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Why Super-Fast Internet Is Coming Super Slowly

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Re: Why Super-Fast Internet Is Coming Super Slowly

#121

Post by endeavor »

rictic wrote: post #32
marknutter wrote: post #23

I have gigabit fiber internet and it doesn't feel all that much faster than my old Comcast 20Mbs connection because the bottleneck isn't my connection, it's the servers I'm asking for content from. For some things it's blazingly fast (downloading updates, torrenting, etc) but for general web surfing the benefit is barely noticeable. I think that's why fiber adoption is slower than broadband adoption was. There's not…

A bit of a chicken and egg there though. Who's going to build services that use >20mbps in bandwidth if almost no one has that much?

I read some VC stories regarding Skype recently. At the time they were looking for series A (?), broadband penetration was still poor. Obviously they managed to get by until the broadband environment tipped to their advantage. The point is that you don't want to wait until it's obvious that gigabit is really coming. At that point you may already be way behind.

Re: Why Super-Fast Internet Is Coming Super Slowly

#122

Post by logfromblammo »

praxeologist wrote: post #107
logfromblammo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Natural monopolies do exist, it's just that not all businesses claimed to be natural monopolies actually are. If you can, imagine a watershed. The river, along with its tributaries, covers the most efficient downhill route from every point in the watershed to sea level. The natural monopoly on precipitation drainage is everywhere you see flowing water. Installing a second river does not work. Wherever you try to put…

The analogy with a river doesn't work at all. Rivers don't act or engage in exchange. I see what you are saying on the most optimal path for water to flow, but that is then equivocating on "monopoly".

Monopoly is a single seller of a good or service. There is an economic definition that must be met for a "natural monopoly" to exist, which depends on the marginal cost of producing additional units and the fixed cost of maintaining the capital. Basically, just as you don't typically see two different rivers draining the same watershed, you don't see multiple firms serving the same natural monopoly market. That doesn't mean that it never happens; it just means that any challenger to the incumbent either displaces them entirely, acquiring their capital in the process, or goes out of business and yields its capital to the incumbent.

The lowest energy state of the natural monopoly is a single firm. Excited states can also exist, and are necessary for transitions to occur, but these states are less economically efficient. Customers see higher prices, and firms see lower profits. But given that a monopoly is in itself inefficient, it can still be worthwhile for a challenger to attempt to displace the incumbent, especially if they can operate at lower costs.

In a truly free market, the switch could be accomplished by an initial investment of sufficient size. In the context of the analogy, huge machines dredge a new channel for the river. For a time, water flows in both channels, but in the end, one dries up and you are left with one river again.

Re: Why Super-Fast Internet Is Coming Super Slowly

#124

Post by fulafel »

rayiner wrote: post #80
foobarqux wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineers are lead users for internet usage, they predict what others will want in several years. And even average users would become upset if they found out how much more they are paying than Swedes.

The U.S. beats Sweden in Akamai's study, so are we paying more to get more?

Us and Sweden are in the same ballpark, users everywhere are missing an order of magnitude or three. Gigabit is old and cheap, and after 10 gig last mile tech development stalled due to lack of interest. We should be running 10 gig on the fiber to apartments and 100 gig on the uplinks from buildings by now.

Instead, wired net connectivity has been overtaken by puny LTE...

Re: Why Super-Fast Internet Is Coming Super Slowly

#125

Post by kbolino »

coldtea wrote: post #118
kbolino wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The free market does not exist because the government stands in its way. To then go on to chide free market advocates for actions they do not support is disingenuous at best. Businessmen are not interested in ideology, if they can use the government as a cudgel against their opponents, or a crutch to sustain them in hard times, they will. Every time the government's power over the economy has been expanded, advocates…

> The free market does not exist because the government stands in its way So people should quit talking about it as it existed. Not to mention that the same could (and WAS) said for communism ("it didn't exist because party bureucrats got in the way"). > You can't break my spine and then blame me for being paralyzed. No, but I can point out that the unicorn pony you frequently talk about doesn't exist and never did i…

At various places and times throughout history, conditions of a largely free market have existed. It is not a "unicorn pony" (isn't that redundant and/or contradictory?). However, such conditions do not exist in most of the world now, and I don't see anywhere praxeologist or myself claimed otherwise.

Re: Why Super-Fast Internet Is Coming Super Slowly

#126

Post by brenschluss »

saosebastiao wrote: post #111
brenschluss wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying average density is meaningless is like saying, because of the coastline paradox, even a small island's coastline is the same length as a large continent's coastline -- they're both infinite!

Correct. However, if you can define a level of resolution to measure the coastline/density, then then it can be compared. Average density/coastline is meaningless without context.

Great point.
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