Why Are ISPs Trying To Sell Cars And Homes?
from the diversification? dept
We all know that various broadband ISPs are trying to get away from being "just dumb pipes," by providing "value added services" that most people ignore, such as customizable home pages and email, but we had no idea that broadband providers like Time Warner and Cox are both pushing their own car selling websites as well. Plus, it appears that Cablevision is doing something similar with home sales. It seems likely that all of these companies are merely putting their brand on someone else's car lead generation service, but it really does seem like an odd service for these ISPs to be offering. While broadband providers eventually are going to have to get comfortable with the whole notion of being a dumb pipe, you'd still think that if they want to offer additional value added services, they'd at least work on things that actually were somewhat related to the broadband they were providing.
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Filed Under: cars, dumb pipes, isps
Companies: cox, roadrunner, time warner cable
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Network Neutrality
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They'll get paid for every referral from their site when a car sells, so if they block access to a competitor, no competition. They get all the money.
Hmmm. Didn't Microsoft do something similar to Netscape??? I smell a lawsuit not too far into the future.
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comcast too
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Why Autos?
As an accountant, I've seen a weekly auto magazine pull in only a few hundred dollars of subscription revenue (most copies are given away as promos to dealers, mechanics & associatied individuals). Yet the business floats on massive advertising revenue from the other dealers, mechanics and finance companies paying through the nose for advertising space. Its quite bizzare to look at the concept.
I agree though that even if they are just slapping their brand on another providers car sales commission page, its an odd move too. But hey, if someone there gets a bonus for generating a few dollars more sales who cares.
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Re:
What "rediculously [sic] low prices"? Their prices are mostly ridiculously high due to lack of competition which is in turn due to government protections.
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Re:
I think the writer does realize that. He wrote that ISPs are still "going to have to get comfortable with [that] notion." So, they're not trying to, but he advises them that they should be trying to, see?
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Can't they freakin learn?
And for the love of all that is not dead yet, please ISPs, STOP installing malware on your customers computers to fuck with their browsers.
And this next one is for all you jackasses who "brand" IE. STOP. You look like an ass when you do that. Don't do that. Not Now, Not NEVER. You are not "providing" IE, you are simply hacking your customers registry. That is not cool.
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Shesh
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Very very old...
You know ADT the home security company? They used to own about 30 wholesale car auctions until they sold half their operations to Cox and half to Adesa.
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selling homes, cars
The good news is that QWest offers "partnership" with a large number of other, some "mom and pop" ISPs.
Even better, QWest offers a "no ISP" option with their DSL. Alas, the price isn't better. It is the option I've chosen, however. In this day and age, there is no reason to have an ISP. All you really need is a "connectivity provider".
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