Date: Sat, 06 Jul 1996 22:39:38 -0700 From: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@HeadCandy.com> To: Henry Spencer <henry@zoo.toronto.edu> Cc: Joel Yancey <python@cia-g.com>, "Jacob M. Parnas" <jparnas@jparnas.cybercom.net>, hardware@freebsd.org, bsdi-users@bsdi.com Subject: Re: cable vs. ISDN Message-ID: <199607070539.WAA01617@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of Sat, 06 Jul 96 23:49:35 -0400. <Pine.3.89.9607062351.D8437-0100000@zoo.toronto.edu>
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>> *I* myself, dont like that opinion, because the cable company doesnt
>> really know what a computer system is all about, and i dont like the fact
>> that then they would have a monopoly.
>What do you think of phone companies? It may come down to a choice of two
>evils. As I said above: they own the wires, so there's not a lot of
>room to maneuver. If you don't like monopolies, start lobbying now for
>competitive cable and phone services.
Uh, the economics of that are rather unworkable. These are
"controlled monopolies". The monopolies are provided to the companies
for service in an area, and in return the companies give up pricing
control to regulatory agencies. This is comonly done where public
access is limited in some way (such as redundant infrastructure wiring
costs), and granting a controlled monopoly is actually in the public
interest.
It's only the largest service areas that have *any* competition, and
then it's only two or three companies. The infrastructure costs are
way too high to make a true free market companies work (forget me if I
forget my economics terminology). If six different companies were to
string redundant wiring across your city, they'd likely all go out of
business from excessive infrastructure costs, with too little return
on investment.
One of the few ways this could be made to work would be if the city
owned the wiring, and leased access to competing phone and cable
companies, who only had to worry about providing the actual dial tone
and picture. But then you'd be paying the city for all the
infrastructure, and the the phone and cable company a second time for
your service.
This is why, if you get down to the bottom of it, in many competing
areas, some companies are actually leasing wire from the company
they're competing against. It simply isn't possible to put in their
own redundant wiring and recoup the costs.
If there are any well-studied economists in our midst, they can
probably explain this way better than I can. To stray waaay off the
subject... ;-)
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Michael L. VanLoon michaelv@HeadCandy.com
--< Free your mind and your machine -- NetBSD free un*x >--
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Sun4/4c/4m, DEC MIPS, DEC Alpha, PC532, VAX, MVME68k, arm32...
NetBSD ports in progress: PICA, others...
Roll your own Internet access -- Seattle People's Internet cooperative.
If you're in the Seattle area, ask me how.
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