| ▲ | Analemma_ 6 days ago | ||||||||||||||||
> Things worked out pretty well when Ma Bell was split up In what way? They all just re-consolidated back into monopolies. I have one choice of telecom provider in my location: if I don’t like Xfinity, I get to eat shit. At least Ma Bell had to get the government’s permission to raise prices; frankly, I’d prefer having that back. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | ablerman 6 days ago | parent | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
It's worse than that, they reconsolidated but BellLabs was shut down in the process. So, they got the same control they previously had except they weren't spending on research. IMO, they should have been prevented from reconsolidating. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | bryanlarsen 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
> In what way? It's fairly straightforward to argue that the internet as we know it wouldn't have been possible without the Bell labs split up. There were dozens of large telecommunications companies that were enabled by the split, and those companies built much of the equipment used in the early internet. Not to mention Unix. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | rtkwe 6 days ago | parent | prev [-] | ||||||||||||||||
Xfinity is Comcast which I don't think has much connection to the Baby Bells or their reconsolidation. Unfortunately the the cost of running cable to the broad US suburbs is a pretty big natural barrier to competition. | |||||||||||||||||
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