US Broadband: Still No ISP Choice For Many, Especially at Higher Speeds (arstechnica.com)

Despite things getting better with adoption -- however slow -- of Google Fiber in several regions of the United States, the broadband market has gotten slightly less competitive since 2013, says a new report from the FCC. The report adds that, as a result, Americans still have little choice of high-speed broadband providers (PDF). From an ArsTechnica report: At the FCC's 25Mbps download/3Mbps upload broadband standard, there are no ISPs at all in 30 percent of developed census blocks and only one offering service that fast in 48 percent of the blocks. About 55 percent of census blocks have no 100Mbps/10Mbps providers, and only about 10 percent have multiple options at that speed. At the 10Mbps/1Mbps threshold -- which captures slower DSL technology in addition to cable and fiber -- about 90 percent of census blocks have at least two providers. These numbers exclude satellite, which is available nearly everywhere but has high latency and often low data caps. Even these numbers overstate the amount of competition, because an ISP might offer service to only part of a census block. The percentage of households with choice is thus even lower.

Comments

Comcast starting to lock people in in Utah

[captaindomon]

With Google Fiber coming to areas in Utah, it's interesting to see Comcast start to push heavy contracts but at a discounted price. I think they want to make sure that people are at least locked in from changing to Google Fiber for a couple of years. Seems like a last-ditch effort to protect market share in the face of an obviously much superior competitor.

Re:Comcast starting to lock people in in Utah

[Nidi62]

With Google Fiber coming to areas in Utah, it's interesting to see Comcast start to push heavy contracts but at a discounted price. I think they want to make sure that people are at least locked in from changing to Google Fiber for a couple of years. Seems like a last-ditch effort to protect market share in the face of an obviously much superior competitor.

When I bought my house around a year ago, Comcast was the only service offering any kind of high speed internet to my area. Everything else was dial-up. They offered a pretty decent discounted price for 75Mbps for a 2 year contract. Break off the contract early and there's a $10 per month remaining fee. Of course a few months ago AT&T finally added service to my area offering 1Gbps service (we knew they were coming months before because we could see utility paint markings and saw AT&T vans). As soon as my contract is up-or almost up anyway-I will switch to the 1Gbps plan with AT&T. They had to have known AT&T was moving in, that's why they were trying to lock people into 2-year contracts. Wouldn't surprise me if they start offering 1Gbps, or at least 100 Mbps for a cheaper price, within the next 6 months or so.