July 7, 2008
We want our fiber and we want it now!
Over the last year we’ve covered the promises of telcos and cable guys to deliver improved but second best technology at a premium price to American broadband customers. We’ve also heard from them the likes of AT&T that 6MBPs down and 768KBPS up is “adequate”, and that bandwidth hogs are ruining things for everyone. Recent polling may reveal that the consumer is not being so easily fooled:
The U.K. market research firm said 4.2 million high-speed Internet users received fiber in the first quarter of 2008 versus 2.5 million who received cable. “It’s a significant milestone for fiber-optic broadband,” Point Topic CEO Oliver Johnson said in a statement Wednesday. “Where it is available, consumers will take fiber over other broadband technologies.”Â
The report removed all doubts that consumers might decline to install fiber because they think they don’t need or want additional bandwidth. The Point Topic report concluded that price is a significant factor in choosing fiber. The fast speeds of fiber also appear to be a factor in subscribers choosing the technology, according to Point Topic.”If you look at the cost per megabit, then DSL comes in at around $20 per megabit per month taking global averages. Cable does better at roughly $12, but they are both completely eclipsed by fiber where costs can get as low as 50 cents per megabit per month,” Johnson said in a statement. (Information Week)
We’ve been had, and we’re getting had, and we will keep getting had as long as we keep accepting it. No matter where you are in the world, the broadband the bar is raising. It’s time to make some changes in the American broadband market. The customer’s wishes need to be heard and heeded.Â
Filed under Duopoly Follies, competition by admin
Comments on We want our fiber and we want it now! »
Lets see there is about 120 dwelling units in my neighborhood. I wonder if I could get a 10Gb fiber or better to a drop in the neighborhood and do High Speed WiMax to every home who wants it. Would probably only need 40 homes to make it break even.
One more then I go.
I still don’t know why more smaller communities don’t attempt the fiber infrastructure bit themselves. They float it as a bond/special tax issue. They hire a third party to lay the fiber. They contract with several firms to provide the content. Let the customers choose who they want. The provider collects their bit at a reduced rate [they don't own the pipe] + the infrastructure fee from the city.
From a political standpoint this is no different from paving roads. Something every Pol knows.