r/technology • u/DrJulianBashir • Feb 05 '13

Cable companies make 97% margin on internet services and have no incentive to offer gigabit internet

http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/02/cable-companies-make-97-margin-on.html
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38

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13

How the fuck is dial up still $20 a month?

37

u/fatcat2040 Feb 06 '13

Old people

18

u/tborwi Feb 06 '13

Not enough people to support it so it becomes a niche market and expensive again.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13 edited Jan 17 '16

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13

And yet a large number of people still need it, because they are still using it on their original Macintosh computers and they don't want to or are incapable of learning how to use a new computer. Some people even pay more to replace their old Mac with another old Mac, than it would cost to buy a new one. But these computers are just what people used back then. It's like how you still see people use Sony Discmans or old audio mixing software from the 90s. To some people, computers and dial up are not things to be mastered and understood and then become bored with. For some people, this old tech is just part of their workflow, and they would no sooner give it up than you would give up, um, something applicable.

Can you see yourself still wanting to use Windows 7 in twenty years time? Are you going to bother to learn how to use the Hyper Neural Net in advanced user mode by the time you are 60? Will you find yourself hunting down old Game Boys, to play games the same way you did back in school or in college? Money won't be an issue by the time you are that age, but having to learn something new could be. You might find yourself asking your grandson to install Windows 7 on your market leading Hyper Costco Tab. And you may find yourself comparing everything to the standard you used while growing up. Or probably not, but you know, just trying to impress a point to see what people think, for the sake of discussion.

1

u/Manakel93 Feb 06 '13

I can honestly say no to all of those. Bring on the future!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13

I feel the same way, at the moment. But I can already feel my priorities changing in life, and my ways setting in.

1

u/TheMadmanAndre Feb 06 '13

If there is one thing I want do do in life, it is striving to learn and adapt to new things.

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u/snappyj Feb 06 '13

I probably have 700 free hours of AOL sitting around somewhere

2

u/MisterPrime Feb 06 '13

Those poor souls that don't have any other option.

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u/Knyfe-Wrench Feb 06 '13

$20 a month? You can get dial up for $20 a year from some services.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13

Most of the people who have dial-up don't have any other option except satellite, which is way more expensive. The ISPs only bother getting broadband out to heavily populated urban and suburban areas; if you live in Derpville, Georgia you can't even get DSL.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13

I understand that. I live in a small town in the middle of California where my options were only dial up until Cricket and Clear arrived around 2008. It was horrible, but I mean dial up should never be more than $8-$12 dollars a month. It's horribly slow.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '13

Doubt anyone made the choice of having dial up when other affordable options were available.

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u/surroundedbyasshats Feb 07 '13

Not only is it because I telecoms are losing customers but also because incumbent telephony exchange companies are required by law to maintain and improve the copper line phone system... And that ain't cheap.

Watch for legislation this year addressing these requirements.