WHAT is it going to take for these companies to get broken up? I know it's not a "true" monopoly because there are "competitors" (ie other companies doing the same thing) around the country, but the regional monopolies that exist now should be considered in the same light as the old Ma Bell setup.
I guess it will never happen with the current crop of idiots in government. Nobody wants to do anything while they're getting handed money by the companies.
And my S9 has shown the "5G" symbol on several occasions, except it doesn't support 5G, so I see the part about AT&T misrepresenting service. I was at a renfest recently where my phone showed "5G" but the service was truly abysmal. I could barely get anything to load on my phone while out there. Couldn't make any calls either.
I live in a city of about 75,000 in Northeast Texas that is not part of the DFW Metro area, I'm closer to Louisiana. We've had AT&T and contractors laying what looks to be Fiber throughout the city for several months now. At least that's what the white/orange poles say everywhere. They've been laying them alongside all major roads, but from what I can tell have not gone near the actual housing. I don't know if they will.
They can say they've put the fiber in the ground, but as far as I can tell my AT&T Internet is still slower than dirt. The cable provider had better speeds, but they instituted data caps. We jumped to AT&T with no data cap because we have DirecTv and AT&T phones.
Maybe someday they'll actually connect the fiber to our CO at the end of the street. But, that won't help the aging phone lines coming into my home.
Nothing to see here. But WHAT will it take for this $hit to stop? Seriously? What will have to be done to right the ship? Although, I'm afraid nothing can right the ship. We need some Standard Oil busting type legislation. Bust up "Ma Bell" again and put measures in place that say you can NOT buy up another competitor that puts you up over X # of subscribers or ends up limiting market options for customers. That and you can't own content AND delivery, even under a "parent" company with a different name. They can't be linked, period. But, we all know that isn't going to happen. So few are making so much while every peon below them suffers for it.
Good, they should be embarrassed and condemned for this. The city might be sued, but those firefighters don't need to be a part of any other unit or job where teamwork is required,e specially one where your coworkers' lives depend on each other.
Looks similar to someone saying "I have a lot of black friends, so I'm not racist." One does not mean the other. They have a lot of "friends" they care about, only when it's right for their message.
For all of the idiots that say "just do it" let's do it and put it on THEIR bank accounts and see how long before the accounts are wiped out. Encryption is important for so many day-to-day transactions and duties. Let's give them what they want but test it on their accounts first.
Of course, when it fails, they'll say it wasn't done "right" but it was done exactly how they asked it to be done. They got what they wanted, but didn't like the results. Imagine that...
The government doesn't give a damn about the consumer. They only care about where their next bribe is coming from. What's going to be the tipping point for someone to stand up and say ENOUGH of this megamerger crap? I like the idea of limiting the # of subscribers, allowing multiple companies access to the last mile and limiting or even eliminating the fees, usage caps and overage charges. But, who is going to stand up and scream loud enough and kick the crap out of the lobbyists? The government is in the pockets of all of them. It's not going to happen overnight, hell it may never happen given how much the companies own the legislatures at all levels, from the city to Congress.
The story I saw initially, I believe on Ars, stated that there were disconnects that allowed the customer's home to be disconnected from the main lines to allow the solar panels to operate without issue to the linesmen working to repair the downed lines. The disconnects were locked out BY the utility to NOT allow the customer to use what is attached to their own homes.
Is the overage cap bs. Because of that, we went back to DirectTV to get the no cap AT&T Internet. They're still padding their numbers by using the caps to keep/reel in subscribers to cable/internet bundles. We hardly watch tv. My wife watches the shows on ID primarily. The kids play PS4 or watch Netflix/Youtube constantly. I play the PS4 a good bit as well.
What we do watch, we don't tend to watch live. We'll catch up using Kodi. So, while we're a DTV subscriber, it's primarily for the no caps on the Internet. When we had cable internet alone it started with no caps but they instituted caps and we went from paying $60/month to over $100/month with the overage fees.
What we have now has a slower overall speed than what we had with cable internet, but we have no caps so it balances out. We got a good deal on the bundle that we're paying about what we paid for Internet prior to caps (about $75/month) now. So it's a cat and mouse game with these reports.
What really needs to happen is the undbundling of content/Internet providers. That will level the playing field more. That and the caps get stopped. But we know that's not going to happen, it makes too much money for the ISP's.
The national news and politicians love to blow it up and go overboard on what's going on in Houston and south Texas. Granted, it's devastated and sadly won't be same for a long time if ever. BUT, the national news is bullshit. The local stations here in Texas are doing a good job of actually covering the rescues and people helping people. It's not black vs white or R vs D. The cops don't need more military equipment because of the hurricane. They don't need it...period.
Just another example of how the idiots in Washington have no %&*S('ing clue as to what is truly going on "on the ground" where people are helping people and Texas is showing what it means to be a good neighbor. And people from all over, even Kentucky, not just the Cajun Navy from LA have come to help. Saw a picture of an NYPD vehicle in one of the towns south of Houston yesterday. The country is doing it right to help. Sessions needs to shut up and GTFO.
