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Turkey Machine · 28-10-2008, 16:56

Competition breeds better services. A crude and (probably wholly) inaccurate timeline: In the beginning of the telecoms world, it was BT, then others wanted a piece of the pie. Now we have healthy competition in the telecoms and DSL market, and ADSL2+ is being rolled out by all the major and several smaller ISPs. In the beginning of the cable market, each area was locally provided, then those were taken over by regional companies, then national companies, then one provider.

Compare it to the satellite TV market. British Satellite Broadcasting was taken over by Sky not long (3 years I think) after launch, making it BSkyB. Their only competitor is Freesat, but it's taken 15 years for something to be launched that's a viable competitor, because Sky keep buying out their competition.

I should have said Cable broadband's a dying breed in the hands of Virgin media. High download speeds are one thing to be shouting about, but when other ISPs using ADSL can trounce you in every other aspect of your service, you're doing something fundamentally wrong.

28-10-2008, 16:56	#6
Turkey Machine Inactive Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Norwich Age: 37 Services: Company LLU internet, soon-to-be company FTTC internet at 56Mb/20Mb! Posts: 1,895	Re: Cable network expansions Competition breeds better services. A crude and (probably wholly) inaccurate timeline: In the beginning of the telecoms world, it was BT, then others wanted a piece of the pie. Now we have healthy competition in the telecoms and DSL market, and ADSL2+ is being rolled out by all the major and several smaller ISPs. In the beginning of the cable market, each area was locally provided, then those were taken over by regional companies, then national companies, then one provider. Compare it to the satellite TV market. British Satellite Broadcasting was taken over by Sky not long (3 years I think) after launch, making it BSkyB. Their only competitor is Freesat, but it's taken 15 years for something to be launched that's a viable competitor, because Sky keep buying out their competition. I should have said Cable broadband's a dying breed in the hands of Virgin media. High download speeds are one thing to be shouting about, but when other ISPs using ADSL can trounce you in every other aspect of your service, you're doing something fundamentally wrong.