Post by duke on Aug 23, 2012 19:02:48 GMT -5
Cable And Telephone Companies Distort Reality
Telecom incumbents should consider innovating instead of abusing customers and playing fast with the rules.
Jonathan Feldman | August 07, 2012 www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/cable-and-telephone-companies-distort-re/240005038?cid=nl_IW_cio_2012-08-08_html&elq=09093d249fd04b3a916a155a40067a85
The incumbent telecom providers are acting like a bunch of irrational adolescents who won't let go after it's clear that the game is over and the stadium has cleared out. Their convoluted, customer-hostile, and reality-distorting arguments are starting to get old. I'm tired of seeing them spend money on lobbyists and spin instead of innovative business services.
For example, AT&T, Comcast, and a state lobbying group in Georgia are requesting that the state's public service commission require rural telcos to raise their rates. Apparently, little Chickamauga Telephone Co. doesn't charge enough. Next thing you know, they'll be begging regulators to require non-incumbents to make data speeds slower.
In another example, Comcast has announced that it's raising its usage cap for all customers in its Nashville, Tenn., test market from 250 GB to 300 GB a month. And the crowd...went...mild.
[ What do we know about Google's upcoming next-gen communications device? Read Google's Mystery Communications Device: 6 Facts. ]
Some background: In 2008 Comcast started "capping" broadband connections at 250 GB, meaning it could cut off or restrict customers' service if they exceeded the cap in a given month. Then in May of this year, Comcast suspended the cap policy in most markets, but in some it offered customers the option of paying more if they exceed the cap. Customers who use both Comcast broadband services and data services such as Xfinity, its competitor to Netflix, get a pass on the extra charges.
While today this policy discourages customers from using data services from providers not owned by Comcast, tomorrow it could discourage them from using other data services, such as enterprise-ready file storage, should Comcast decide to get into that market in competition with the likes of SugarSync.
Adding 50 GB to that test market is nothing to celebrate. My staff moves 50 GB of data every day, and if we're going to adopt more cloud services, I'd better not have to worry about hitting some arbitrary cap.
Then there's Verizon, which received a special allocation of the public's radio spectrum in exchange for promising to run an "open" network that doesn't restrict devices or apps. Verizon then went ahead and prohibited the popular tethering apps that let laptops and other computers share the phone's data connection. I can just hear the boardroom discussion at Verizon: "What's the worst thing that could happen?" What happened is that the FCC slapped Verizon with a measly $1.25 million fine and told the company to quit it. <snip>
Added:
These examples are the very reason that monopolies require regulation, by even a corrupt government operating a legal system lottery.
Telecom incumbents should consider innovating instead of abusing customers and playing fast with the rules.
Jonathan Feldman | August 07, 2012 www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/cable-and-telephone-companies-distort-re/240005038?cid=nl_IW_cio_2012-08-08_html&elq=09093d249fd04b3a916a155a40067a85
The incumbent telecom providers are acting like a bunch of irrational adolescents who won't let go after it's clear that the game is over and the stadium has cleared out. Their convoluted, customer-hostile, and reality-distorting arguments are starting to get old. I'm tired of seeing them spend money on lobbyists and spin instead of innovative business services.
For example, AT&T, Comcast, and a state lobbying group in Georgia are requesting that the state's public service commission require rural telcos to raise their rates. Apparently, little Chickamauga Telephone Co. doesn't charge enough. Next thing you know, they'll be begging regulators to require non-incumbents to make data speeds slower.
In another example, Comcast has announced that it's raising its usage cap for all customers in its Nashville, Tenn., test market from 250 GB to 300 GB a month. And the crowd...went...mild.
[ What do we know about Google's upcoming next-gen communications device? Read Google's Mystery Communications Device: 6 Facts. ]
Some background: In 2008 Comcast started "capping" broadband connections at 250 GB, meaning it could cut off or restrict customers' service if they exceeded the cap in a given month. Then in May of this year, Comcast suspended the cap policy in most markets, but in some it offered customers the option of paying more if they exceed the cap. Customers who use both Comcast broadband services and data services such as Xfinity, its competitor to Netflix, get a pass on the extra charges.
While today this policy discourages customers from using data services from providers not owned by Comcast, tomorrow it could discourage them from using other data services, such as enterprise-ready file storage, should Comcast decide to get into that market in competition with the likes of SugarSync.
Adding 50 GB to that test market is nothing to celebrate. My staff moves 50 GB of data every day, and if we're going to adopt more cloud services, I'd better not have to worry about hitting some arbitrary cap.
Then there's Verizon, which received a special allocation of the public's radio spectrum in exchange for promising to run an "open" network that doesn't restrict devices or apps. Verizon then went ahead and prohibited the popular tethering apps that let laptops and other computers share the phone's data connection. I can just hear the boardroom discussion at Verizon: "What's the worst thing that could happen?" What happened is that the FCC slapped Verizon with a measly $1.25 million fine and told the company to quit it. <snip>
Added:
These examples are the very reason that monopolies require regulation, by even a corrupt government operating a legal system lottery.