[mythtv-users] Switching away from comcast to online streams

[Stephen P. Villano]

On 1/29/14, 5:05 PM, Joseph DeGraw wrote:
> On 01/29/2014 02:20 PM, Thomas Mashos wrote:
>> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 11:13 AM, Eric Sharkey <eric at lisaneric.org> wrote:
>>> On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 1:53 PM, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: "Simon Hobson" <linux at thehobsons.co.uk>
>>>>> And a tip for everyone thinking of leaving.
>>>>>
>>>>> Write to the "the man at the top" personally telling them that you are
>>>>> leaving because they seem to be going out of their way to may using
>>>>> their service more and more uncomfortable. Keep polite, stick to
>>>>> facts, and tell then (politely) what they can do to make their service
>>>>> worth paying for again.
>>>> You really wanna make an impression?
>>>>
>>>> Handwrite the letter.  Put the single page in a Fedex envelope and overnight
>>>> it to him/her.
>>> That will definitely make an impression with the intern in the mail room...
>>>
>>> Eric
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>>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
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>> I don't believe the intern in the mail room opens the CEOs mail.
>> However it will catch the eye of the CEO's secretary.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Thomas Mashos
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>
> How I wish a letter to the CEO (or what they call a letter bomb) would
> solve the problems with the current broadband / TV market. However, Its
> not the case in a monopoly.
>
> The current state of the US Broadband market is dismal at best. The
> areas of service are cut up into small monopolies that guarantee
> business for any company involved.
>
> Its not that they dont know what you need. Its that they dont care what
> you need. They also dont care about the quality of service is - to an
> extent. As long as they dont have to hear from the controlling board
> that over sees the provider in each state they are quite happy disposing
> of your letters in the garbage. Thats why monopolies are such a bad
> thing. They no longer depend on satisfying the customer because they are
> the only game in town. One can fire off a letter to a CEO of such a
> company but in the end you will find that nothing changes.
>
> What needs to be done is to deregulate the market completely. Finish off
> the fiber optic runs would be a good thing as then many providers can
> compete on a house to house market. Of course this is wishful thinking
> as it takes alot of money to provide fiber optic lines. Once again, This
> is something that the companies involved do not wish to do because it
> would eat into their profits and there is really no need as there is no
> competition to drive it. The states do not want to shoulder the costs
> either. The US government would never even get the job completed even
> after spending millions of dollars on the project. So, Things sit as
> they are.
>
> jdegraw
> _______________________________________________
>
Actually, AT&T ran much of their fiber for the US government to use. The
dark fiber has largely been leased out to private interests, as the US
government had sufficient circuits to conduct its business. Some dark
fiber remains reserved for possible US government usage though.
So, the government *can* get things done in grand scale problems. Small
scale problems rightfully should be community/county/state programs.

Still, let's look at the monopoly where I currently live.
RCN cable, Comcast cable, Verizon FIOS, Dish networks, ADSL providers
galore.
That's a hell of a monopoly!
It's in the cities that monopolies tend to exist, largely due to city
governments granting monopoly to single providers or single provider per
division of the city.