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Dec 14, 2018
9:37:38am
Troy McClure All-American
Putting on my "flip side of the OP's post" hat. "Where's all the new competitors

since Net Neutrality was struck down? All the anti-net neutrality people claimed without Net Neutrality we'd have all these new competitors spring up. It's actually been the opposite and we've seen consolidation into the duopoly of Comcast and AT&T for the majority of the country. Good thing the FCC quashed the acquisition of Time Warner by Comcast in 2015. However Time Warner just consolidated with Charter Communications. Where are all these new competitors instead of LESS competitors? It's been a year!"

But I wouldn't claim something like that because IMHO it would be pretty ignorant to take one years worth of data and extrapolate that as a definitive or accurate portrayal of the current status of ISPs in the country.

Some sobering facts regarding ISP competition in the US:

"AT&T’s merger with Time Warner in 2016 only consolidated the already massive hold they had on the US internet market and was one of a string of deals that further placed control of the internet into fewer corporate hands. In 2015 Comcast had to abandon its $45 billion dollar bid for Time Warner after the FCC opposed the merger on the basis that it would create an ISP with “too much control” over what Americans do and watch online. In 2016 the FCC also approved the merger of Charter Communications with Time Warner to create the second largest broadband provider in the US with SEVENTY PERCENT control of the high speed internet market and just a short time later the FCC green lighted the AT&T and Time Warner merger for a whopping $85 billion dollars. Finally let’s not forget about Verizon buying AOL for $4 billion dollars and Verizon buying Vodafone’s chunk of Verizon Wireless for a whopping $130 billion to create the largest wireless internet provider in the US."

Especially with all the unresolved lawsuits going on regarding net neutrality. This entire thread is:

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Troy McClure
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UneducatedFan
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Troy McClure
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Sep 17, 2007
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Apr 12, 2024
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12/14/18 8:03am
12/14/18 6:58am

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