Quote:
Originally Posted by Merrymeeting
For reasons I increasingly don't understand, our government(s) have decided it makes sense to award exclusive licences to cable companies in each town. If your town has Metrocast, that is the only option. Given how quickly things are changing in the video and streaming spaces, this needs to change.
In the end, the biggest issue is you only have one choice for a high bandwidth, internet connection...and it's Metrocast.
(And BTW, I've been very happy with my Metrocast broadband service. Though I would like to have options)
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The government licenses (franchises) are going to the cable TV service. The internet (and telephone/security services) ride along for free with the monopoly. As long as there is a market for cable TV - the economics of delivering internet that way makes sense. Twenty years from now (maybe sooner), WIMAX fixed wireless services (think WIFI on steroids) will be competitive. But, with the cable already in place with its saturated market, it will be a challenge for any new provider to win over new customers. That is why we see little in the way of fixed wireless services today. The internet is unregulated and regulations for WIMAX airwaves vary by frequency.
Companies like Verizon and AT&T could own the future of the residential internet market, if they dropped the data volume charges. A typical residence, using 30+ gigabyte per month, would be very expensive with today's mobile wireless data rates. Yes, capacity is an issue for wireless, but that is just an engineering specification and business model problem.
It will be interesting to see what happens.