this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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Tired Of Being Ripped Off By Monopolies, Cleveland Launches Ambitious Plan To Provide Citywide Dirt Cheap Broadband::Cleveland has spent years being dubbed the "worst connected city in the U.S." thanks to expensive, patchy, and slow broadband. Why Cleveland broadband sucks so badly isn't really a mystery: consolidated monopoly/duopoly power has resulted in a broken market where local giants like AT&T and Charter don't have to compete on price, speeds, availability, customer…

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[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 147 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Countdown to the lawsuit by AT&T and Charter followed by Republicans trying to ban municipal broadband.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 88 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Oh no, they will lose out on all that efficiency from the free market

[–] 0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 1 year ago

If only they had Comcast, they could experience the joy of 10G internets.

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's nothing free market about how cable companies operate.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Sure there is. They are natural monopolies that form in the free market. The free market isn’t a good thing. It’s what gives us things like child labor and corporate owned towns.

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lol, so all the regulation protecting them is "natural"?

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No, those come after they gain a monopoly. Those regulations weren’t there when the “free market” turned them into a monopoly.

There are certain products and services that form a monopoly naturally when they operate in a free (or even relatively free) market. Those are referred to as natural monopolies, ISPs are among them.

[–] serratur@lemmy.wtf 59 points 1 year ago

This ia good, natural monopolies should be run by local goverments or the goverment.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ohio state legislature will make this illegal, or at least place a specific regulatory burden to make it illegal in this one city e.g. No town or city with a population over [insert Cleveland population -5%] or No city or town bordering large bodies of water [Lake Erie]. I guarantee it.

[–] there1snospoon@ttrpg.network 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The solution is simple: Secede from the state of Ohio, declare Cleveland an autonomous city-state, and befriend nuclear Gandhi so no one will dare contest you.

[–] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A small town near me (6,000 population) installed fiber optic around down and now it’s considered a public utility and low cost to boot.

[–] Trollception@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yea we are in the Chattanooga area and enjoy gigabit symmetrical fiber for $67/mo. No taxes or extra fees, just the 67. It's a big part of why we chose to live here.

[–] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Howdy neighbor I’m in Tri-Cities. :)

[–] uis@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Here gigabit would be around 8-16$/mo.

[–] superguy@lemm.ee -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

To be fair, $65/month for gigabit fiber is pretty standard.

It's what we got here in Southern Illinois, although I don't use it.

[–] Amends1782@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Lol I'm paying $100 a month for 500mbps asymmetrical and I know others have it worse too

[–] rab@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

I thought you might be referencing Olds, Alberta who also did this a decade ago

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] realharo@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

And housing.

[–] Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My electric coop installed fiber last year, up to gigabit with no limits and no throttling. They're even cool with my rampant torrenting.

I've been saying for years that internet should be treated like a utility, and I was right.

[–] gareins@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Question: could not a private company mostly owned by the city do it? Normal for profit company providing alternatives? And do it block by block...

[–] Saik0Shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They could... but typically that required pulling tons of permits to do. Also means that they intend not to make a whole lot of money doing it since "cheap" is part of this. Companies are a bit allergic to doing a lot of work for cheap.

But to that point, I have enough density in my area that centurylink is installing fiber (finally...) and actually offering it at almost reasonable value. It makes monetary sense for them in this case. So they're doing it.

[–] Green_Bay_Guy@midwest.social 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

CenturyLink from where I grew up (rural Wisconsin), still only offers DSL as the fastest option. I now live in rural South Vietnam, and I have a fiber drop into my bedroom. Ridiculous really.

[–] Sproux@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm so curious, how did you end up moving from rural Wisconsin to rural vietnam

[–] Green_Bay_Guy@midwest.social 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

for the fiber

Actually, I just fell in love with it. Wonderful food, people are kind, ~~internet fast~~, no politics, fantastic coffee. I could go on for days.

[–] uis@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

no politics

Be careful, you can end up in other place with fast and cheap(100Mbit/s for ~4-10$/mo) internet and without politics - Russia.