* Posts by joemostowey

34 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Apr 2014

FCC proudly wastes $90m getting data-capped, pricey satellite internet to tiny percentage of US population

joemostowey

Freely Corrupt Commisars

The FCC- What a GOP joke. More like finding comfort in corruption.

1.3 miles down the road I can get Cox for 30 dollars at 100mps. No Caps.

With the accursed Pia , stooge of the communications industry leading the FCC, and his three GOP compatriots backing him up, until a new regime takes place, the American people will never see an internet worthy of the name. Like the fellow who gave him his appointment, he's lied, cheated and been forced to at least appear legitimate (remember the net neutrality "comments"/ supporting him? all faked, and would have gotten away with it if folks hadn't raised a ruckus.

Too bad such as he aren't decent enough to crawl under a rock and decompose. And when his time in the FCC is over, there is a cushy Verizon, or AT&T position waiting for him.

The satellite deal is the "best" those of us less than 50 miles from the state capitol can expect- You'll take what we give you and be HAPPY ABOUT IT - or else.

AT&T: We did nothing wrong in promising unlimited data that wasn't. We're just giving the FTC $60m for fun

joemostowey

Problem is AT&T just set the standard

ALL the telecos in the USA practice this type of deceit on a regular, ongoing basis. Ye olde FCC and FTC are filled with Trump cronies, and GOP "Free market" delusionists.

Verizon does it. Maybe a little differently, but the end result is the same. On Straight Talks "unlimited" plan The "Ultimate" good for 60 Gigs, the speed is throttled back in my neighborhood (only one tower for miles) to 0.17 MPS tonight at 7:00 PM and I've used less than 2 gigs in 20 days.

When the FCC and FTC have lost their teeth, and actively campaign for LESS competition, you know the American people are screwed.

The politicos have been purchased and we the people are being fleeced while the Telecos and our public "servants" and waltzing together off to the bank, which of course will get their share as well.

Old joke: In Russia you rob bank, in USA, Bank (and every other corporate entity) rob you

Apple hardware priced so high that no one wants to buy it? It's 1983 all over again

joemostowey

Apple Never learns...

Apple survived the last century with a "little"help from Bill Gates. Doubt he would give them a hand up now.

I had both a Mac and a PC sometime in the 1990's Found the PC to be a friendlier piece of tech when it came to getting into the hardware, not much different in speed, but definitely easier to get programs for, and certainly friendlier to my wallet. The old mac is in a closet somewhere. The PC has been replaced many times.

When I went to replace my Cell phone this last time, I budgeted $600.00, all I was willing to risk for something easily broken, lost or prone to breakdowns. The Newest IPhones, the 8, and X were simply too high priced for the risk, and I sure wasn't going to buy insurance for one.

I bought an IPhone 6- less than 200 dollars. No contracts. inexpensive enough to carry around, the Otter case to save it from clumsy fingers made it useful for day to day work in the field.

$1000.00 dollar phone? That's just crazy if you work outside. Guess the office crowd at apple wasn't aiming their phones at the demographics I am lumped in.

Russian 'troll factory' firebombed – but still fit to fiddle with our minds

joemostowey

Trust a troll? Everyone trusts Fox News,

Russian Trolls, or News people? Or Russian Agents?

Fox news has spread the gap between the people of the USA more than All the other troll factories combined.

I often wonder after catching a fox broadcast if they get two paychecks, one fromMurdoch and one from Putin? or Maybe they are combined prior to payday.

Maybe Putin owns stock in fox networks? Or maybe Putin funds the Murdoch empire.

either way, a troll is a troll is a troll.No matter who pays them.

Still very very few anti-Russian stories on fox, and very little stories that don't gush over the leaders of the USA and Soviet Union's budding bromance.

US govt confirms FCC's broadband speeds and feeds stats are garbage

joemostowey

Google, Amazon, Facebook all have a vested interest in internet penetration across the country.So do colleges, schools and online retailers.

Yet you rarely, if ever, see these entities pushing for greater access for their customers and students.

They have great power, yet seem short-sighted. Online retailers and Social media providers would certainly benefit from having access to more customers.

Colleges and schools do not deny that students without access to the internet are missing out on educational opportunities and failing to learn skills required in today's businesses and government offices.

