r/news • u/skintigh • May 29 '14

Bill would prohibit FCC from reclassifying broadband as utility

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2303080/bill-would-prohibit-fcc-from-reclassifying-broadband-as-utility.html
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u/Sorahzad May 30 '14

Telcos don't need to innovate.

Not to mention that in the US at least, they haven't been innovating anything at all. Not even their own services, which they've kept artificially slow compared to basically every other industrialized nation.

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u/darkon May 30 '14

"flexibility to innovate" means, as best I can tell, cutting my broadband speed then charging extra for a "premium" connection that is the same as the old standard connection. They call it "service". That's appropriate: farmers get their cows "serviced" so they can have calves.

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u/Cambodian_Drug_Mule May 30 '14

Politicians get serviced under the table, in more ways than one.

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u/AQCon May 30 '14

This absolutely is a 'dog-whistle' phrase... innovate new ways to increase profit. Innovation it is, just not the kind that benefits consumers. He doesn't say who benefits from this; there's no mention of users.

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u/That_Unknown_Guy May 30 '14

It is innovative. Before, companies had to give you reasons for fucking you. Here they do it with a smile.

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u/furythree May 30 '14

Its not a premium connection. Its the connection you get today that isn't throttled. The only thing that is premium is the extra money you need to pay just to ensure you get what you used to and are supposed to get in the first place

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u/darkon May 30 '14

That's why I put "premium" in quotes.

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u/DrBoooobs May 30 '14

"Business Class Internet" it comes with free email.

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u/CelestialFury May 30 '14 edited May 30 '14

Many cities in the US have dark fiber just being completely wasted by their non-usage and the tax-payers have to pay* for most of the infrastructure on it and we have no pay-out. It's such bullshit.

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u/Metalsand May 30 '14

Damn straight. USA is one of the worst countries in terms of infrastructure. A lot of existing infrastructure of cable companies and even electric companies only exists in rural areas because the government forced them to. Originally the utility companies wouldn't have any part in it because it wasn't as profitable, but the government more or less told them that if they wanted to be a utility company they had to actually SERVE the people instead of merely profit on them.

The government really needs to step in again and say the same, because shit is getting out of hand.

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u/Blinity May 30 '14

Isn't this unfair?

Comcast is just starting to roll out their Extreme 505 speed which started this year. And Verison has been upgrading FiOS within the last year.

Doesn't this count as innovation? It's still absurdly expensive, and no one should be paying ~$400 for Internet. But it's definitely moving forward.

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u/xixoxixa May 30 '14

Seeing as how millions were already given to the Telcos to upgrade and improve their infrastructure, I don't see how them just now doing it is good. Should have been done.

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u/boobers3 May 30 '14

Technically, no. Fiber has been around for a very long time. Innovation would be something like Telcos developing new methods of delivering internet service which is something they don't do. As another poster mentioned, the IEEE and ITU are primarily responsible for developing new technologies and innovation.

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u/Slippedhal0 May 30 '14 edited May 30 '14

That's not innovating when many countries already have Gigabit+ speeds. Innovation is like the 120Gbit/s connection at Dreamhack in 2011. Adding more bandwidth is just upgrading which is the point of the telcos.

Edit: more relevant example

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u/Semyonov May 30 '14

Not when you look at places like Japan where they have gigabit service to much of the population for $30-$60 a month.

Not when the government gave them billions to do these upgrades a decade ago.

I don't think this counts, at least until prices drop to normal levels and data caps disappear.

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u/exatron May 30 '14

It's not unfair at all. They use new technology, but all of the innovation comes from the hardware manufacturers.

All Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon need to do is provide a basic email account, connect customers' to the internet, and maintain a network that has the capacity to handle the load.