RoadRunner nonsense

[Luke -Jr]

On Thursday 28 February 2008, Richard Piper wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-02-28 at 14:25 -0600, Luke -Jr wrote:
> > On Thursday 28 February 2008, Phil Thayer wrote:
> > > And if a user really doesn't like what they are doing they can always
> > > switch to another ISP.  If there is not another cable ISP then switch
> > > to DSL. There are other options available to most users of the
> > > internet.
> >
> > Not in the US. Cable and DSL companies are given a regional monopoly.
>
> Actually that ended before you were born Luke. Now the what was termed
> ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Company) a.k.a. ATT, and the Cable
> companies have a virtual monopoly based on "cost-of-entry." Example, my
> ISP (Everest) has been constrained from expansion by a lack of capital
> funds to a small geographic footprint within the KC Metro area.
>
> I will grant you that there are some regional governments that limit
> access to public right-of-way, but I'm pretty sure the Telecom Act
> removed the ability of cities to grant sanctioned monopolies to single
> providers.
>
> Rick

Whether it's legally or materially enforced is irrelevant.
It's still a monopoly.