Marty is absolutely right about privatization lowering the cost of bandwidth for everyone. I'm old enough to remember when a 56K frame relay circuit was $500/month and a T1 (1.5Mb) was $2,500/month! And the reliability stunk on both. I now get 10Mb into my house, over copper, for $40/month. People with FIOS can get 10 times that, and Google is rolling out 1Gb service in KC, KS. Some bandwidth providers are governmental, most are private, all charge similar prices. Competition almost always drives prices down.
He's also right that most people prefer something between public and private, and all you have to do is look at how water, sewer, electric and gas utilities are run. Some are government run, some private. All are regulated, because the government decided everyone needed access to those basic services at a reasonable price.
At some point, Internet access and cell phone service will cease to be luxuries and cross over into necessities, just like water, sewer, electric and gas. Some would argue they already have, although there's still a large portion of the population who survive quite nicely without either. When the crossover happens, the government will step in and regulate.
As Marty points out, this will bring stability, kill the upside, and probably result in consolidation of the market. Better? Depends on which side you're standing.
The guy who owns the fiber (or wires or pipes) gets paid no matter what. Delivery to your door is what you actually pay for.
David
He's also right that most people prefer something between public and private, and all you have to do is look at how water, sewer, electric and gas utilities are run. Some are government run, some private. All are regulated, because the government decided everyone needed access to those basic services at a reasonable price.
At some point, Internet access and cell phone service will cease to be luxuries and cross over into necessities, just like water, sewer, electric and gas. Some would argue they already have, although there's still a large portion of the population who survive quite nicely without either. When the crossover happens, the government will step in and regulate.
As Marty points out, this will bring stability, kill the upside, and probably result in consolidation of the market. Better? Depends on which side you're standing.
The guy who owns the fiber (or wires or pipes) gets paid no matter what. Delivery to your door is what you actually pay for.
David