Re: Level 3 blames Internet slowdowns on Technica

[Jared Mauch <jared () puck nether net>]

On Mar 21, 2014, at 2:08 PM, Keegan Holley <no.spam () comcast net> wrote:

> How come no one ever asks if competition is required?

I think the issue here is there is competition, but those you are seen as competing with are in a different strata 
providing the same service.

eg: Cellular data competes with DSL/DOCSIS/FTT*

Now, due to speed, caps, etc.. it may not be a "fair" comparison, but this isn't about fair, it's about "is there 
competition in the market".  I know many folks that live outside the wired high-speed boundaries and things are not 
getting any better there.  Most use some hotspot or similar for their home connectivity.

Is there a market for high speed there?  certainly, but it's being filled by other technology.  

There are many folks that work around these issues with other solutions, including satellite, fixed wireless and/or 
microwave or even localized fiber build-outs.  Look at the RUS/NTIA/BTOP focus, it was on getting the anchor 
institutions well connected to provide a sense of community.  The challenge is not everyone is equally equipped.  Merit 
(in my area) has fiber close to me, but they don't offer services to anyone but existing members and have no consumer 
offerings.

Market segmentation happens for a variety of reasons, sometimes economic, sometimes complete differences in ROI models.

Nobody can afford to run universal fiber everywhere as a greenfield build, but there are localized markets where it can 
make sense.  Certainly it can make sense to connect some islands to each other via some other technology.  Taking list 
prices from providers webpages, what cogent used to list $4/meg, so that means (assuming everything is perfect) 
offering 10Mb/s service at a home could possibly cost $40/mo for a provider, not counting capital costs and other 
elements (support, customer acquisition costs, bad debt, etc).

I'm sure folks can build networks for low cost, you can get a 1G active-ethernet NID for sub-$150 with optics, but you 
still need to aggregate and account for it somewhere.

- Jared