Yet with all their power, where is the pressure on the FCC to push for greater access for the disenfranchised? Really, it's as if they were part of the problem instead of part of the solution. Or maybe they just don't care about their students, or access to more customers and revenue.

Or maybe, like most businesses of a certain size their stock portfolios contain large numbers of ISP

and telecom stocks and they love the way that monopolies have great investment returns and competition would lower those returns by a few pennies. Government officials have certainly grown financially fat on these stocks.

Maybe it's the old "honor among thieves" principle

joemostowey

Re: the problem with comparing US to EU

That's the same garbage that has been touted by the ISPs for years.

Reality is this: ISPs can and do build MONOPOLIES and use any tool to maintain them-especially propaganda.

The FCC actively supports them and despite denials from the FCC, their regulations and rules favor the most criminal behavior by the telecoms and internet providers,such as outright lying to the regulators by the telecoms and ISPs, tying the regulators hands by having no ability to enforce regulations,changing the regulations to favor ISPs, tying the burden of proof to such high standards that, like trump,they could kill someone in front of the FCC head,and still be revered as "good Capitalists".

The county of King and Queen, in the state of Virginia is an excellent example. Cox communication came in 30 years ago,snapped up the high density populated area, and never expanded beyond that segment of the county. a county 15 miles wide and 75 miles long.

When the county government wanted to provide their own internet, government funding from the FCC was denied because the county is only 50 miles from Richmond, the state capitol. So,less than 5% of the county has wired internet and the rest can get it wireless from Verizon or Sprint,or Tmobile at ridiculously high prices ($10.00 per Gigabyte) or Satellite with equally burdensome terms of service - or do with out. The county government made a deal with a provider to supply wireless internet at a speed of 3 mps to parts of the county, but less than 2 miles from the support towers and the service is unavailable or so spotty and slow as to be comparable with dial up or even slower.

$g phone service at the same distance from the towers is at one or possibly (with perfect weather and atmosphere conditions )as strong as two bars - but never consistently that high.

Letters to Senators, Governors and state and local representatives all indicate the FCC regulations have tied their hands and the FCC has indicated a healthy robust internet. The government REQUIRES use of the internet to do business with them, then fails to provide that access.

folks in these parts believe the elected officials are in bed with the corporations.

And there is, as proven by their actions or inaction, little reason to believe otherwise.

Of course a mystery website attacking city-run broadband was run by an ISP. Of course

joemostowey

Virtual Monopoly?

They are in reality true Monopolies.

The American corporate model, weather in Communications, Manufacturing or Medicine is run by scum, for the benefit of scum under the motto maximized profits at what the market will bear.

They then make sure that choice is limited only to them, so that if you need a service, or product you will pay what the market will bear, which is whatever they decide it is.

Every corporation world wide should be busted, and broken down as Ma Bell was years ago, thus limiting their power to stifle innovation, stifle product and service availability, stifle competition and dominate the political world.

As America's founders wanted, no corporation should be allowed to exist more than 5 years.

There would then be no Koch Brothers, No Warren Buffets, No George Soros.

World Wars generall take most corporations down, and one is long overdue

FCC douses America's net neutrality in gas, tosses over a lit match

joemostowey

Re: Sorry to be parochial (or perhaps actually 'cosmopolitan')...

Maybe. If the help of a foreign government to get the ISPs what they wanted turns out to be true, then it certainly will matter outside of the USA. Just think if the price turns out to be a backdoor through America's ISP for access into the secure systems of Europe?

No one would even think twice of a request from a USA network coming from an ally to maybe run a security check and drop off a few harmless packets into their system, as networks send out security packets all the time.

Feeling a little paranoid today for some reason, perhaps because I just saw something that the public overwhelmingly commented negatively about pushed out and made real with no regard for the niceties of agency protocol. Strange.

joemostowey

Next Question? Whens the Investigation start?

The actions of the FCC Head and the Republican Members of the commission smacks of colusion with the ISPs. Perhaps Mueller should include Pai in his investigation, as well as Verizon to see exactly how much of the Russian Interference in the election was was encouraged and abetted by the ISPs to get Pai into the FCC chair via a Trump Victory.

As I stated here previously the net neutrality extermination plan was a done deal, the public comment period was tainted before it began and the millions of False Anti-net neutrality comments had to be pushed by the ISPs as anything can be tracked- except them?

