Live data from Hacker News

When Everyone Wants To Watch 'House Of Cards,' Who Pays?

npr.org

1–10 of 49 posts

Re: When Everyone Wants To Watch 'House Of Cards,' Who Pays?

#5
post #4

I had always assumed that when I paid an ISP for an internet connection that payment was so that I could send and receive packets across their network. Clearly I was wrong.

I guess I can now stop paying my ISP since netflix will be footing the bill.

Re: When Everyone Wants To Watch 'House Of Cards,' Who Pays?

#6
post #3

why should time warner own the last mile? It should be owned by the homeowners.

If the homeowner owns the last mile, then they become responsible for maintenance, ensuring they comply with FCC and other regulations, and negotiating terms of interconnection. Obviously, that's out of reach of most of the population, so homeowners don't own the last mile.

Re: When Everyone Wants To Watch 'House Of Cards,' Who Pays?

#7
post #3

why should time warner own the last mile? It should be owned by the homeowners.

If the homeowner owns the last mile, then they become responsible for maintenance, ensuring they comply with FCC and other regulations, and negotiating terms of interconnection. Obviously, that's out of reach of most of the population, so homeowners don't own the last mile.

I'm sure there are companies who would provide that service without requiring ownership

Re: When Everyone Wants To Watch 'House Of Cards,' Who Pays?

#8
I've always seen local governments as the root cause of "last mile" providers' ability to turn their customers into the product. Why haven't elected officials made more stringent demands upon the companies given monopoly (or at best duopoly) rights to convey bits to and from my home?

I have a condo in Chicago and was delighted to learn that a company was offering our building last mile connectivity via microwave along with SLAs for not only bandwidth but latency as well (to which point I don't recall)! Sadly, the condo board didn't seem so enthralled. Unlike the suburbs, city folk have more options apparently.

Re: When Everyone Wants To Watch 'House Of Cards,' Who Pays?

#9
post #3

why should time warner own the last mile? It should be owned by the homeowners.

If the homeowner owns the last mile, then they become responsible for maintenance, ensuring they comply with FCC and other regulations, and negotiating terms of interconnection. Obviously, that's out of reach of most of the population, so homeowners don't own the last mile.

Homeowners are responsible for maintenance of many things, including things subject to assorted laws and regulations. Indeed, they can be subjected to FCC enforcement action simply for turning on an common store-bought electrical device, such as a fan or TV.
Post reply on HN