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posted by takyon on Friday January 25 2019, @07:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the net-reality dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

It's Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real

Network investment is down, layoffs abound, and networks are falling apart. This isn't the glorious future Ajit Pai promised.

In the months leading up to the FCC assault on net neutrality, big telecom and FCC boss Ajit Pai told anybody who'd listen that killing net neutrality would boost broadband industry investment, spark job creation, and drive broadband into underserved areas at an unprecedented rate.

As it turns out, none of those promises were actually true.

Despite the FCC voting to kill the popular consumer protections late last year, Comcast's latest earnings report indicates that the cable giant's capital expenditures (CAPEX) for 2018 actually decreased 3 percent. The revelation comes on the heels by similar statements by Verizon and Charter Spectrum that they'd also be seeing lower network investment numbers in 2018.

It's not expected to get any better in 2019. According to analysis this week by Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson, capital spending among the nation's four biggest cable providers (Altice, Comcast, Charter Spectrum, CableONE) is expected to decline upwards of 5.8 percent this year.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Freeman on Friday January 25 2019, @09:46PM (2 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Friday January 25 2019, @09:46PM (#792034) Journal

    The idea behind Net Neutrality seemed to be quite lofty, but I was cautiously optimistic. Then I noted how all of the telephone companies, etc. got in line to chop it into little bits. That was how I knew it was almost assuredly a thing that's Good for the Customer, but bad for the bottom line. We can't have good Customer service or even Privacy for that matter. The surprise is that it ever got voted in at all. Personally, I'm of the opinion that the FCC is too small and/or has too much power.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 25 2019, @10:56PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 25 2019, @10:56PM (#792075)

    If it was so amazing why did they not make it into a law? Instead it was a 'process law' and those can be changed as quickly as toilet paper.

    The previous admin had thousands of these sorts of things. Just make up something and call it 'law'. Then bitch when the next admin comes in and says 'uh no'.

    Follow the procedure apparently the DNC does not want to bother with that. Their idea of compromise is 'here it is take it or leave it' and if you leave it 'you are a racist'.

    Both 'sides' of NN are a bunch of fuckups. On one side we have the 'money grubbing ISPs' who at the first hint of competition run and buy whatever congress critter they can lay their hands on. On the other side we have orgs as big as the telcos telling us how they are the bastions of free speech. When the reality is they are building a censorship machine that would make stalin and mao blush. Both are scooping up egregious amounts of info on us and trying to pretend they are doing it for our own good. So they can make sure they can show me the perfect soap advert.

    But yeah go on and tell me how good and wonderful this thing was. It basically took the existing law turned it into a pretzel and then said it was 'ok' to do.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday January 26 2019, @07:20AM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday January 26 2019, @07:20AM (#792237) Homepage Journal

      Obama's people wanted to pick winners & loosers. By turning our incredible internet Companies into common carriers. We were going to lose Comcast. Lose AT&T. And possibly lose Verizon. I said, "oh, hell no!" I brought in Ajit -- very smart guy. And we had some great bipartisan support in Congress. We love bipartisan. From our very loyal Republicans. And some Dems with a lot of heart. Who knew, this would be a disaster for our Country. Who knew we can't let this happen. We fought very hard. And we won. So proud of that one. Big win for America and for the American people!