Have cable broadband? Thinking about getting it - read this and enjoy

[dud]

Thought this was an extremely interesting looksee at the cable industry in general. Things don't look too good for the industry at all for the forseeable future. Only 10% of users use broadband but the industry needs 30% to be healthy. Please read and share your opinions.


Fortune Magazine article

 

[hoihtah]

read what?

 

[NogginBoink]

And we're supposed to read.... what, exactly?

A link would help us give better feedback.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: dud
Thought this was an extremely interesting looksee at the cable industry in general. Things don't look too good for the industry at all for the forseeable future. Only 10% of users use broadband but the industry needs 30% to be healthy. Please read and share your opinions.

Yes, it WAS an interesting read. Thanks for the LINK-->>>>>

 

[dud]

Such kind and understanding folks. 3 replies in 2 minutes ... whew! The link is added ...

 

[MichaelD]

Interesting article. I have learned to "never say "never"", but I highly doubt TimeWarner will be going out of business anytime soon. Also, if they do, there's always DSL thru the local Telco or satellite (which sucks, but it's better than dialup!) if you live out in the boonies.

 

[Moonbeam]

They could probably get 100% if they put cable in and sold it for the rate of the regular stuff.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Interesting article. I have learned to "never say "never"", but I highly doubt TimeWarner will be going out of business anytime soon. Also, if they do, there's always DSL thru the local Telco or satellite (which sucks, but it's better than dialup!) if you live out in the boonies.

You certainly can't count on that. Locally Hellrizon has steadfastly refused to install a DSLAM in the RSU that serves my area and we are not rural by any stretch. Had they done this 3 years ago they would have had a huge advantage over Comcast who was in the process of doing a system rebuild and were not ready to deliver cable modem service to us. In a telecom study that was recently completed Hellrizon's latest excuse is they will not do it unless the Telecom Act of 96 is overturned by Tauzin-Dingell. In the meantime Comcast has mostly completed the system upgrade in our area and gotten past the problems of the @Home collapse in February and are likely busy signing up all interested broadband users.

 

[Tripleshot]

I have charter, and it used to be fairly good. Now it sucks and they will not add new customers. They tell us they are adding a DS3 but quest is not co-operating. Its always pass the buck. As soon as DSL is available in my area, I will drop Charter. They are using this tactic to raise prices, and the service is the worst its ever been. Your article almost comes right out and tells cable operators to raise prices by $20/mo to break even. Screw them . They have a monopoly in many areas and there is nothing to stop them from raising rates to whatever level they want. Cable companies are not regulated like the phone company. That can be good or bad, depending on the situation, but by all means de regulation did not a damn thing to help the consumer.

Whatever Fortune says, you can bet the cable companies will use this to raise rates. If they would improve service, then it might be worth looking at. But when there is no gain in service, raising the rates to placate this article is wrong. My cable company told me they will downgrade my service from 500k/128 to 256/64 for what I am paying now. And they have already capped the 128 to 64 upload. Anymore degradation will cause them to loose more customers. I will post ads in my local paper alerting my neighbors and friends to this taudry tactic to sham the public. I'm hating Charter about now. Nothing but excuses for poor service. grrrrrrrrrr.:|

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: Tripleshot
I have charter, and it used to be fairly good. Now it sucks and they will not add new customers. They tell us they are adding a DS3 but quest is not co-operating. Its always pass the buck. As soon as DSL is available in my area, I will drop Charter. They are using this tactic to raise prices, and the service is the worst its ever been. Your article almost comes right out and tells cable operators to raise prices by $20/mo to break even. Screw them . They have a monopoly in many areas and there is nothing to stop them from raising rates to whatever level they want. Cable companies are not regulated like the phone company. That can be good or bad, depending on the situation, but by all means de regulation did not a damn thing to help the consumer.

Whatever Fortune says, you can bet the cable companies will use this to raise rates. If they would improve service, then it might be worth looking at. But when there is no gain in service, raising the rates to placate this article is wrong. My cable company told me they will downgrade my service from 500k/128 to 256/64 for what I am paying now. And they have already capped the 128 to 64 upload. Anymore degradation will cause them to loose more customers. I will post ads in my local paper alerting my neighbors and friends to this taudry tactic to sham the public. I'm hating Charter about now. Nothing but excuses for poor service. grrrrrrrrrr.:|

how much do you pay?

 

[amnesiac]

I pay $20 a month for a 3x T1. So there.
It's shared among a few apartment complexes but so far this summer no one's using it so I get the full 500-550KBps.
During the year I get around 120-400KB transfer rates which still isn't bad.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: dud
Thought this was an extremely interesting looksee at the cable industry in general. Things don't look too good for the industry at all for the forseeable future. Only 10% of users use broadband but the industry needs 30% to be healthy. Please read and share your opinions.

My opinion is that many businesses seem to have become retarded in the past few years. Al they think is "grow grow grow" as fast as you can, and then they hatch the moronic idea that they need more people to subscribe in order to remain solvent.

That may seem like a no-brainer. They are "off" because demand is too low compared to supply.
But as a business, it is hard for "YOU" to manufacture demand.
But you can try and control supply.
Instead of growing outrageously huge networks under the assumption that everyone in the nation is going to adopt broadband in the next six months, why don't they just make people wait?

Sidebar: In a recent thread about annoying corporate jargons, I criticized EBITDA as one that I hate. Notice it shows up a few times in this article.