Until they can successfully play whack-a-mole with all the providers offered for Kodi/XBMC, it will be my choice for any shows I want to watch without being tied to satellite. We only went back to DirectTV because of the unlimited (no caps) that U-Verse provides if you do. It costs us less to do that bundle than it did with Cable+overages they put on us. It was all good until they went with usage caps when there IS actually a bit of competition in our area.
All these bastards that want to kill encryption should have their credit card #/Exp/CVV, SSN, passwords and everything else they might want to keep "secret" tattooed on their foreheads, arms and anywhere else visible on their body. All information should be plastered onto their vehicles. All their business cards. Required on all emails (HA, if they use email). If a staffer does it for them, all info should be included anyway. All websites they are listed on should have this information as well.
Maybe, just MAYBE then they'll understand why encryption is important.
Then again, I may be asking too much. P2PE is important to commerce today. If they want to get rid of it, they need to agree to the above terms and live like that for a year to see how it affects them.
We can only hope. These ignorant bastards in government today are going to be the death of the world. They scare me more than any "terrorist".
I'm curious what ISP Pai and O'Rielly use. I bet they don't have usage caps. They probably get "employee pricing" since they're apparently already on the payroll of the large ISPs. I really would love to know who they use, what speeds they get, and if they get a cap or not. I'd be willing to bet they don't use the Internet like most Americans do today.
I know I say this probably every time I see an article like this, but Kodi FTW. I use a fork of Kodi/XBMC that allows me to watch anything at any time. From live sports to old sitcoms to the current episodes of the hottest shows. All for free. I only have to pay for the Internet. Which, sadly now our local cable provider has been doing the shitty caps for several months now. AT&T DSL and Uverse are "available". DSL I know is, but the Uverse rep said we weren't actually able to get it, even though the advertisement said it was available. But, our cable company provides faster speeds than either AT&T option.
Oh, and fuck Pai and his mission to kill net neutrality and competition. When will someone grow a pair, get away from the bribes and say ENOUGH??
Seriously though...
WHAT is it going to take for these companies to get broken up? I know it's not a "true" monopoly because there are "competitors" (ie other companies doing the same thing) around the country, but the regional monopolies that exist now should be considered in the same light as the old Ma Bell setup.
I guess it will never happen with the current crop of idiots in government. Nobody wants to do anything while they're getting handed money by the companies.
AT&T Customer here
And my S9 has shown the "5G" symbol on several occasions, except it doesn't support 5G, so I see the part about AT&T misrepresenting service. I was at a renfest recently where my phone showed "5G" but the service was truly abysmal. I could barely get anything to load on my phone while out there. Couldn't make any calls either.
Fiber deployment
I live in a city of about 75,000 in Northeast Texas that is not part of the DFW Metro area, I'm closer to Louisiana. We've had AT&T and contractors laying what looks to be Fiber throughout the city for several months now. At least that's what the white/orange poles say everywhere. They've been laying them alongside all major roads, but from what I can tell have not gone near the actual housing. I don't know if they will.
They can say they've put the fiber in the ground, but as far as I can tell my AT&T Internet is still slower than dirt. The cable provider had better speeds, but they instituted data caps. We jumped to AT&T with no data cap because we have DirecTv and AT&T phones.
Maybe someday they'll actually connect the fiber to our CO at the end of the street. But, that won't help the aging phone lines coming into my home.
SEC & Longhorn
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Re: Re:
Business as usual....
Ooops...
Re:
Anyone else notice...
Here's a thought
Of course, when it fails, they'll say it wasn't done "right" but it was done exactly how they asked it to be done. They got what they wanted, but didn't like the results. Imagine that...
What's the tipping point?
Story I saw...
What sucks....
What we do watch, we don't tend to watch live. We'll catch up using Kodi. So, while we're a DTV subscriber, it's primarily for the no caps on the Internet. When we had cable internet alone it started with no caps but they instituted caps and we went from paying $60/month to over $100/month with the overage fees.
What we have now has a slower overall speed than what we had with cable internet, but we have no caps so it balances out. We got a good deal on the bundle that we're paying about what we paid for Internet prior to caps (about $75/month) now. So it's a cat and mouse game with these reports.
What really needs to happen is the undbundling of content/Internet providers. That will level the playing field more. That and the caps get stopped. But we know that's not going to happen, it makes too much money for the ISP's.
wow...what the hell???
Just another example of how the idiots in Washington have no %&*S('ing clue as to what is truly going on "on the ground" where people are helping people and Texas is showing what it means to be a good neighbor. And people from all over, even Kentucky, not just the Cajun Navy from LA have come to help. Saw a picture of an NYPD vehicle in one of the towns south of Houston yesterday. The country is doing it right to help. Sessions needs to shut up and GTFO.
Kodi it is
Idea....
Maybe, just MAYBE then they'll understand why encryption is important.
Then again, I may be asking too much. P2PE is important to commerce today. If they want to get rid of it, they need to agree to the above terms and live like that for a year to see how it affects them.
We can only hope. These ignorant bastards in government today are going to be the death of the world. They scare me more than any "terrorist".
Curious
Re: Re: Like a broken record...
Like a broken record...
Oh, and fuck Pai and his mission to kill net neutrality and competition. When will someone grow a pair, get away from the bribes and say ENOUGH??
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