Thanks Mike for enduring that obviously disappointing and painful (?) account of your CM experiences. I'm aware of some users' experiences on CM that are pointed 180 degrees out of phase with yours, but they are on relatively new, or still sparsely populated, systems. Some are the only subscribers on their entire segments, so far. That's why I asked you if you would characterize the teledensity in your locale, and on your system specifically, if you know.
I don't take any comfort in any user's struggles, btw, in contrast to some bashing I've received on some of these accounts becuase of my preferences for an all fiber solution. I'm a believer in ongoing upgrades -actually, if the end game is in sight, I'm a stronger believer in jumping right to it without numerous incrementals, but that's another story. Even where black coax is destined to be the delivery mechanism of choice for the next ten years, I know that deeper penetrations of fiber into neighborhoods, and a more intelligent breakout in the last 1000 feet, are some methods that may signal a rescue for systems that face impending congestion.
Some systems have a ways to go before the flags start appearing, but I'm hearing with increasing frequency where some systems' days are already numbered unless they perform triage soon. It sounds very much like yours is one of those.
But upgrades take capex, and a will on the parts of the MSOs, to provide optimum service. With the present backdrop of startup failures in the dsl space (including an entire herd of retail outlets we never hear about that depended on wholesalers such as Northpoint, and now apparently others) I don't see the same level of incentive on the parts of the MSOs to bite the bullet and spend what is needed.
Nor do I see the ILECs motivated to the same extent that they were only a year ago to compete with all of the above. It goes back to the old game of 'chicken' that I used to talk about upstream.
Maybe there is a hole forming for wireless entry here, if they can get their price points and deployment strategies right. Who knows.
I took special note to the following in you post:
"BTW, when I pull up TV guide or movie theater listings, it's a painfully slow process. So it makes me wonder exactly what advantage I have. I can dial-up and get the movie or TV listings just as quickly as my cable modem will allow. In other words, not only is the local loop of poor quality, the Internet IMO is plain broken too. But what new technology hasn't been when first rolled out?
"I expect the Internet is not an exception. Someday it will work reliably. At least that's my hope as I pour tons of investments dollars into the telecommunications black hole."
To wit:
Message 15598337
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