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It's no surprise that cable companies charge lower prices for broadband when they face competition from fiber-to-the-home services. But an article yesterday by Stop the Cap provides a good example of how dramatically promotional prices for Charter's Spectrum Internet service can vary from one street to the next.
In this example, Charter charges $20 more per month for slower speeds on the street where it faces no serious competition. When customers in two areas purchase the same speeds, the customer on the street without competition could have to pay $40 more per month and would have their promotional rates expire after only one year instead of two.
Stop the Cap said it examined promotional offers to new customers in the metro Rochester, New York, market, "where Spectrum faces token competition from Frontier's slow speed DSL service" and more robust competition in limited areas from Greenlight Networks' fiber service. Greenlight fiber is available in 23 percent of Rochester, while Charter cable is available to homes throughout the city, according to BroadbandNow. Greenlight prices start at $50 per month for 500Mbps.
"Charter's offers are address-sensitive," Stop the Cap founder Phillip Dampier wrote. "The cable company knows its competition and almost exactly where those competitors offer service. That is why the company asks for your service address before it quotes you pricing."
Am I the only one that's appalled at the Upload speeds? From the linked BroadbandNow page for Spectrum: Speeds up to:1,000 Mbps Download, 35 Mbps Upload
Previously:
Charter Must Pay $19 Million for Tricking Customers Into Switching ISPs
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 05 2021, @02:47PM (16 children)
If it isn't illegal, then it should be made illegal.
Competition keeps the prices down. It has been demonstrated again and again that the most competition is in the business districts, and the most affluent neighborhoods. Meaning, it's the poor folk and minorities in second and third class neighborhoods who are being exploited.
What's more - it might be alright to have a monopoly, whether that monopoly is local or worldwide. It's the expoitation of a monopoly that gets you in trouble. It's pretty obvious that Charter is exploiting their monopoly position here.
All it needs is a liberal judge to hear that the exploitation primarily affects disadvantaged people, and it's game over for Charter. Extra points if there are disproportionate numbers of gays or tranvestites in those neighborhoods!!
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Saturday June 05 2021, @05:02PM (12 children)
That is a big problem in this country (the US of A)
.https://www.pulse.ng/communities/religion/wealthgreed-12-things-the-bible-says-about-the-love-for-money/07p7p0c
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 05 2021, @05:07PM (11 children)
So... you're saying we should be using the Bible to make our laws? I imagine the LGBTXYZ+!~ community would not be happy about that.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 05 2021, @05:23PM (6 children)
So - you're saying that we should have the queer community make our laws instead?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 05 2021, @06:26PM (5 children)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 05 2021, @06:36PM (4 children)
I asked a legitimate question. GP pointed out that gender benders wouldn't like laws based on the Old Testament. And, I'm wondering why we care what they like. Billionaires don't like laws that restrict their ability to exploit the lower classes, and we don't spend a lot of time worrying about them. Need I point out other groups who don't like the laws that restrict their ways of life?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 05 2021, @06:58PM (1 child)
It was not a legitimate question, and for a freedom loving type of person it should be obvious why religious wackos should not be making laws that govern others. Your comparison to billionaires really highlights your ignorance. Run away hillbilly, this conversation is above your pay grade.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 07 2021, @03:00AM
It's not obvious to me, as a freedom-loving person, why anyone should be governing anyone else rather than minding their own damn business.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 05 2021, @07:37PM
(FYI, I'm the GP poster to whom you directed your question.)
As another poster pointed out, your reading comprehension is terrible.
I was just pointing out that some (many? most?) people would not want our society run (solely) in accordance with the Bible (as an earlier post suggested, probably sarcastically). Most of our laws and rules are based on the Bible (murder is wrong, etc.), but we ignore much of it (adulterers and homosexuals should be stoned).
The only reason homosexuality is being discussed in this story's comments is because you decided, without any evidence at all, that this was probably being done for homophobic reasons. Just like you decided, without any evidence at all, that it was being done for racist reasons. And, just like you decided that, when someone told you it probably wasn't illegal, that it should be illegal, just because you want it to be.
You're a lunatic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 06 2021, @05:34AM
It's a sad state of affairs when a man is so lost he needs the very basics explained to him. You're like the woman who was kept in a basement as some retard's sex gimp for the first 20 years of her life. But even she finally realized it was shit and escaped.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 05 2021, @05:27PM (3 children)
The preferred regex is LGBTQUX[A-Z]+, which covers all known and future varieties of pervert.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 05 2021, @05:38PM (2 children)
Wish I could see the look on your face when the Devil tosses you into the lake of fire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 05 2021, @06:38PM
You should be more concerned with the look on your own face when you see that lake of fire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 07 2021, @03:03AM
You should see me laughing at the ignorant clown proudly displaying their denial of reality like a badge of honor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 06 2021, @01:47PM
Yeah and so why should it be made illegal? Are you some kind of Communist? According to the Bible of Capitalism and the Free Market, when the prices get high enough a competitor will step in to serve those neighborhoods. There's definitely some competition in the other neighborhoods...
It's only a monopoly for certain streets, there's competition in other streets. You expect competition everywhere? Are you're going to whine even more when they start giving individuals different prices just like Amazon kind of does?
This is what you'll get more of when Big Data and Capitalism join hands.
According to the True Americans the poor should just get richer then. Just like they should get rich so that other people don't have to pay for their healthcare[1].
[1] True Americans prefer to pay extra for poor Americans to get healthcare by sitting in ER till they get treated, or commiting crimes to get healthcare in prison. It's worth paying extra so that the poor get motivated to work harder and get rich. After all look at the millions of true Americans who are now billionaires because they worked damn hard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 07 2021, @11:24PM
A lot of affluent areas have little competition as well. Mostly because they tend to be located in more remote locations. Sure affluent people can pay more but that doesn't change the fact.
Congested areas, if anything, tend to have more competition.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 07 2021, @11:27PM
This shouldn't be about 'minority groups' or 'majority groups' or the 'affluent'.
It should be about competition. People of all class should agree on this.
Also the democrats need to stop making everything about race and class and trying to divide us by race and class. We need to organize against government (and corporate) corruption and allowing the democrats to divide us like they have always have done is not a good thing.
We need to all agree that this corruption by these corporations is bad. It's not about class or race or any of that. Let's be focused on the corruption and stop bringing race and class and religion into everything when it's unrelated.