Face it, this process on the face of it looks like a classic case of a public official being purchased.

The Special prosecutor may find the smoking gun he seeks simply by digging into this rather unlikely looking agency action. This is the spot where they would make major mistakes, not on Facebook, not on social media, but in the secondary effects of Trumps election. Could be an electronic trail that would point them onto the real evidence they seek. Maybe that is why Pai and the FCC are so adamant about not letting the states investigate the fake comments as the y fear that it will lead to a major breakthrough in Russia gate.

Maybe everyone should start pressing for an investigation to be initiated by Mr. Mueller in parallel with the current ongoing investigation.

They might find that a few of the ISPs knew what was going on with the Russians and actively participated in it with the goal of ending net neutrality as part of the payoff of Trump being elected.

FCC backtracks on helping with neutrality fraud investigation

joemostowey

Obstruction of Justice.

Pai, Indeed All of the GOP since before Nixon seem to feel the law of the land is a suggestion to be ignore when it is inconvenient. They talk morals and display none. They espouse law and order and evade the law whenever possible. They do seem keen on order, like most despotic regimes. The GOP espouses, nay demands family values and the loudest, most fervent speakers are often found to be the ones cheating on their spouses or avoiding punishment for sexual peccadilloes.

They demand Christian Values and are often found to be violating those values.

They display faux outrage over everyone else having a splinter in their eye while ignoring the beam protruding from their own. Nixon Had Watergate, Reagan had the Iran-Contra, Bush had the Iraq war lies and Trump is enmeshed in Russia as well as multiple other seamy, sleazy low life violations of decency.

Why should Pai, and the GOP members of the FCC be concerned with trivial things like the law?

Reagan was the Great communicator, in reality a master of propaganda that would make Paul Joseph Goebbels swoon with envy. His example taught the Republicans how to lie with a straight face, how to make wrong appear to be right, day to be night and war to be peace, a lesson incorporated into everything the GOP stands for.

Pai is simply doing his master's bidding, and should it come to pass that he is arrested and charged with criminal activities, such as impeding and official legal investigation, he knows, that like Ollie North, he will walk free, and more wealthy than he is now.

Funny, isn't it how many GOP idols are tainted with the stench of crimes committed, unpunished and venerated not for great deeds, but for beating the system?

The party of accountability, fiscal responsibility and limited government seems more dedicated to the opposite of these ideals.

A wise man by the name of Matthew once said,"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

Are we looking at good men, or have their actions, as opposed to their words, exposed them for the foul leavings of a bankrupt morality?

La La La, I can't hear you: FCC responds to net neut concerns

joemostowey

Re: Hang on a minute

In this state the Governor runs about 85, 000.00, representatives in the 30-40 thousand range. corruption and kickbacks are now known as "loans" or campaign contributions. Gift giving and bribes are so passe'

joemostowey

Free Market?

There can never be a free market so long as the Government (and Law Enforcement) limit your choices by making the regulations to favor the big players.

Ever wonder why there are only a hand full of Telephone companies? Cable providers? ISPs? It's not really the cost of the Infrastructure, because the US government spent FOUR HUNDRED BILLION dollars to help defer the costs of building the infrastructure.Where is the hundreds of small ISPs as in the days of dial-up? What happened to all the small telcos? Cable providers?

It's so much easier to track peoples communications, what the watch, what they listen to, where they visit on the web, who they talk to, who they associate with, if everything is in one place. Too easy to lose track of someone if they have choices, if they can change providers for any of the above.

The Government relies upon KISS (keep it simple sam) when dealing with several hundred million people. Favor one group of providers above all others- help git rid of their competition, encourage consolidation. Give your chosen access to the profitable areas to shut out their competition. Make laws that prevent localities from creating competition.

They learned a harsh lesson when Ma Bell was broken up. No more one stop shopping for intelligence data. No more pesky innovations to enable people to simply evade the reach of the governments intrusion. Easier to get warrants for one place than many places.

They don't want competition. They don't want the status quo shaken. They want your choices limited.

Net Neutrality will help provide this.No more pesky choices, instead you get bills to pay, leaving a paper trail. Privacy? Pffft! you do what we tell you, believe what we want you to believe. hear what we want you to hear and see what we want you to see, read what we want you to read.

