  
  We had such a “quasi” deal with the regional power company, seemed to work great (and I admit ignorance on the details). Leadership was elected and accountable. Until it got bought out by a private firm and prices spiked 40%. How the fuck was that legal?!
  
  (Sorry about the rant OP. I was in the game for some time, thought about this a lot.)
  
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  - Tosti@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Split out all the costs you want, itemize the bill, have at it. But if the sticker price says 45 dollah i want to be able to pay that and get what you offer. not have to take out the calculator and add stuff. I think there are to many americans obsessed with “big goberment stealing my moniez” … who cares. If its in the price and the price is competitive I dont care that x% is tax. It will be the same on all competing products too.
    
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takeda@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
What we truly need is local loop unbundling (remember with landlines, you could switch your phone provider or use different ISPs for DSL, this was possible due to that) to make smaller ISPs enter the market and be able to lease existing last mile and bring back strong antitrust laws to prevent mergers.

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- Pollo_Jack@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Nope, nationalize it. Texas has a million energy providers and still hasn’t had prices as low as when it was a public utility. The same applies to every other utility such as water or internet.
  
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Croquette@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The sacrosanct right to fuck people sideways for profit must never be scrutinized. Otherwise god’s wrath will come upon us.

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Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Kinda curious. Americans of lemmy: How much do you pay for internet?

I’m a up bit north Eh. Paying cad$135 (usd~$99.50) monthly before tax for Gigabit with no data cap.

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- Aquila@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m super lucky. Apartment has integrated dirt cheap symmetrical 1gb for ~$30/mo
  
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  - Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Damn, that’s a good deal.
    
    Rent a bitch to compensate? Or is that decent too.
    
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- SmashingSquid@notyour.rodeo ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I pay $39.99 USD for 300 megabit symmetrical fiber.
  
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  - b1g_bake@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Same
    
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- Jerkface@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  75Mbit down / 10 Mbit up with a 1.2TByte monthly cap.: $30 a month.
  
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- glarf@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  $80/mo symmetrical gig, no cap, fiber. ATT is shit but they’ve been very reliable with this service, first time I’ve been a happy customer of theirs.
  
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- russjr08@bitforged.space ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  ~$70 for a 500/30 plan on Spectrum over on the east coast for me.
  
  Also no data cap, thankfully…
  
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  - Nommer@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    80 for 300/10 but the 300 usually maxes out around 210-250 depending on time of day. Also spectrum, also eastern timezone.
    
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- SeaJ@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I have symmetrical gigabit for $75/month. It was $65 but Centurylink decided to raise it randomly a few months ago with no warning. The notification that my bill would be going up came after the date they said it would be going up and after I received the increased bill.
  
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- Pickle_Jr@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You’re going to get numbers all over the place lol.
  
  I’m $70 for a gig up and down. My parents are $150 for 150mb down and either 15mb or 25mb up. They also have a 1 gig soft cap before getting throttled.
  
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- bajabound@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  $137/mo USD total.
  
  Microwave service: $100 for 100/100mbps, 1TB of data. $7.00 for fucking DHCP to be enabled on their router. $30 for an additional 1TB of data.
  
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- AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Just went up, but not too bad: $84/mon gigabit symmetrical, and I don’t know of any data cap
  
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- the_tab_key@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  $80usd for like 200 mbit down, 10 up. Cable monopoly in my area. FiOS isn’t super far away but it isn’t getting closer…
  
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- jimtahu@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  $56 for 500, no caps
  
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- AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  IDK, I think it’s around probably around $100 or more because xfinity made it cheaper to bundle with an unnecessary TV service that only my parents really ever use.
  
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- chitak166@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  $25/month. I use Visible for home and mobile internet.
  
  Saves me a lot of money.
  
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- 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  My friend in the country pays $135 US/month for 400mbps down, 20mbps up (realistic speeds are closer to 50x5), and that’s after he negotiated. Originally, they wanted to charge him $150 US. I told him to go elsewhere. He said he has Spectrum or ATT for $65 US/month for 25x5. Pity.
  
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- GameEnder@reddthat.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  $120 USD for 700/20
  
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- wamasi@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  ~75$ for 1gb - Fiber. Otherwise looking at 100$+ for the same with a cap.
  
  ~130$ for 100 to 200mb - Starlink. From a relative who lives rural south of me and only has HughesNet as an alternative because the only cable provider doesn’t want to service an additional mile for a few houses.
  
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- Toes@ani.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  oof getting robbed, Rogers has gigabit for around 80CAD if you negotiate with them.
  
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  - Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Only provider available at my address.
    
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