Anybody read this shit, it's approved .. Yay or Nay?

[mrsleeve]

I dont think I have denounced this regulation as a good thing or bad thing yet, I am skeptical of how it will be played out.

Nice flow chart there, where someones promotional rates for several types of provided services expires, cant bitch too much when thats what you signed up for, especially with out looking to new promotions to switch over to when your current deal expires. Also without the fine print form this persons bill who knows what the terms of his promotional rates were to begin with, and when they were to expire. Not to mention there is always these fun words attached to every promotional offer I have ever gotten "taxes, fees and surcharges extra"

Next you are aware what a title 2 reclassification means right, while the feds have said they will not impose new federal fees for now and have deferred the decision on this topic until some point in the future. This how ever does not stop or out law state and local agencies form levying higher property taxes on a providers assets and infrastructure at a much higher rate based on its new "Public utility" classification vs the current plain ol property taxes... Which of course will be passed on to the consumer via higher base rates, or additional line items or fees at the bottom of the bill. Also while new TAXES on internet service are outlawed under current law, that law does not include "FEES" (different legal definition with the same general affect) which are well established at all levels, (though vary widely based on your state and local) and could be extended to your broadband service under the title 2 classification with little effort and strong legal ground to stand on.


all I am saying for now remains ................ Be careful what you wish for

[goarmy]

Comcast does the same shit. My bill is supposed to be $69, except it's $89, and then they decide to charge me rental on the modem that I own, plus a penalty, which brought the last bill to over $100. Fuck Comcast in the ass.

This^^ I find it strange how my bill continues to rise every month, am always on time for payments never order anything they go from a few quarters to a few dollars since October of 2014.. I went from 105 to 128., I haven't said anything since its been a gradual thing through these month's, work and family..

[nando]

I dont think I have denounced this regulation as a good thing or bad thing yet, I am skeptical of how it will be played out.

Nice flow chart there, where someones promotional rates for several types of provided services expires, cant bitch too much when thats what you signed up for, especially with out looking to new promotions to switch over to when your current deal expires. Also without the fine print form this persons bill who knows what the terms of his promotional rates were to begin with, and when they were to expire. Not to mention there is always these fun words attached to every promotional offer I have ever gotten "taxes, fees and surcharges extra"

Next you are aware what a title 2 reclassification means right, while the feds have said they will not impose new federal fees for now and have deferred the decision on this topic until some point in the future. This how ever does not stop or out law state and local agencies form levying higher property taxes on a providers assets and infrastructure at a much higher rate based on its new "Public utility" classification vs the current plain ol property taxes... Which of course will be passed on to the consumer via higher base rates, or additional line items or fees at the bottom of the bill. Also while new TAXES on internet service are outlawed under current law, that law does not include "FEES" (different legal definition with the same general affect) which are well established at all levels, (though vary widely based on your state and local) and could be extended to your broadband service under the title 2 classification with little effort and strong legal ground to stand on.


all I am saying for now remains ................ Be careful what you wish for

the only reason you have doubts is because the right wing news has said so. and hey, guess who owns those big news outlets and stands to lose out from actual competition...

if you knew what it was about, you wouldn't be skeptical. Internet service in the USA is like 10-15 years behind everyone else. we have almost the same level of service we had a decade ago. There are 3rd world countries with better internet access than us - and competition between ISP's here is a joke - there is no competition. The only real choice for broadband here is Comcast and they know it.

What would be their incentive for investing money into significantly faster service? there isn't any - they can raise the prices now without increasing service because they basically have a monopoly. yeah, you can get "blast" or whatever, for $130 a month, but it's not that big of a leap from what I had back in 1999 for $30 a month. in fact, the latency of today's Comcast service is significantly worse.

P.S. Verizon can suck it too. I don't miss their horrid customer service even a little bit. I had hopes that the wireless companies could give landline service real competition, but they're just as vested into their walled off services at high prices as everyone else.

Unfortunately, in the end it costs our economy and consumers billions in lost economic activity, while benefitting a few executives and shareholders at the top.

[z31maniac]

My cell phone bill (and now that I have cable TV again) are both significantly cheaper than they were 5-6 years ago.

[nando]

I think you would find you are in the minority.

[BraveUlysses]

New tactic in war on net neutrality: Strip FCC of enforcement funding

http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/03/new-tactic-in-war-on-net-neutrality-strip-fcc-of-enforcement-funding/

:facepalm:

[z31maniac]

I think you would find you are in the minority.

Then you guys should shop around?

6 years ago an ATT unlimited plan for an iPhone was ~125/month but with no 4G LTE or anything.

I now pay $95 month for 6gbs and the payment on the phone (no point in buying outright if they don't discount the service).


6 years ago Cox Communications charged us $180/month for fast internet and cable with the package to get SPEED, so I could watch racing.

New Cox package is $99/month + taxes for 200 channels, HBO, and 50MB down internet. I only got cable again because it was only $25 more than I had been paying just for Internet at the old place.

[BraveUlysses]

Smartphone plans are getting cheaper, especially if you're willing to be on a family shared plan.

As for internet and cable tv, it's very dependent on where you live because, as we've hashed this out before, its common for only one provider in many geographic areas

[nando]

shop around. lol

so there's realistically 3 wireless carriers (all of which are about the same). I've chosen the lesser of the 3 evils but I wouldn't say I'm a happy customer. I'm only happy I'm not a customer of the other two.

and locally, we have a choice of Comcast.. Comcast.. or Comcast. unless you want DSL, which isn't comparable (and never was).

if I got 4g at the house, I'd consider ditching cable altogether. cable TV is a rip off, yeah they "throw it in" but really' they're charging you $15-25 a month for TV that is broadcast for free, over the air. plus you get a degraded low def broadcast instead of the high def one which is free with an antenna...

[BraveUlysses]

As far as cellphone carriers, you have far more than 3 (its actually 4 large companies not 3) once you start considering the numerous 2nd tier options. there's at least a dozen by now.

[z31maniac]

shop around. lol

so there's realistically 3 wireless carriers (all of which are about the same). I've chosen the lesser of the 3 evils but I wouldn't say I'm a happy customer. I'm only happy I'm not a customer of the other two.

and locally, we have a choice of Comcast.. Comcast.. or Comcast. unless you want DSL, which isn't comparable (and never was).

if I got 4g at the house, I'd consider ditching cable altogether. cable TV is a rip off, yeah they "throw it in" but really' they're charging you $15-25 a month for TV that is broadcast for free, over the air. plus you get a degraded low def broadcast instead of the high def one which is free with an antenna...

All my channels are HD? Would be point if they weren't on a 65" only sitting like 9' away.

As far as cellphone carriers, you have far more than 3 (its actually 4 large companies not 3) once you start considering the numerous 2nd tier options. there's at least a dozen by now.

Yes, but all the 2nd tier options just buy bandwidth on the big networks and it's always slower.

[nando]

HD is extra on Comcast. They literally waste bandwidth and CPU power to convert the HD signal to SD so they can justify charging you more for the original signal. I sure as hell am not paying $125 a month or whatever for an HD signal, TV is a waste of time anyway.

[z31maniac]

Yeah, I just found out yesterday the sales guy lied to me.

So I have to pay extra for the DVR box, and THAN I have to pay an even higher fee for them to turn on the DVR feature.

Needless to say, the box is going back before the end of the week and just back to Internet. Seriously, $9/month for the hardware, then $12/month to turn the hardware on?

Still cheaper than it used to be, but I'm not paying that much.