We all want to be able to save on our Internet service, right? These days it seems like finding cheap and reliable Internet is hard to come by. Here in Louisville we only have three options available; AT&T DSL, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV. All three of these charge absolutely insane amounts for access to the ‘Net. The prices that are ‘reasonable’ are so slow in speed that it’s laughable at best. It infuriates me that America has fallen so far behind in terms of quality digital Internet when we should be leading the pack and yet, here we are wasting away.
It makes you wonder where that $300 billion went. You know, the money that was given to ISPs nearly 20 years ago to lay down a cable and FiOS infrastructure. Money that came out of our pockets! What happened to that infrastructure? It was never built. They took the money and ran after they bought each other out. Somehow they had worked the legislature through their lobbying groups so that they didn’t ‘have’ to lay down the lines despite being given the money. Are our politicians sleeping at the wheel in Congress and the Senate? It certainly is beginning to feel that way.
The FCC has shaken them up but it’s only a start. Losing that fight to us cost them millions of dollars in advertising attacks and lobbying. Revel in that, America. Revel in the fact that you forced them to lose that money. It might not be much to them but it’s a huge amount to the share holders who, sooner or later, might decide that this fight is simply a foolish one and not worth pursuing. The more we make them bleed the green the better our chances are at preserving a true Open Internet.