[ale] Republicans’ “Internet Freedom Act” would wipe out net neutrality | Ars Technica

[DJ-Pfulio]

On 03/07/2015 02:51 PM, Brian Mathis wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2015 at 12:50 PM, DJ-Pfulio <DJPfulio at jdpfu.com
> <mailto:DJPfulio at jdpfu.com>> wrote:
> 
>     On 03/07/2015 12:47 PM, Brian Mathis wrote:
>     > On Sat, Mar 7, 2015 at 10:41 AM, Jay Lozier <jslozier at gmail.com <mailto:jslozier at gmail.com>
>     > <mailto:jslozier at gmail.com <mailto:jslozier at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>     >
>     >     To me, the better solution is not allow the there to be local
>     >     monopolies. In many communities, the monopoly exists because local
>     >     governments granted an exclusive franshise to a cable provider. A
>     >     single, local provider in theory means better local control but CobbEMC
>     >     management had been defrauding the members for years. As someone who
>     >     lives in their service area I would love the chance to use someone else.
>     >
>     > With services like this, you need to have local monopolies on some level,
>     > otherwise you'd have a different set of wires running everywhere for each
>     > service provider, and the streets would be constantly under construction as
>     > other providers were installing new lines, etc..., which has other negative
>     > impacts.  This is the reason that exclusive franchises are granted in the
>     first
>     > place (often with large tax breaks).
>     >
> 
>     We have Naked DSL ... we need naked coax and naked fibre too.
> 
>     Sorta like the atlanta gas setup.
> 
> 
> 
> Right.  And gas is regulated as a utility.

Not the prices.

I know that the gas is purchased from 1 of 50-200 different companies, who pays
Atlanta Gaslight Company to deliver it.  It is a deregulated market.
http://www.psc.state.ga.us/consumer_corner/cc_gas/gasderegfaq.asp

I particularly like this part:

"The Act provides for a bill of rights that include a right to: reliable, safe
and affordable gas service, including high quality customer service; information
that is unbiased, accurate, and understandable in a written form which allows
for comparison of prices and terms of service; fair application of provisions in
matters such as deposit and credit requirements, service denials and
terminations, and deferred payments; protection from unfair, deceptive,
fraudulent and anti-competitive practices; receive accurate and timely bills
from their marketers; protection from improper use of their customer records and
payment histories; a fair and efficient process of resolving differences with
marketers."

Seems we need something like that for broadband, since market forces are failing.