Broadband Bill Of Rights - Communities Draft Their Own Guidelines

from the make-the-providers-live-up-to-reasonable-service-levels dept

Tue, Apr 29th 2003 12:59pm — Mike Masnick

As people grow increasingly frustrated with the service levels and requirements of their broadband internet providers, it appears that many local governments are starting to impose strict guidelines for broadband providers. These guidelines require them to improve their service levels and maintain certain minimum standards - something the companies have shown little incentive to do on their own. In some cases, those local governments are fining the big broadband providers like Comcast. Of course, the broadband providers, themselves, hate these rules and regulations and are often lobbying against them. As the broadband industry is increasingly moving away from competition towards a monopoly or (possibly) oligopoly structure, it appears that someone needs to be looking out for consumers' rights. The FCC has passed, so local governments are filling the void. Update: Here's an interesting article to go with this. A new study shows that healthy competition in the telecom world leads to greater broadband adoption. Too bad the US appears to be going in the other direction.

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Bob Dole, 30 Apr 2003 @ 11:08am

You've got to be kidding
Let's see. Why is there a monopoly on cable broadband? Because the cities/counties make a bundle off of local franchise agreements (and shady deals to get the sweetheart franchise agreement are pretty common).
So, basically, you're cheering on the biggest cause of monopoly service. Brilliant. The better solution comes from competition multiple broadband platforms (DSL, satellite, wireless, powerline, etc). Once people have an alternative, service improves.
Why don't you ask Montgomery County whether they'll let another cable provider in the county?
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Mike (profile), 30 Apr 2003 @ 11:18am

Re: You've got to be kidding
That's a valid point. If it is the local governments that are creating the monopoly situations, then that's a problem. I don't know enough about the situation to know, though. What I do know, is that in many situations there really is only one player, and they're doing their best to price gouge.
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