Whenever you read something like "who claim that there will be no real downsides if we allow companies to boost their bottom lines at the expense of consumers." you are reading some delusional socialist who fail to realize that that the entire point of companies is to boost their bottom lines at the expense of consumers. And that we can choose not
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On the other hand my cable bill sure isn't worth the expense. Grrr!
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Do you have a choice in cable provider/ISP? If not, that is the problem legislation should aim to fix.
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Technically of course I've got several choices in providers...
In theory AT&T has an offering in SF, but the line quality where I am precludes their DSL-based stuff from actually working. There's also another cable reseller which I believe just rents use of Comcast's physical lines for net and TV (Astound), and of course there are satellite options for TV should I wish to use separate providers.
Of course all of them like to obfuscate their pricing structures, throwing out weird tiering, bundling, and limited-time discounts at you so you'll have no idea what you're going to actually pay. I'm not convinced I'd save much $ from any of them until the a-la-carte providers like iTunes are providing serious enough competition that the cable & satellite providers are forced to clarify and reduce their pricing.
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If you are paying for a service, a service that advertises foo mb/sec xfer speeds, I feel that you should be able to use 24/7 foo mb/sec (since that is what you are paying for). Its the ISP's fault if they are selling a foo mb/sec product and dont have a pipe to handle foo mb/sec * number sold. If its shitty for everyone else because I'm using what I paid for, then thats the ISP's fault for either poor planning, deceptive advertising, or both.
Now using a /free/ product has a different outlook. You're expected to use as little as possible because (although a TON of people dont realize this) nothing is free and SOMEONE is footing the bill so you don't have to.
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The real problem with the ISPs filtering and caps are that they are quiet about it. I am okay with limits as long as they are disclosed. Then I can make an informed choice on what ISP to choose.
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Life is bleak.
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This flood of "I don't think this is a good idea, so I think we should legislate it!" nonsense has to end. We have laws that apply to all of these things, and we have a (quasi-)free market that allows businesses to compete for your money. We have laws to uphold that -- when there's no competition, contracts are violated, etc --, why not use them? Adding more legislation just undermines the existing laws; people wonder why antitrust violations have no teeth, there's the answer.
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