Quote:
Originally Posted by ecchi
Surprisingly America lags well behind most European countries with Internet connections Stuveltje. There are far fewer people connected in America, and of those who are, far less have broadband availability. No idea why, since America invented the damn thing.
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The problem is there is a monopoly on broadband. By law it's not a monopoly but it's set up in such a way that anyone who want's to offer a broadband service in an area where you have cable companies set up already. They have to meet some crazy requirements in order to set up shop. Something like getting 75% of the people in the town to sign a paper stating they would use your company. You also have to prove you can provide the service. Because of this cable broadband companies now have a lock on the service for differant towns. You can only pick a satalite company if you want something other then cable tv. You can't pick another cable company cause they will not be in the area. As far as the internet goes this was a problem for New Jersey. The only people able to compete with the cable companies are the telco's IE Verizon. They meet the requirements but the cable companies tried to block them (by law) from offering TV service to peoples homes along with broadband. The law was finnally passed which allows them to provide this service. The law only passed a few months ago which is why if you live in Jersey you can search and find that the FISO service is rolling out rather fast now. The only reason the law passed was cause pepople are tired of the crappy service (most of which is comcast throughout the state). Either way I don't care if comcast ups their speeds and service. I will be going with the FISO when it's here.