Wired: How to Save the Net: Don’t Give In to Big ISPs

[LiteCoinGuy]

How to Save the Net: Don’t Give In to Big ISPs

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/save-the-net-reed-hastings/

[Full Spectrum]

Well, we the users of the internet ought to create an ISP cooperative to lower costs for consumers, pay better wages for employees, and cut out wall street(insulate ourselves from market forces). Such competition would force traditional ISPs to be more competitive and consumer friendly... and then the race to the bottom dollar will initiate.

[fdiini]

ISP are getting too bloated these days by over charging customers.

Wish google fiber service can extend to the whole country sooner.

[itsAj]

I don't think that big ISPs are that much of a bad thing. Big ISPs are able to reach economies of scale and as a result can provide better prices and better experiences to the customer.

Regardless of which ISP you use, most of the smaller ISPs simply get their internet access by subleasing the wires from larger providers. So even if you use a smaller ISP you are still really using the services of a larger ISP.

[countryfree]

This market needs a healthy dose of competition, as all markets, but customers shall keep in mind that Internet access cost is related to the size of the country. In a large country, big investments are needed to build the network. Internet access is cheaper in Monaco!

[cinder]

This market needs a healthy dose of competition, as all markets, but customers shall keep in mind that Internet access cost is related to the size of the country. In a large country, big investments are needed to build the network. Internet access is cheaper in Monaco!

The way licensing worked in US, monopoly is expected and big businesses will continue to dominate since they are the only one with capital to bid up the price on the license.

[wasserman99]

This market needs a healthy dose of competition, as all markets, but customers shall keep in mind that Internet access cost is related to the size of the country. In a large country, big investments are needed to build the network. Internet access is cheaper in Monaco!

The way licensing worked in US, monopoly is expected and big businesses will continue to dominate since they are the only one with capital to bid up the price on the license.

The deregulation of the internet and the telephone companies has more or less reversed this. Companies are able to cheaply lease the high speed internet lines at wholesale prices so they can sell internet access with little to no investment. The same is true with telephone companies selling both local and long distance phone service.

[itsAj]

This market needs a healthy dose of competition, as all markets, but customers shall keep in mind that Internet access cost is related to the size of the country. In a large country, big investments are needed to build the network. Internet access is cheaper in Monaco!

I would argue that there is healthy competition in the ISP market. Most major cities have at least 2 major internet providers proving internet access. There are also several cable companies that are competing with ISPs providing phone, internet and TV services.   

[Swordsoffreedom]

Well in my opinion I would prefer if more ISP providers are maintained myself
Keep the costs down since an oligopoly of service providers leads to higher costs for the end users to get a service if they agree to fix their prices
Which some companies do in cellphones television and internet now.

The next Netflix won’t stand a chance if the largest Internet service providers in the US are allowed to merge.

The Internet has already changed how we live and work, and we're only just getting started. Who'd have thought even five years ago that people would be streaming Ultra HD 4K video over their home Internet connections?

Technological advances are driving this evolution and will continue to do so only if we make sure the companies controlling consumers' access to the Internet don't adopt business practices that stifle its revolutionary nature. The next Netflix won't stand a chance if the largest US Internet service providers are allowed to merge or demand extra fees from content companies trying to reach their subscribers.

This year we reluctantly agreed to pay AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon for access to our mutual subscribers, who were seeing a rapid decline in their Netflix viewing experience because of congestion at the connection point where we transfer content to the ISP. The ISPs argue that our data-rich services take up limited capacity on their networks. But broadband is not a finite resource. Network limitations are largely the result of business decisions to not keep pace with subscriber demand in a world where the Internet increasingly is the main vehicle for all kinds of entertainment, from gaming to movies to video chats with loved ones.

It would be better to have no rules than the ones being proposed by the FCC, which simply legalize discrimination on the Internet.

Consider this: A single fiber-optic strand the diameter of a human hair can carry 101.7 terabits of data per second, enough to support nearly every Netflix subscriber watching content in HD at the same time. And while technology has improved and capacity has increased, costs have continued to decline. A few more shelves of equipment might be needed in the buildings that house interconnection points, but broadband itself is as limitless as its uses.

We'll never realize broadband's potential if large ISPs erect a pay-to-play system that charges both the sender and receiver for the same content.

In strong agreement with this statement the ISP's are lying about the true cost to deliver in order to make more profit.
That is why I am in strong support of municipal wire
Comcast and other broad band providers are trying to get rid of those type of services but local internet providers seems like a way to keep competitive markets and improve service speeds.

Here's a good example of that small towns can get it so it can easily scale.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/small-alberta-town-gets-massive-1-000-mbps-broadband-boost-1.1382428