Tired Of Being Ripped Off By Monopolies, Cleveland Launches Ambitious Plan To Provide Citywide Dirt Cheap Broadband::Cleveland has spent years being dubbed the “worst connected city in the U.S.” thanks to expensive, patchy, and slow broadband. Why Cleveland broadband sucks so badly isn’t really a mystery: consolidated monopoly/duopoly power has resulted in a broken market where local giants like AT&T and Charter don’t have to compete on price, speeds, availability, customer…

    • BearOfaTime
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      8 months ago

      There’s nothing free market about how cable companies operate.

      • hperrin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        32
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Sure there is. They are natural monopolies that form in the free market. The free market isn’t a good thing. It’s what gives us things like child labor and corporate owned towns.

        • BearOfaTime
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          8 months ago

          Lol, so all the regulation protecting them is “natural”?

          • hperrin@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            17
            ·
            edit-2
            8 months ago

            No, those come after they gain a monopoly. Those regulations weren’t there when the “free market” turned them into a monopoly.

            There are certain products and services that form a monopoly naturally when they operate in a free (or even relatively free) market. Those are referred to as natural monopolies, ISPs are among them.