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CenturyLink: Comcast Is Trying To Prevent Competition In Its Territories
mpicpp sends word that CenturyLink has accused Comcast of restricting competition in the development of internet infrastructure. CenturyLink asked the FCC to block the acquisition of Time Warner Cable to prevent Comcast from further abusing its size and power. For example, Comcast is urging local authorities to deny CenturyLink permission to build out new infrastructure if they can't reach all of a city's residents during the initial buildout. Of course, a full buildout into a brand new market is much more expensive than installing connections a bit at a time. Comcast argues that CenturyLink shouldn't be able to cherry-pick the wealthy neighborhoods and avoid the poor ones. CenturyLink points out that no other ISP complains about this, and says allowing the merger would let Comcast extend these tactics to regions currently operated by Time Warner Cable.
Why shouldn't companies be able to cherry pick wealthy neighborhoods and offer their services there?
CenturyLink is simply attempting to roll out their IPTV platform in markets where they already maintain their ILEC status. They are a KSO for DirecTV, meaning they already have the ability to provide their customers with a video product. Offering DirecTV doesn't require a franchise agreement because it does not involve the public right-of-way.
Seems odd they are crying foul over not being able to roll out IPTV to a select few neighborhoods because it requires a franchise agreement (which most franchise agreements specifically require a provider to offer this to 'x' amount of homes within a mile radius).
If this is in fact for CenturyLink's ILEC territory, they already cover every home. Problem is, their coverage is not consistent, they still have 1.5mbps DSL in a lot of areas, thus they could never claim their IPTV product can reach everyone.
So instead of focusing CAPEX on improving their territory, they choose to fight a battle with Comcast over rolling out IPTV to select areas.
Just another foolish fight between two companies that will distract consumers from the real issue.
I thought that's what the Universal Service Scam was supposed to pay for.
Should be forced to build out to poor areas. Reason is they will do exactly as Comcast says, they will not upgrade the rest of their piss poor infrastructure leaving it like it is now, where many houses even in nice neighborhoods can only get 1.5Mbps shit. Lucky for us Comcast is around because cable is the only viable Internet solution currently available because companies like CenturyLink fell back on promises of delivering proper broadband and deploying fiber ages ago.
Did you know in the 1990s these phone companies said the definition of broadband was 40Mbps and they would deploy it if given what they wanted? We never saw it and they got what they wanted.
What we gotta realize is that these companies aren't around to be purely profit driven and they have a mandated duty as a utility company to properly deploy fiber to each and every home which is consistent with keeping their systems modern and capable, which the public has an interest in. If we don't add important requirements for them to follow they shit on people and never do their job, which their job is to do what the communities around them want.
I am also for making it so whom ever deploys fiber first can do it, even the city, state, federal government, or private company, even if existing franchise agreements disallow it. BECAUSE WE SHOULD HAVE HAD FIBER DEPLOYED 14+ FUCKING YEARS AGO BUT IT DIDN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE OF THIS NON SENSE AND PRICKS IN POWER THAT LET THE COMPANIES MILK THE SYSTEM.
im pretty sure they don't build their network out into "low-density" areas unless they have too, and from my personal (anecdotal) experience, they certainly weren't in any rush to bring cable service into the poor areas of my town when they first came in.
It is preventing competition, flat-out, non-stop.
What do you think their legislation is about? They're not paying those lobbyists all that money to NOT get results.
The only other options are satellite and DSL... they successfully prevented competition when they threw their "we no share our cables" fit awhile back.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Dog bites man.
Oh, so ComCast doesn't want CenturyLink doing exactly what it does with its own infrastructure?
I switch from century link to comcast, but when my 6-month trial price expired and I tried to switch back, century link said they couldn't offer me broadband service because their lines in my neighborhood were at capacity (i'm supposedly on a waiting list). Meanwhile comcast more than doubled their introductory price on me.
Xcel just replaced all the gas pipelines throughout the entire neighborhood last summer and the city just repaved most of the streets, so I was SURE there would be some opportunity for century link to put in new infrastructure relatively cheaply at the same time. But no, they STILL can't offer me service.
Up until now, I figured century link was just too cheap to build infrastructure in my neighborhood. Now I wonder if it isn't really their fault. I love to hate century link, but I'm even more eager to hate comcast.
And for the record, I'm white and middle class (as is most of my neighborhood, though I am notoriously cheap and unwilling to pay for stupid bundle I don't need). Not that racism or poorism doesn't contribute to their decisions, but don't blame on malice and -isms what greed or stupidity can explain.
I would expect nothing less out of the mouths of Comcast.
If comcast wants to have monopoly power, if they want to act like a monopoly.. We should turn them into a monopoly. A government owned, government run, public service monopoly.
Or threaten to carve them up like Ma Bell.
Dollars to doughnuts they'd start playing nice as far as competition goes, post haste. Either way, we as consumers win.
Under the same logic, Ferrari should start making affordable cars for people that earn less than 40k a year.
I switched to CenturyLink 10mbit DSL because I suffered a dramatically reduced income, after having been on the 50/10 Comcast tier. I even had to spend some time in a pretty poor town. I had my full 10mbit there. Most of my neighbors there we're on centurylink, many using their IPTV-based PRISM service because it was cheaper than comcast and more reliable than satelite. I even worked with CL Engineers in diagnosing a broken fiber run into town. The way I see it, CL is still mostly an ATM based DSL provider and they ultimately have a lot more work cut out for them and with not nearly the resources Comcast has, in upgrading their entire networks.
Two years ago, my street was torn up between the main highway into town and the CenturyLink switch, so that large-diameter orange cable could be extended to it. Yes, fiber! Fiber that could solve our area's ISP duopoly problem, where our choice is between CenturyLink's poky 10M service and that nice fast SuddenLink 50M service that is near-useless because of a low usage cap.
I checked, and CenturyLink has no intention of using that fiber to offer faster service anytime this century.
Allow them to cherry pick and mandate them to expand to the poor.
Comcast won't have a leg to stand on, and the cherry picker will be forced to expand and compete.
Alternatively, comcast should be forced to make high speed internet inexpensive when the consumer decides to not take them up on television or phone service.
If Comcast shuts up about someone competing with them, then maybe both of them can avoid getting legislated.
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
Centurylink (which in this territory acquired Qwest, which was the local baby bell USWest after the AT&T breakup) does their own slimy anti-competitive tricks with their monopoly.
While DSL providers were required to allow third-party ISPs as a choice to customers (where the copper is Centurylink but the ISP is your choice), they limited the third party ISPs to 7mbps connections while rolling out their own ISP service at 30mbps. Whereas the ISPs provide professional and business class service, Centurylink's service is of course crummy PPPoE dialup with constant dropping and changing IP address, making it pretty much useless for anything except looking at web pages and impossible to use with most off the shelf network hardware.
They are hardly the ones to be speaking about preventing competition.
About ten years ago they replaced the copper phone lines along my street with fiber. It made the land line phone connection a lot more reliable (cell service here still sucks), but they said we were too far from town to get DSL. Then about 5 years ago they called and asked if I wanted DSL. Cable is still a few miles away but they'll never bother running it out here because everyone who wants it has a dish and DSL already. Not the fastest broadband, but plenty fast for us up here in Appalachia.
Should be from the NO SHIT Department.
Also, pot calling the kettle black as I'm sure CenturyLink is being as anticompetitive as they can, too.
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