From: JC Dill Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 10:20 PM To: NANOG list Subject: Re: Some truth about Comcast - WikiLeaks style
On 15/12/10 10:05 PM, George Bonser wrote:
If the customer pays the cost of the transport, a provider with
better
transport efficiency / quality ratio wins.
This (and everything that followed) assumes the customer has a choice of providers. For most customers who already have Comcast, they don't have any choice for similar broadband services (speeds). So open market principles don't come into play, and Comcast knows it.
jc
While that is true, it was less true today than it was yesterday and will be even less true tomorrow. The "captive" audience the cable providers have had is shrinking. Even in markets where Comcast might have a monopoly on TV they don't necessarily have a monopoly on a broadband path to the residence for other services. While they might be able to keep out other "cable" companies, it is going to be hard for them to keep the phone company out. They already have a path to the home. I found U-verse and FiOS coverage map here: http://www.dslreports.com/gmaps/uverse but I can't vouch for the accuracy except in my local area. I believe that as these cable agreements expire, it is going to be more difficult to get a monopoly. Where there is already separate television and telephone infrastructure, you will see the "cable" company and the telephone companies competing for triple-play services.