Protesting the end of net neutrality is well and good, but the deck is stacked against you. It's a done deal. It was killed by the authors of the Patriot Act, and was never meant to survive after the majority of Americans were hooked on the internet for so many daily uses.

One of those conspiracy nuts fantasies? Could be. But it sure does seem to be working out to be a limited, anti- free market setup, with millions protesting and a government agency not only not listening, but getting millions of faked messages supporting their stance and defending the known fakes, while trying to de-legitimize the real messages from millions of people protesting this over reach of a government appointee.

FCC boss Ajit Pai emits his net neutrality extermination plan

joemostowey

Re: So where exactly is this proposed US Policy Working?

"Try one with vast stretches of sparse, rural population and population centers thousands of miles away (say, New York to Los Angeles or Miami to Seattle)."

For 25 years, I have waited for COX to extend service ONE MILE. I live 30 miles from the Capitol of Virginia. There are almost 50 homes in this one mile stretch, and yet for almost 3 decades cox has refused to expand. They cabled the most profitable area of the county, and when we inquire why not us> we are told, not in your lifetime!

It's not a vast area, not a sparse population, it is just that cox's stock price is predicated on the ratio of customers per service mile. More customers mean diddly squat to the formula that keeps their stock at the optimum price- Its what any local monopoly would do.

My sister who lives on a primary route, has three trunk lines crossing her property. They advised that for her to get cable internet (she's within 100 foot of the trunk line) it would cost her $15000.00.

That's not refusing to run cable through a vast area or sparsely populated area. The argument the cable companies give is bogus. It's all about profit from stocks, which are taxed much less.

The net neutrality kill off will boost stock prices and that is the primary reason net neutrality must die.

joemostowey

Re: Time to face facts

The freer the market, the freer the people.-

Ah, but the market is not free. In the early part of the last century, a republican, one Teddy Roosevelt warned america about monopolies and while President tried to make monopolies illegal, and the markets were for a time much freer until the wealthy decided to gut those laws,soon after the Dixiecrat's became the southern GOP and dominated the traditional GOP. Now especially in the utilities market, regional monopolies own their markets and the regional politicians, passing laws forbidding competition (competition is what makes a free market) and stifling any hint of a competitive market place. Hence many Americans have access to only one ISP, if they have any.

Monopolies make the consumer pay through the nose, and take what the monopoly has to offer, or have nothing at all. Hardly freedom.

Now the one thing that still has some effect on the power of the monopolies is being destroyed, net neutrality - and the monopolies pay a lot of shills to haunt forums and disrupt conversations about that destruction. Insults, attacks, pushing the discussion off topic.

I am proud that many of the folks on this thread see through such attempts and keep the heat up on the half-baked Pai, and providing a record that shows that Pai's tactics are unpopular, and are simply a give-away to the monopolies.

America has fallen to the sleaze since Reagan, who had the largest number of cabinet members and associates convicted of felonies than any other president, (although Trump may rival that record, "bigly") began his attack on the average American. The nations freedoms, the standard of living, wages, and general wealth for the middle class have all taken a fall beginning with the Reagan Presidency.

joemostowey

Re: Anti-American

What is America? The land? The Government? The corporations? The people?

What is patriotism? The desire to see the government succeeding in all things, legal or not? Or is it a desire to see the country thrive, become strong and endure?

If America is the land, then it is already a country in trouble as corporations strip it of it's resources, pollute its waterways and destroy her forests, level he mountains and poison her groundwater.

If it is the Government, the America is in trouble, as a government designed to be of the people, for the people, by the people has been undermined by Gerrymandering, vote rigging, creating rules to ensure the one person, one vote cannot be upheld as many states supress voters that are outside the social stratum, the poor, the minority, a system where money and propaganda rule supreme, where the government no longer obeys the law, one that spys on the average citizen, where to be at the attention of the police and law enforcement may be a death sentence without trial, especially if your are poor and have brown skin.

If the country is the corporations than never before has a country been so successful, labor laws have been squashed, unions destroyed, profits are easily hidden from taxation and those that are taxed will cease to be taxed in the near future. A country where the various industries have not just input on writing the laws and regulations that affect them, but where they actually write the laws that the politicians they own will vote into being. A country where the courts have little power to pass judgement on corporations and the people that run the corporations, where the law is what the corporations say it is.

