Colorado Town May Sue AT&T For Broadband 18
foQ writes: "Avon, Colorado is suing AT&T over the lack of availability of cable-modem service in the town. I for one have been waiting a couple of years for the 'right around the corner' date they have been talking about. Here isthe story." AT&T appears to be meeting the letter of their agreement to make the local cable system "two-way," but perhaps not the spirit.
Sue their butts.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Sure, AT&T isn't supposed to be a monopoly nowadays (or a regulated one at least), but you could have fooled me! Point me in the direction of 3 or more cable internet providers and I'll change my mind...
That being the case, let them be sued for screwing us all over and doing a crappy job of it! There's nothing worse that a monopoly that doesn't know what they're doing.
Cable companies suck (Score:2)
Thankfully, I just became eligible for DSL at my house, so I'm getting that.
Almost static IP (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Almost static IP (Score:1)
Re:Cable companies suck (Score:1)
Now all you have to do is see what there policy
about always on is.
Re:Cable companies suck (Score:1)
Business logic (Score:4, Insightful)
Now the problem is debt. Sure, if you look at it from the perspective of a single community, comparing the debt required to upgrade with the profit brought in by the new services makes it an obvious thing to do. Unfortunately, when you look at the total amount of debt that the cable company must assume to upgrade all the communities screaming for Internet access, it makes a huge impact on the company's financial statements. Investors are fine with debt up to a point, but too much makes them nervous, which hurts the stock value. After all, no matter how good the projections are, debt is risk.
So here in MA, AT&T has scaled back its expansion plans and raised rates. While the higher rates are bad for existing customers, they mean that the debt gets paid off sooner, leaving AT&T with more cash to invest in upgrades.
In the mean time, upgrades are continuing, and communities that make the most noise are the most likely to get moved to the top of the schedule.
Re:Business logic (Score:3, Insightful)
The bottom line is that the company got something valuable (the cable TV franchise) in exchange for promises. If it can't honor that agreement due to some unforeseeable event, and massive debt to honor all promises is *not* unforeseeable, then the contract should have escape clauses. These clauses may include fines, mandatory price reductions (both designed to change the economics of the situation to make it cheaper to comply with the contract than to breach it), or even early termination of the franchise agreement to replace the non-performer with another company.
If the company negotiated in bad faith (knowing that it never intended to honor the terms of the agreement), then that's a breach that warrants immediate termination of the contract.
If the company was honest and admitted that it couldn't provide service for N years, then it might lose the franchise.... and would probably get it back when the other company defaulted if they made impossible claims. Or it might prompt the community to identify alternative solutions to the problem.
... or is this yet another example of the New Feudalism where individuals are held to contracts even if they never agreed to them (AOL purchases recently discussed), while companies get a walk?
Re:Business logic (Score:2)
Re:Business logic (Score:2)
And based on the number of people complaining about the lack of cable Internet access, it seems that the demand is rather inelastic, so raising prices does, indeed, bring in more revenue.
For people who don't use the Internet enough to need a separate phone line, it is and always will be a tougher sell.
Re:Business logic (Score:1)
Re:I wish I could sue Colorado (Score:1)
You're thinking of Colorado Springs, where 'Focus on the Family' is headquartered. It's mainly a bunch of ex-Orange Country suburban types who bailed from S. Cal. because reality encroached.
Colorado overall seems to be mostly anti-tax and anti-government. At election time this falls into the Republican camp, although it seems more Libertarian than anything else to me.
That is, except Denver and Boulder, which are tax happy and government happy:)
What amazes me (Score:2)
What amazes me is how many people forget that, as bad as AT&T Broadband may be, TCI was far worse. I don't wish to defend AT&T Broadband, but they brought me more than 40 cable channels, which TCI certanly did not do (TCI reduced our lineup when they bought our previous cable company), and AT&T brought us broadband internet (USQWest says they will never bring DSL to our neighborhood -- we can't get better than 26,000 bps dialup!).
AT&T isn't great, but they're not the devil incarnate. (Bill Gate$ still holds that title :-) I'd rather stay with AT&T than switch to Comcast, but I guess I won't have a choice in that.
Re:What amazes me (Score:2)
You probably have fiber between yourself and the phone company. Let me guess - 26.4k is the fastest you receive, even with a 56k modem? If that is the case, you will not be able to get DSL until:
- Qwest replaces the fiber with copper (never)
- Someone installs a remote DSLAM (likely)
The RDSLAMS are being tested now. Depending on where you live, you might see one within a couple of years.
Re:What amazes me (Score:2)
I wish! Where I live, I'll see an RDSLAM on the 12th of Never. We have copper between us and USQWest's switch (fiber! LOL -- nobody used fiber back when these lines were laid). The problem is distance. We're too remote. That's why I'm doubly amazed at AT&TB -- as bad as they are, at least they consider us customers; USQWest considers us a nuisance.