Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
If you don't think that your provider should provide both delivery and content, then get a pure internet provider. That way you won't have to worry about it. People get cable and internet service from the same company because it's convenient.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shalym
I get my internet access from my cable provider not because it's convenient, but because I don't have any other viable choice.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
If it's the only choice you have, then it is by definition the most convenient choice. In many places, it's simply not very economically viable to have a lot of choice. (snip) It is, the downside of living out where there aren't a lot of people and land is cheap.
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First of all, that's not how "choice" works. Having none doesn't make it a convenient choice, it means having no choice at all.
This issue isn't limited to rural markets. Pure ISPs can be rare even in heavily populated areas, especially for residential service - many only offer business services, and in fact, most of those aren't really "pure" ISPs either, because they are leasing infrastructure from the telecom / cable companies and offering value-added packages, not internet-only service. We used to have one that offered residential internet service, but their highest speed was 3 mb/s and they are now out of business.
We might be getting Google fiber here, though. We completed the checklist by the deadline but it's not a certainty yet. I'm hopeful.