If the country is the people than the United States has failed. poverty is rampant, employment doesn't guarantee a wage where food, shelter and medical care can be obtained, and saving for the future is for most Americans a pipe dream. Where people are little better than wage slaves, and debt is universal where interest rates and credit terms are designed to keep you in debt forever, and bankruptcy is a scam where lawyers and creditors and even the court system bleed you dry. The political system denies the people representation and laws protect only the wealthy, where being innocent of a crime is irrelevant as proving your innocence is financially beyond most Americans.

So, What is Patriotism, and what is anti Americanism? Love and support for the corporations, or love and support of the country's people.

I vote the latter for the first is morally reprehensible.

joemostowey

'"Pai meanwhile celebrated his plan via online post. "Repealing these regulations will create jobs, increase competition, and lead to better, faster, cheaper Internet access for all Americans,"

And the above is why we NEED accountability in government. Wonder what Pai's words would be if he had to back the above statement with his personal earnings? If, when it turns out he is wrong, he has to pay the difference out of his own pockets?

This is what is wrong with American politics : anyone can make a claim, hire a propaganda expert with money "contributed" by political supporters, and walk away in the ensuing confusion having enacted the will of the political contributors with nothing risked.

While you're preparing to carve Thanksgiving turkey, the FCC will be slicing into net neutrality

joemostowey

Re: There wouldn't be such a push to kill neutrality if they didn't plan to earn a lot from it.

Of course, Much like Verizon's "unlimited" Plan. Get millions of new customers hooked on a two year contract with draconian termination terms then change the unlimited to something far less.

As Darth Vader would say " I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further."

joemostowey

Symptoms of a compromised democracy

The half-backed pai is what happens in a country where the politicians are as corrupt as in America.

Our politicians make the old soviets seem honest by comparison and have more in common with drug lords than with decent people.

They call the money they rake in campaign contributions, but its really a bribe - one that allows them to purchase the best propaganda specialists to make sure they keep the power and perks that being "elected" in the United States provides them. The best lawyers, the best and friendliest "judges".

One would gather from the McDonald conviction being overturned by the Supreme "court" that even the highest court in the land can be bought with favors, because if what he did was not peddling influence then world war two was a simple children's play date.

The trump agenda seems to be driven by big business, and pai's role is to assure that sleazy companies such as Verizon, Comcast, cox and AT&T get their money's worth from all the political "contributions".

The gerrymandered districts, which the Supreme "court" will uphold in the near future guarantees that the one person one vote is dead. That a representative government, democracy, itself is no longer viable, having been replaced with paid stooges that instead of money being directly placed in their hands instead are paid with years of power in office followed by a retirement plan that a richman would be comfortable on.

pai's future income and well being are assured- so long as he satisfy's the people who actually run America.

The GOP (party of Stu-Pid-Ity) tax plan and abolition of Net neutrality are simply the GOP's way of Pro-Qid-Pro for their patrons.

DSL inventor's latest science project: terabit speeds over copper

joemostowey

Speed is of the essence, but obscene profits are much nicer.

Wouldn't matter if it could transmit 100 terabytes over infinite distances, it would never get implemented in the USA as the business model here is to minimize competition, and sell the minimum capacity at the maximum cost. I expect to see the merger of several wireless broadband suppliers in the near future, as T-Mobile has forced the cost of wireless data to slide, messing up AT$T and Verizon's decade long price fixing monopoly. why sell terabyte speed when you can force the end-user into accepting megabyte speed because the end-user has no choice?

The cable companies have used this model for decades and made very healthy profits, with little innovation, until Google fiber came along (of course, google is now getting out of the business) and forced higher speeds.

It's ever so much more profitable when you can create an artificial shortage.

OPEC showed them how it could create a viable, profitable business model based on a perceived shortage, and milk the Rubes for everything they could, all with governments covert approval.

Terabyte speed? Not gonna happen, over copper, over fiber, or over the air.Just pay your $10.00 per gig and be silent, (and Smile!) you shall be happy to accept our domination!

