They're trying to monopolize high speed internet service

[Lefty48197]

It's our old friends at the phone company. It's not enough that they are allowed to write checks to themselves, drawn on our accounts for phone service. Now they want to do the same with our internet service, by squashing any attempts at competition.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-01-03-fiber-cover_x.htm

"To hear BellSouth talk, high-speed fiber lines are the way of the future. So why is it so determined to stop Lafayette, La., a rural community in the heart of Cajun country, from installing its own fiber?"

"Lobbying by BellSouth and Cox has forced the city to spend $400,000 defending itself, Huval says. "They go around telling people we're spending too much, even though they're the cause of a lot of that," he fumes.

Mayor Durel says the city isn't backing down."

"Broadband rates in the USA are already among the highest in the world — $35 to $40 a month. And that's for relatively slow speeds of 1 to 2 megabits a second. In Japan, consumers pay about $15 a month for speeds of 30 megabits or better, notes Raul Katz, CEO of Adventis, a Boston-based consultancy."

[corbett]

1. I Used To Have BellSouth DSL - It Was A Joke

Sad as it is, I can't say that I'm surprised by their moves. They're behaving just like AT&T 20 years ago - their monopoly is so entrenched that they'd prefer to pay their lawyers to litigate against fair competition than adapt.

Can you spell dinosaur?

[Anakin Skywalker]

2. Watch for the Freeptards

to defend these monopolists just like they vehemently defend Micro$oft as if it is their religion. But then again, money is the conservative's religion.