Comcast Agrees to Buy Time Warner Cable

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Remit_sl

shitlord
521
-1
I think the rule of thumb (more numbers out of a hat) for fiber is about $27/foot, although it has been a couple years since I priced it. Obviously larger corps can do it for less, but this does nothing for competition barrier to entry. ISPs look great on paper because you look at how much you pay, guess how many customers they have, and then look up how much the CEO makes. I built a couple ISPs in other areas from the ground up, and shit looked great until I did it myself. You take out fixed costs and some repairs, and it looks like a killing. But you dont see all the truck rolls, the CSR time, ongoing repairs, etc as a customer. Only outages and fees

EDIT: Added out of hat for further proof that I'm guessing. And this was an average for medium, burial, termination, etc. End to end. In residential areas with lots of termination it might actually be more, even for overhead.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
Without a one of the other variables changing, no. Fundamental use, cost, or funding would need to change. In some areas it might today be profitable, but not in the future.
Verizon got 2 billion from Pennsylvania alone for rolling out fiber to the premises. When we are at the point where we are throwing billions in taxpayer money at them and they still aren't getting the job done as well as they do it overseas, I think maybe it is time to stop making excuses for them.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
17,085
8,090
How much life is left in cable? The next tier has to be fiber?

Why wouldn't those costs you listed at the end be part of the monthly subscription fee? Those all sound like things a normal ISP would do even if they aren't upgrading.
 

Remit_sl

shitlord
521
-1
Yes fiber is the next tier. Maybe not FTTH, but 95% of the way there.

Those costs are rolled in. They reduce the profit margin to lower than most think when usage spikes.
 

Remit_sl

shitlord
521
-1
Verizon got 2 billion from Pennsylvania alone for rolling out fiber to the premises. When we are at the point where we are throwing billions in taxpayer money at them and they still aren't getting the job done as well as they do it overseas, I think maybe it is time to stop making excuses for them.
FTTH is too expensive for what customers want to pay.
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
What is it about fiber in urban areas in America that make it so much more expensive than other places that even with billions in subsidies we still can't make it profitable? This all sounds more like management issues to me, severe mismanagement.
 

gogusrl

Molten Core Raider
1,365
108
So why can I get fiber at the door (well GPON in the stairwell and ~10m of UTP to my door) ?

It's not like we make our own fiber or it's cheaper here.

Anyway, it's clear that no one can change your mind so I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one wishing you'd move on.
 

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,951
-1,239
Fun fact that I forgot earlier,Romaniais one of the most corrupt country in the European Union. If you think your providers are bribing the goverment, think about what you can do here not that anyone would dare to fuck with our internet.
Hehe yeah, I was actually thinking that Romania isn't the first thing that pops into your head when you think of countries that really have their shit together. It's pretty striking that they have world class internet service. I would have assumed that Romanian computers were steam powered and designed by the Soviets in 1971.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
49,109
86,042
And yes, there is a reason for him to defend ISPs, he runs one. You wouldn't defend whatever company you work for? Or if I started shit talking robot programmers?
If anything I'd expect a small ISP business owner to constantly shit-talk big ISPs. You can go to the DoD robot thread in general if you want to see me talk shit about robotics.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
17,085
8,090
Soviet computer from the 70s might actually be cool. I can't remember when exactly, but at one point they had developed a computer around a 3 state transistor. Trinary computer!


The way he's defending ISPs is shared cause. All the costs that a big ISP would take for upgrading, he would take as well. So when we discuss how much we hate Comcast and why won't Verizon lay down more fiber, he might feel some shared umbrage.

As for the DoD thread, fuck that. Tad10 threads are no go territory for me.
 

gogusrl

Molten Core Raider
1,365
108
Hehe yeah, I was actually thinking that Romania isn't the first thing that pops into your head when you think of countries that really have their shit together. It's pretty striking that they have world class internet service. I would have assumed that Romanian computers were steam powered and designed by the Soviets in 1971.
I'm not sure what's happening either. It's not like have any competition, my only other choice is 16mbps ADSL for 6$/month. Like I said before, I get more blackout than internet outages.

We did make our owncomputersback in the day.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,516
16,505
How much life is left in cable? The next tier has to be fiber?

Why wouldn't those costs you listed at the end be part of the monthly subscription fee? Those all sound like things a normal ISP would do even if they aren't upgrading.
Am I wrong in thinking this is the same type of connection that data centers use in their fibre fabrics?

I think we're on a cusp, sort of like when we switched from 56k to cable. When it happened it was an explosion and the internet changed. If the US went all fiber I think there would be another explosion, and the speeds can be very high. I just don't understand why the rollout is so slow. Are they worried if they roll out fiber google will swoop in and 100% of the US will switch to google? I can't see a downside to it.
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
17,085
8,090
Supposedly laying fiber is like going to Mars. No exaggeration, dollar for dollar the same exact cost. They've even lost a few guys when a fiber truck blew up in the parking lot. And not to mention that time when the compressor on the air conditioning blew up and the maintenance crew had to loop around a Denny's just to make it back home.
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
9,714
3,211
Supposedly laying fiber is like going to Mars. No exaggeration, dollar for dollar the same exact cost. They've even lost a few guys when a fiber truck blew up in the parking lot. And not to mention that time when the compressor on the air conditioning blew up and the maintenance crew had to loop around a Denny's just to make it back home.
Did they stop for a cheap grand slam at least? mmm...
 

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
12,650
877
No they used all their money on the $27/foot of fiber cable
Quoting her again - "$27/ft is including installation costs - there's tons of ways to defray that - the actual cable itself is a small fraction of that cost" [Quoted her verbatim this time - besides the dashes I added - I love dashes - - - - ]
 

Melvin

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,399
1,168
Supposedly laying fiber is like going to Mars. No exaggeration, dollar for dollar the same exact cost.
So basically, it's 100% feasible right now, and the only thing holding progress back is bureaucrats/management who give absolutely zero fucks about anything that involves the phrase "long term"?