Plan to kill net neutrality is the best thing/worst thing ever! EVER!!1

joemostowey

Re: Well... Paying through the nose

I have a 2 mps line- that's right 2 MPS, not 20, not 200, 2 MPS. costs me $100.00 US dollars a month.

Cable stopped a mile away, landline phone service is really bad- Talk, not data, and we are 40 miles from the state capitol, 100 miles from the nations capitol.

It's not the area square miles that dictate where cable runs, it's not even population density. It's profit ratio per customer. That's what keeps cables stock price high. More customers on longer cable runs messes up that ratio.

It's not even the costs associated with running new lines. 3 times in the last 25 years the cable company has upgraded its cables, running all new cable trunk lines, and zero expansion outside the existing footprint.

To expand would upset the ratio. More profit in the business is no incentive. Higher stock prices are.

Once you reach the golden ratio, stocks will rise. touch that ratio, stocks fall.

The business is not to supply service, its to raise the price of the stock.

Certain grocery chains do the same thing. Once they have the market, they drop the incentives to lure customers. fewer workers running the checkout, product selection falls to the lowest common denominator, and the loss of business or even profit from individual stores means noting. Only how high the stock price is.

Pai is a stock holder, not a business man. Stock prices make him wealthy, service and product mean nothing.

Net neutrality hurts the stocks even while assuring the businesses that operate on the internet can grow.

Hence we are screwed.

FCC's Pai: I am going to kill net neutrality in US

joemostowey

Fringe presidents

Ronald Reagan was a fringe president, relying on rhetoric while his administration engaged in multiple criminal endeavors Reagan Quote "I honestly don't remember) from the Iran / Contra affair. A record number of his administration actually were convicted of various crimes. Many of his policies screwed over working folks and still do. He enabled the rise of the 1 percent to todays heights. Trump will do no different.

Workers are animals in their view, easily manipulated, with short memories. Pai, Trump's half baked moron in charge of the FCC, Like Michael Powell, views the rest of the folks out here the same way. We'll do as we're told, take what they give us, and in the words of Darth Vader (paraphrased) Be glad they don't alter the agreement further.

This FCC is gonna screw up the internet to the point that it's FUBAR.

ISP roundup: Google mulls fiber-less Fiber, America goes Wow, Comcast still terrible

joemostowey

Still nothing in King and Queen VA. Cable covers about 2 miles of a 40 mile long 8 mile wide county.

We do have a 2mps wireless in some parts but coverage and service is spotty.

No hope for an upgrade, and companies like Google don't even see us. We are 50 miles from the state capitol and 80 miles from D.C.

So we can only imagine what the rest of the country looks like electronically.

I'll be long dead before faster service comes to this part of the world....

'We shall overcome' net neutrality, sing Euro telcos in the key of 5Gs

joemostowey

In The USA, Congress, and state legislatures have written multiple laws that actually prevent anyone else from intruding into the domain of the TELCOs.

Local governments here cannot create a system that allows Co-Ops to provide Internet service.

The statement that if the telco's don't roll out 5G someone else will, isn't true in the USA.

Here, unless you have the vast amounts of money and power to take the Monopolists head on, it won't happen,

Many Rural folks, myself included, living a mile or less from where cable stopped 20 years ago, will never have fiber, will never have high speed internet and rely of wireless at $10-$15 dollar a gig running at speeds of less than 1MPS.

Writting to senators, congressclowns and local politicians produce nothing but laughter in the halls of government.

Google beefs up Fiber with Webpass gobble

joemostowey

google could have been the good guy, and installed broadband to the rural areas of the USA and made money, made loyal friends and allies and expanded from there into the cities and towns.

Instead, they wanted to make "Statements" to cable and ISP companies. Statements such as "We so fast, we gonna burn yo A**!".

All talk.

No real threat to the established companies.

American cable giants go bananas after FCC slams broadband rollout

joemostowey

Re: Please can we borrow him

$15,000.00 is correct. Cox has never surveyed the area to see if customers want cable, and those that inquire are advised to go elsewhere. If the telephone service of the last century had done that, Telephones would still be a novelty. Not much point in owning a phone if there is no one to call.

As a monopoly, the stock only looks good if you can have fewer customers, paying the maximum for the least amount of service and infrastructure- maximization of profits- Data caps is another way to keep your customer/service ratio kept to an optimum.

