• tal@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Like, what kind of costs exist? Lines, network hardware, putting up the tunnels and poles that hold up lines, the network admins who deal with issues on them. Your ISP can’t just push a button and instantly provide 1Tbit bandwidth capacity at no cost to themselves to every subscriber.

      • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Oh you mean like the $400 billion the industry has taken to adopt Fiber-optic high speeds, but somehow Fiber access has never materialized in most US cities? You mean like that infrastructure? That we’ve already fucking paid for through grants and other federal programs handing money to the ISPs?

        Are you having a laugh or do you work for these fuckers?

        I’m not disputing the costs, I’m disputing that they already have money to cover the costs (taxpayer money, I might add) and they’re bilking the consumer on top of it.

        EDIT: Also, let’s not forget that they got this money during a period of media consolidation. Why was Comcast using its money to buy NBC in 2011 instead of spending that on (*audible gasp) infrastructure?

        • tal@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I’m disputing that they already have money to cover the costs

          Federal subsidies to telcos were not intended to provide Internet service for free, but to reduce costs.

          You could argue that a subsidy should reduce prices relative to what they should have been, had no subsidy existed.

          But you cannot argue that pricing should be decoupled from consumption as a result of that.