Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwawaymanbot | Hacker News Reader

I think everyone is missing the point here. The point of municipal broadband is not to Run efficiently, but to keep the ATTs of the world HONEST! -- IF ATT and the rest did, there would be zero need for it. Europe shows that somebody needs to keep the "Capitalists" honest. If this is how its done. so be it. the ATTs of this industry, spend more time lobbying for laws to make enable them to charge people more for less. Its laughable, and bad for the US.

View on HN

The US (and its companies) will COMPLETELY dominate Europe in IT under the US's capitalist model. It's not going to be close I'm afraid.

The EU is busy making rules about super complex cookie banners (largely pointless - just block / expire / delete cookies browser side).

Meanwhile, I expect US (and likely chinese companies long term - see Tiktok / Zoom etc) to absolute dominate global market.

What are the big EU websites being used globally? I can think of a ton of apps and more with global usage from US and China.

Things like WhatsApp are being used for GOVT services internationally (!).

We will see how the EU's efforts plays out globally. I'm skeptical personally.

OP is talking about ISPs not “US Tech”. In the UK (and talking to F&F across Europe) we have significantly better access to broadband than the US. I have at least 6 companies I can purchase broadband from (thats off the top of my head, it’s probably more if I did some research) - I currently pay £32 per month (so like $45) for 200Mb up and 20Mb that is bullet proof stable.

Probably OP was thinking at services like ISP, cable and mobile providers. I do not see US ISP or mobile companies have a chance to compete in EU markets.

We'll see - it's been fun watching Oneweb vs SpaceX where this battle for global dominance will play out in part.

EU again seems to be focusing on basically red tape as a way to slow folks down - if you follow EU's Oneweb protests they look pretty weak. Even the near miss stuff was weak.

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Space...

In terms of ISPs a somewhat fair point domestically. That said, internationally I see I lot more penetration of US fiber deployments (think google / AWS / Microsoft / Facebook, US based CDNs for content distro, Netflix etc etc)

Locally - ATT and Comcast both offering competitive service.

AT&T FIBER 1000Mbps connection + HBO Max™ - $60 /mo.

Comcast Up to 1200 Mbps Download Speeds $84.99 / $129

Rural is a big challenge in US. Not sure EU really has the same type of market (ie, Alaska). If so and we are getting $35/mo for gig - then that is a unique setup.

But again, internationally I do expect US companies to continue to perform OK even in the connectivity space.

Just about every single US ISP's advertised price is a lie. Even when it's not a teaser-rate (or silently include a discount that requires TV and/or phone service in addition to internet), they charge fairly arbitrary fees on top of the advertised price.

I think the rule should be they are forced to maintain the price shown, unless the actual price shown is in the same font size on the same page and the teaser period is clear.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com