With the cable company utilizing the property of the owner, as well as the public property for free, there should be SOME benefit to the public as well as the property owner for the use of this real estate.

As to installing additional equipment, tapping into fiber optic lines is not an expensive undertaking, or they wouldn't keep upgrading the service area in response to the phone company's upgrades, which stopped when the pone companies, in response to a bill the general assembly passed freeing them from having to connect anyone that wanted to connect to the landline service if cellular service was available .Hence no more maintenance on the copper lines and no more installing fiber except in the high profit, heavy population dense areas.

joemostowey

Re: Thanks FCC

A-MEN!

While the cable companies may own the cable, the land it is placed on is PUBLIC - and the get to use it for free! What farmer or rancher or apartment dweller wouldn't love a sweet deal like that? Fees? none. Rent? None. Obligations to the owner? None.

Congress, and the politicians at the state and county level, not to mention the judges and legal system are all in the pocket of the cable and telcos. When one has a legal monopoly, one can rule the rulers.

Democrat? Republican? Independent? If you are a politician in the USA, someone owns you and you do their bidding.

Teddy Roosevelt knew the power of corporate monopolies and feared it enough to pass laws regulating them. Today, after Ronald Reagan killed off regulation, and with 30 years of deregulated power, the Monopolies in the USA have become a true shadow government.

They win, we the people, lose.

joemostowey

Re: Please can we borrow him

Wheeler and crowd talk a good show- But that's all it is, a show. This article, with the cable providers screaming and moaning and the FCC making threats reads like a WWW commercial- The bad guys threatening, the good guys threatening, the whole shebang a done deal. the fix is in, one team takes a dive in the third round.

It's all smoke an mirrors.

Example: Cox Cable in Virginia strings their cable on the public right of way for free, no fees, no rent, nada! The right of way adjoins to and crosses my sister's land. 150 feet from my sisters doorstep, the poles that cross her land have 2 fiber optic cables strung between them. No road separates the cables from her house, the land is flat and unwooded. Cox wants $15,000.00 - That's right, fifteen thousand dollars,- to string a cable from these poles to her house. The state of Virginia says that's cool. The FCC say's that's reasonable.

So, if the FCC passes a mandate saying The cable companies have to give us broadband, Cox can simply price the connection out of your reach, all quite legal.

FCC makes up its mind about net neutrality: Er, we'll decide in 2015

joemostowey

Wait for it...

Americans will always wait. And wait and wait.

The FCC (Financing comes from corporations) has no intention of passing anything that will disrupt the cable monopolies. Obama knew this when he appointed Wheeler Dealer. Most folks on the internet realized this at the same time.

When you have a bought and paid for congress, a court system owned by the monopolies, when the justices of the supremely stupid court openly flaunt their disrespect for the American people by attending lavish parties thrown by the very people they have in front of them (Koch), democracy is simply another word for corruption.

The USA people despised the Soviets and communists for the corruption in their governments while failing to see the same in the USA government.

All Wheeler has to do is delay until the GOP congress passes it's bill denying the FCC the authority to regulate the internet ISP under title II. Wheeler wins, The GOP wins the Monopolies win, and the rest of us lose. Why even bother to go to the polls? The gerrymandered districts and Voter restrictions will deny your vote any legitimacy.

Bush set the stage back in 2000, and in 2014, there is little hop that his proclaiming ISPs as information rather than communication systems will ever be overturned.

Its simply another version, an electronic version of the Berlin Wall.

Why 120 people protested outside San Francisco City Hall (Hint: 'Hybrid' net neutrality)

joemostowey

Net Neutrality? Just a sham fight

Wheeler dealer, The FCC 's version of Holder Folder, the Wall Street apologist, who helped Obama save the criminals of the USA financial crash from prosecution, is just another Obama appointee favored by the money folks who put Obama in the white house.

His Primary mission? Stall, prevent the FCC from imposing regulations that would cut into the monopolies profits, and , if all else fails, implement a policy that would secure their profits and business models for the next two decades- hence the hybrid.

Sure Obama "says" he's for net neutrality. He was also "for" prosecuting and bringing to justice those who crashed the American economy. A few faux fines (they are tax write offs, so the taxpayer will actually pay the fines and the banks will keep their trillions in ill gotten gains), Obama's public words are in conflict with what has actually taken place during his presidency. And appointees like Wheeler and Holder are the front men.

