100 Million Prime members (disclosure: I'm one.)

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

You are confusing a cable company with cable cutting. Two different things. It would only take a new kind of ISP to offer a bundle for internet + streaming service(s) for cheaper than an artificially inflated unbundled internet from traditional cable company.

The problem is, Comcast is the ONLY available high speed internet service available to me. Not even AT&T offers a service in my area.

This is a common occurrence in the Midwestern USA, at least. And Comcast prices internet service only high enough that the costs remain similar.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

The problem is, Comcast is the ONLY available high speed internet service available to me. Not even AT&T offers a service in my area.

This is a common occurrence in the Midwestern USA, at least. And Comcast prices internet service only high enough that the costs remain similar.

Yeah, that is unfortunate. Without competition they can do what they want. I am lucky enough to have a local cable company that is owned by the city to offer cable and tv. There is no bundle that makes it cheaper if you get both. Works for our needs - internet from city with sling and prime.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

The problem is, Comcast is the ONLY available high speed internet service available to me. Not even AT&T offers a service in my area.

This is a common occurrence in the Midwestern USA, at least. And Comcast prices internet service only high enough that the costs remain similar.

This is also true in the East Coast. Comcast basically owns New England for high speed internet. Verizon tries to compete, but doesn't come close since their services are not available in every city.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

You are confusing a cable company with cable cutting. Two different things. It would only take a new kind of ISP to offer a bundle for internet + streaming service(s) for cheaper than an artificially inflated unbundled internet from traditional cable company.

No I'm not confusing cable companies from cable cutting. My point is that in general, the most effective internet tends to be wired and it cost a lot of money to run wire, thus the cable companies are still making good money, even if people want to cut cable TV.

Wireless providers are out there and you can get pretty good speeds with 4G, but streaming video takes a lot of bandwidth and most wireless providers either don't do unlimited or throttle once you get past a fairly small limit.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Yes, I just bought a smartwatch, and I wasn't sure it would work with my phone in an adequate manner. So I opted to buy from Amazon, even though it was roughly $10 more costly than another vendor with free shipping (AND Azn charged me the state tax!). The primary reason was that I had a higher confidence in Amazon, regarding returns.

The truth is, internet purchases are much easier to deal with when using Amazon.

Amen brother. Let's gather and dance around the fire in the sweat lodge and chant to the beat of easy and no worry e-commerce.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

You are confusing a cable company with cable cutting. Two different things. It would only take a new kind of ISP to offer a bundle for internet + streaming service(s) for cheaper than an artificially inflated unbundled internet from traditional cable company.

Unfortunately, the cable companies often ARE the ISP provider and they are actively working to block competition. And Ajit Pai at the FCC is making sure it stays that way.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Unfortunately, the cable companies often ARE the ISP provider and they are actively working to block competition. And Ajit Pai at the FCC is making sure it stays that way.

You do realize that article is from 2014?

Government is the biggest culprit when it comes to cable monopolies. I personally wouldn't be real thrilled living in an area when the government had a monopoly on providing high speed internet, such ventures rarely turn out well.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

You do realize that article is from 2014?

Government is the biggest culprit when it comes to cable monopolies. I personally wouldn't be real thrilled living in an area when the government had a monopoly on providing high speed internet, such ventures rarely turn out well.

Monopolies of any sort rarely turn out well for the consumer.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Unfortunately, the cable companies often ARE the ISP provider and they are actively working to block competition. And Ajit Pai at the FCC is making sure it stays that way.

Which part of the article is successful in stopping municipal utility companies from doing their own broadband internet?

My own city started building their internet in 1998 before I moved there. They started with cable, always a little slower than what is now part of Spectrum. Then some years ago they started slowly building a fiber optic backbone. Schools and all city buildings get fiber optic all the way, for regular people a fiber node goes to 80-120 cable modems (on average a block away).

Even with all that the price went down this year from $38 to $30 a month.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

You do realize that article is from 2014?

Government is the biggest culprit when it comes to cable monopolies. I personally wouldn't be real thrilled living in an area when the government had a monopoly on providing high speed internet, such ventures rarely turn out well.

Yeah, I did pick an old article. but it still continues: Wyoming’s Rural Broadband Bill Rewritten by Telecom Lobbyists to Block Public Broadband

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I did pick an old article. but it still continues: Wyoming’s Rural Broadband Bill Rewritten by Telecom Lobbyists to Block Public Broadband

Yep, public utilities across the country are frequently in bed with the telecom companies in order to block competition. So much for serving the public good.

[Apparition B5]

Philadelphia is the home city of Comcast. As a result, Comcast gets a lot of preferential treatment. Several of Comcast's competitors have tried to get access to the city over the past three decades, but all but one have been blocked by Philadelphia's city council. Heck, Philadelphia's city council tried to ban satellite dishes, (which was just ruled against by the FCC last week).

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Celestial

Philadelphia is the home city of Comcast. As a result, Comcast gets a lot of preferential treatment. Several of Comcast's competitors have tried to get access to the city over the past three decades, but all but one have been blocked by Philadelphia's city council. Heck, Philadelphia's city council tried to ban satellite dishes, (which was just ruled against by the FCC last week).

Crooked politicians working hand-in-hand with greedy corporations.

[GA Russell]

I last renewed my Prime membership May 6. Today I see at Amazon's website that my next renewal is scheduled for June 6. I spoke with an Amazon rep, and apparently I am getting a month free! Anybody else?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

I last renewed my Prime membership May 6. Today I see at Amazon's website that my next renewal is scheduled for June 6. I spoke with an Amazon rep, and apparently I am getting a month free! Anybody else?

I called Amazon CS today because I have an order that's been "stuck" in "We're sorry, your order is late" mode for about ten days now. The order was actually delivered on time, but the tracking system thinks it hasn't.

The person on the other end had no earthly idea what I was trying to say, but he insisted me he was going to extend my Prime subscription by another month for free. I said "thank you very much" and archived the order (so I don't have to look at it in my account), since they didn't seem interested in getting it corrected.

I wasn't calling to complain--and it was all very pleasant--I was making sure it wouldn't cause any problems on their end. But hey ... I'll take it! Prime subscription extended from June to July.