Gigabit promises / Megabit Realities
Our unchecked incumbent carriers are quietly raising prices on consumers. Data caps and buffering are becoming commonplace. Carriers are promising “Unlimited” plans when in fact, these plans have thresholds at which your internet will slow to an unusable crawl. New entrants/internet service providers in your market are benefitting from the unethical if not fraudulent practices by these dinosaurs which remain unchecked. Both residential and business customers are seeking these newer alternatives with more modern networks and symmetrical speeds needed for cloud services.
Cable providers continue to lose customers each year as cable cutters switch to simple broadband plans in order to stream at will. Unfortunately, many customers are served by these cable companies. Asking a cable provider to drop the costly TV plan for simple internet can cause a hail of abuse, which could include slowing internet to the point that streaming becomes impossible. This might force you back to their cable TV package out of frustration.
Redlining, the term used to describe methods carriers discriminate against poor neighborhoods happens too often in my Dallas. Sadly, local phone companies have a history of upgrading in neighborhoods which can afford improved services. In Dallas, some of the neighborhoods needing services most, have almost none. The Pandemic has illuminated this drastic disparity.
Usage is quickly rising, certainly by 30% per year. Much more usage can be expected now with the advent of Zoom challenging old copper networks which dominate the flyover states. The appearance of prices rising is hidden by hugely-promoted data plans of hundreds of megabits your carrier has no intention of providing. Your monthly increase will be in the planned-for fees and penalties you incur as you cross that x-gigabit threshold they failed to mention.
Bobby Vassallo