In the last election, millions of Democrats on some level have realized this and didn't bother to vote. Why vote democrat? Why vote at all? We know they can't, or won't push for real progress. We know these hearings, and public calls for comments are a sham. These politicians know who butters their bread- and it ain't the voting taxpayer- its the campaign contributors, the folks with money.

Net neutrality will die. Banks and financial institutions will continue to steal(Legally) and legislation like Obama care will continue to be giveaways to insurance companies and pharmaceuticals.

Every law passed in Washington over the last six years, like the eight years of the Bush presidency have screwed the American people while making too big to fail even more entrenched into the American economy.

Democrats are simply Republicans. All are indebted to big money. The supremely Stupid court is bought and paid for. So is congress, and the President. The FCC is, like most agencies headed by political appointees simply reflections of the people who pay for them- the monopolies. Every thing is a sham. all the meetings, the public comment period- all for show.

Why vote? Why support or legitimize the political process when its rigged against you? So we didn't. Obama lost the youth vote with the Sham FCC and Net neutrality. He lost the votes of the Middle class with Holder, he lost the vote of the minorities with his stalling on immigration reforms.

His whole Presidency has been simply a change in faces, The monopolies set the agenda, as they did under Bush, as they do in congress, as they will in 2016.

The players are shuffled, but the game is still played the same way, the power originates from the same place and the outcome is fore-ordained.

Net Neutrality will lose. Has already been lost, was dead aborning. Everything was just for show to legitimize in the public's mind that they "fought the good fight" and lost.

FCC boss Wheeler: Lack of broadband choice is screwing Americans

joemostowey

Re: US is far behind the technology curve in IT Infrastructure

That's What competition does- it drives innovation and forces less competitive providers to create and do more, offer more. The USA is technologically crippled because there are no areas with true competition.

When a broadband/cable provider can deny you service when their fiber optic line crosses your property, less than 100 feet from your door, that is a sure sign of a monopoly.

Cable, and telephone providers pay zero fees to place their cables on publicly owned property in the state of Virginia- even non-profit and religious groups have to pay a 100 dollar fee for every use, but telecoms and cable companies get a free ride, and can charge homeowners thousands of dollars to do a simple house drop hook up. Competition would create innovation, cause prices to be cheaper and have providers knocking down your door, eager to hook you up= at high speed!

FCC launches probe into Verizon/Netflix spat

joemostowey

FCC? Federal cash cow

The FCC can't even explain why Cox Cable, less than 150 feet from my door, on the same side of the road can refuse to hook cable to my house for internet Access. Cox' excuse? You would be the only customer on that transmission line.

A monopoly, just like Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast. They won't provide service because then the ratio of customers to income drops- and so does their stock.

Congressman pitches bill to disarm FCC in net neutrality warfare

joemostowey

Hey, everyone knows republicans only want what is best for the people of the United States, Of course if your net worth is under ten million, or you didn't donate at least six figures to the Republican political machine, you ain't people.

FCC chairman to rethink controversial net neutrality proposals

joemostowey

Re: Arse about face

We already pay to receive the content.

Tommy the Lobbyist's new plan is the same as his old plan, just shifted a few words around, a typical lobbyist trick.

He was put into this office for one reason only- to give the monopolies more power, more money and devil take the consumer!

Obama should be red with embarrassment. George W. Bush did essentially the same screw-over of the consume when he decided (he was after all THE DECIDER) to let the free market dictate who got Cable, and access to the internet, putting America in the ranks of the third world countries as far as speed and accessibility went.

Now, most of us have only one ISP, one provider.

FCC: We're GUTTED people think we'd gut net neutrality

joemostowey

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler "the dealer", handing the internet on a silver platter to the people whom he worked decades for as a lobbyist - who would have dreamed it would happen that way? ?

Graft and corruption are rampant in the USA government, and it is so prevalent, that chairman Tom Wheeler can do this openly, and brazenly tell the American people he betrayed, who you gonna believe? Me or your lying eyes?

Bet the Time warner- Comcast merger goes through too. Americans live by the golden rule, thanks to the supremely stupid court - He who has the gold makes the rules.