Hi everyone:

Here's MY take on the whole issue. See my responses below....

Jay dedman wrote:
>
> > On a more positive note, I think that even if we are forced into a tiered
> > situation, it probably won't last very long. People will be angry and
> > demand more bandwidth. Other companies could rise to the challenge
> and lay
> > bigger pipes and tubes to meet demand. We may see a temporary information
> > recession, but it's not the end of the world.
>
> Comcast and other broadband providers need to simply be transparent.
> they cant say they have "all-you-can-eat" service and then throttle
> back how much you actually get.
> this is the bait-and-switch method of business.
> If I'm only going to get 100GB of traffic a month, then tell me that.

I do believe someone could *conceivably* claim DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING on
the part of the cable & Telco industries if they REALLY wanted to.

> Broadband companies need to say what they are actually offering so
> customers can make educated decisions.

Beyond the packages, that has nothing to do with it.

> unfortunately in the US, there is often only one broadband in a region
> (aka monopoly)
> This is why we must also have regulation to make sure that one carrier
> doesn't block certain technologies or websites arbitrarily.
> They must be neutral about what goes "through the pipes".

Well whether Comcast likes it or not, my little Internet TV station will
be going 'through their pipes'. The same goes for my radio station too.

I think what needs to be done is for either Congress or (Perhaps even
more appropriately) the U.S. Supreme Court to take action against State
and/or local laws governing who shall be the provider of Cable, Internet
& Telephone service in their area. I mean LOOK AT THE SATELLITE TV
INDUSTRY. They're free to operate wherever they damned well choose.
The cable companies don't have that luxury because of ANTIQUATED State
and/or Local laws, many of which date back to the late '70s and early '80s.

I say this because Denver is one of those municipalities where such a
law exists. It basically states that not more than ONE cable company
(Today that would be Comcast) CANNOT operate within the boundaries of
The City & County Of Denver. They CAN however operate in the Suburbs
(In fact, United Cable did just that when it was around while Mile High
Cablevision operated in The City & County Of Denver itself AND had the
SOLE & EXCLUSIVE license as a result of that law being passed by voters).

Now today, if (Let's say for the sake of discussion) Cox Communications
wanted to set up shop and offer their cable services, they could
probably do so, but again, it'd have to be in the suburbs since Comcast
(Through it's acqusition of AT&T Broadband many moons ago) has the sole
& exclusive license to operate in The City & County Of Denver itself.

But the big $64,000 question there is would Cox REALLY wanna step on
Comcast's toes to get into the Denver market? With Comcast being THE
ONLY game in town when it comes to Cable TV, Comcast has FREE REIGN to
do whatever it damned well pleases in BOTH the suburbs AND The City &
County Of Denver.

In short, I think the problem lies with all these old antiquated State
and/or local laws that are STILL in/on the books which NO ONE seems to
be in a real big hurry to change. And unfortunately, unless something
is done soon, the complacency by the government AND the cable and Telco
industries WILL prove to be COSTLY (And WE CONSUMERS will come out on
the losing end as we'll be THE BIGGEST LOSERS!! :( ).

Just my opinion....

Cheers :)

--
Pat Cook
Denver, Colorado
PODCASTS -
AS MY WORLD TURNS - Blogger Page - http://asmyworldturnstv.blogspot.com/
BlogTV Page - http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/20453
AS MY WEIGHT LOSS WORLD TURNS - http://asmyweightlossworldturns.blogspot.com
PAT'S REAL DEAL VIDEO BLOG - http://patsrealdeal.livejournal.com/
PAT'S HEALTH & MEDICAL WONDERS VIDEOCAST -
http://patshealthmedicalwondersvideocast.blogspot.com/
YOUTUBE CHANNEL - http://www.youtube.com/amwowttv/
THE PAT COOK SHOW - http://www.livevideo.com/thepcshow
THE PAT COOK SHOW (Video Podcast) - Blogger Page -
http://thepctvshow.blogspot.com/ - BlogTV Page -
http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/19924
**COMING SOON** - PAT'S CLASSIC TV COMMERCIALS VIDEO PODCAST -
http://patsclassictvcommercials-ipod.blogspot.com/ (iPod),
http://patsclassictvcommercials-flash.blogspot.com/ (Flash)