Hey! 
If you, like my wife and me, have been getting a $30.00 free ride a month on your cable, the ride has ended as of February, and after one more time, it will be no more and those of us who have it won’t have it after April’s cable bill. Congress decided to let it phase, good old Congress, huh? Time to renegotiate and good luck.
Anyway, just a heads-up from me and Ol’ Jonãs.
Sir, this is a wendy’s
I guess when you rely on the Government you are subject to the whims of the Government.
Never heard of this program until it was being phased out. Hoping it doesn’t affect my prices negatively. I already pay too much.
They have to motivate you to take part in the election charade somehow, right?
Almost every single bill gets filibustered in the senate so they haven’t passed anything for the last few years.
I was on that… RIP ah well.
Would have expired in june for me anyway due to graduation but it be how it be i guess.
Most plans, either fiber or cable have like $40-$50 plans
What will an extra $10 do?
Well now, you see… We have a minority party dragging their feet on everything because they have a sick inner desire to make us all suffer. They do so because they are hoping they can blame that suffering on the majority, and thus count on YOU to put them back in power. So yeah. Great work from the minority party! Oh! One other thing. Remind them that they need to wear white in unity. The white suits will let everyone know their good, and the other guy is evil!
…You’ll note also this sort of idiocracy and bad comedy applies completely to both sides. Why? Well… I’m equal opportunity. I detest both. Never joined a party. Never will. Would rather live my best life than deal with them.
I would rather the government regulate what cable and internet companies can charge than feed them even more money they didn’t earn because they successfully monopolised, raised their prices, and thus it’s a hardship for a large swath of people to afford it.
It’s $60.00 and up in my area
Yep. Geographic monopolies with the blessing of local government.
You’re lucky if you have two internet options to choose from.
IMO internet connectivity should be considered a utility and run the same way as the water works or electric company.
Hell, a city or county should run their own internet infrastructure. Not having to operate at a profit, beholden to shareholders who demand revenue growth, and to only charge what it costs to operate would drop the monthly price down significantly.
Get these corporations out of the picture.
Not sure I can agree with that. Southern California Edison runs the grid like they are an extension of Bratva. Their offices are fortified in the same way you would expect a Mafia Holding to be, which makes it even more humorous. Now, if there was a minimum standard that the company must provide, and in failing to provide it; (or a correction in a reasonable period) be open to lawsuit by the public? Then yes.
I say that only because I know someone that Edison cut the power on, and it took 3 years before the power was restored. “We’re really backed up… uhhh… Coronavirus…” (which was a common excuse to cover nonsense, or laziness as we all know now in hindsight).
Well. Later we found out that the real reason was that the guy who was delaying it, was related to someone trying to convince them to sell the property. You just can’t make this sort of stuff up. Sometimes the truth is more insane than fiction.
I don’t want people like that in control of my internet.
One anectode of something going wrong with your power company doesn’t invalidate the need to make internet service a utility.
One anectode? Haha. Ok. Anyone who actually has had to deal with this company knows that what I am saying is correct, because it’s not simply me but entire communities. I’d prefer the Internet staying as far away from any form of Government control as possible. It is not a nessecary for life-utility, though I know a lot of people like playing at make-believe, and pretend it is. Internet, like this game is luxury.
I don’t need or want the Government involved in it. You know why? Because in California, specifically when Sacramento gets involved; they always manage to screw it up and give a poorer experience. You think Plunderstorm was bad? Should watch the Sacramento State Assembly sometime.
Competition is better. Frontier sucked, so I switched. Now I have a better ISP. Under your idea, there would be one provider and they would have the monopoly. So what incentive do they have to give better service? None. You would get the speed that the Government feels you need, and nothing more.
You’re missing the point entirely.
Internet is not currently classified as a utility and you can find all sorts of horror stories about say, Comcast Internet.
And you don’t actually want competition with your internet provider, for the same reason you don’t want competition with the water works, and the electric company.
You want a single grid of water pipes, or a single electric grid, and not 17 different sets of utility poles and wires running down every street.
That’s why local municipalities allow for a local “monopoly” for things like your power company. One electric grid for your area.
There are good reasons to consider the Internet a utility. For starters, industry and commerce massively rely on the internet to operate much like they rely on electricity.
In the 21st century, internet is absolutely critical for society to operate, and oversight and regulation is important.
If your only argument against that is mismanagement, well news flash, mismanagement is caused by humans who work for both government organizations AND private companies.
If you have been a long time customer and stayed up to date with paying your bills on time you might be able to cut a deal with your provider. It is not unusual to be able to work something out, but it will typically last only a year, two if you are lucky.
That really sucks, Jonas. I hope something gets worked out. 
So you want me to be monopolized by one single company who sucks at their job and knows they don’t have to do it correctly, because they’re considered a utility?
Because that’s how things are with AEP here.
I’d rather have all of my options and companies who actually continually push to be better than others vying for my business.
I only have 1 option for internet. And it’s because a well off neighbor paid 18000 dollars out of pocket for lines.
Not for those of us who were automatically grandfathered in when our local ISP was bought out. We’re still paying the $80+ per month for 300MB service and have zero options to change plans, unless we want to spend more, that is.
These large ISPs are basically monopolies. The government doesn’t consider them monopolies, because of kick-backs and the fact that we can “elect” to buy a lower tier service, like DSL, or a satellite variety that costs just as much, if not more than what we’re currently paying.
If you’re a new customer, you get it for $50 per month AFTER the promotion of $40 for a year.