Comment by tavro | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tavro | Hacker News Reader

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> Asking the question "Are ISPs evil" isn't useful. Asking "What motivates ISPs?" is.

i agree with this statement, but i still think i want answers to both of these questions. while the latter question has a real answer that is easier to reason about and makes it easier to arrive at a conclusion that people generally agree on, i think what i am really looking for is a debate/discussion between educated people. i have no idea how to spark something like that, and this was my attempt to do so. obviously not everyone thinks ISPs are evil, and that is what interests me. why do some people think they are and what motivations lead them to that belief?

> But, I'm going to assume you really do mean ISPs.

yes -- correct!

> The answer

insightful take. i like your answer. would you say that running an ISP is similar to running any other company? why do you think an ISP that offers exceptional service at remarkably low rates would eventually fail or run out of funds? if such a company gets acquired by another firm and its focus shifts back to profit, would you say that its motivation was not profit before it was acquired?

:o)

> obviously not everyone thinks ISPs are evil, and that is what interests me. why do some people think they are and what motivations lead them to that belief?

This is all going to sound cynical but I'm just trying to relay facts.

For residential:

- Consistently rising rates

- Service outages and degradations with no or terse notifications

- Data rates below what's advertised

Again the goal is to maximize profits by providing just enough quality that you maintain an acceptable amount of customers. If you provide excellent, or even good service, that is viewed as wasting profits away.

For commercial tier 1/2 ISP, the above does not apply, because your company dies if you do those.

> why do you think an ISP that offers exceptional service at remarkably low rates would eventually fail or run out of funds?

Because the margins are thin. If you survive 5-10 years with a decent customer base, you're pretty likely to get acquired, though.

> if such a company gets acquired by another firm and its focus shifts back to profit, would you say that its motivation was not profit before it was acquired?

The motivate before was certainly profit, but also quality of service. Once an ISP gets acquired by a big ISP or by an equity firm, the goal is to maximize profit.

These buyers are in the "profit" game, not the "provide good Internet service" game.

Hope that helps.

My background is that I worked for a startup ISP a while ago, work with and talk with people and engineers who run all sizes of ISPs every day.

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