Do cable compines have monopoly? Comcast and others?
552533
It's really more of an Oligopolistic market ... few large companies who have Monopolistic powers in select markets.\n\nMonopolies aren't always bad.  In some cases, there is sufficient demand for a good or service, however, if divided among multiple suppliers, it is not cost effective to provide ... in other words ... the cost of laying the infrastructure is such that an incremental sale does not cover the incremental revenue !\n\nThe whole concept of Marginal Cost and Marginal Benefit is thrown out and the market fails.\n\nThese companies are granted rights by the FCC and their performance, both service wise and profit wise are reviewed and monitored.  Their prices are also regulated.\n\nThere are alternatives such as Satalite TV, etc.  Most of us don't opt for them because the quality isn't what you can get from a cable.\n\nThink about it in terms of the railroads and the old west.  If one railroad went through the expense of putting in a track to a town, it made little sense for another railroad to do the same ... yet the folks in the town had no choice if they wanted to ship anything in or out.\n\nEventually, technology (i.e. the Automobile and Plane) eventually eroded this.\n\nAs the technology improves, with WIFI and Satalite reception, larger and larger amounts of data will be able to be transmitted without the need for as much physical infrastructure.\n\nYou are absolutely correct.  They pretty much do have a monopoly within specific geographic areas.  Remember, however, that they were the one's who paid the cost of installing that cable to your home ...\n\nThis was a very good question.  I've used the cable companies as examples of Oligopoly (not Monopoly) when I taught college Economics.
511725
I dont want a commercial Internet to begin with. Look at Wikipedia.\n\nPlus, many big companies get paid by you and I for the Internet already: it is called access fees, cable, DSL, dial-up, phone line, router, modem hardware, PC etc costs\n\n\nAs such, perhaps the providers can share the profits with content providers because without content no one would want access.
400945
Comcast is a company, broadband is a type of internet (and other things) connection.\n\nIf you get your internet through Comcast cable, you will get broadband. Its the same thing.
33952
Satellite, because they don't have to deal with the additional taxes & FCC charges cable has to deal with
723102
get comcast digital cable now.  it is the best thing ever invented.
950791
Yes, there are:\n\nhttp://www.monopolylive.com/\nhttp://boardgames.about.com/od/monopolyonline/\nhttp://www.psmonopoly.com/
587224
Monopolies are not prohibited by the constitution. There are many government sanctioned monopolies, mostly involving utilities. If the government issued the licenses, it's perfectly legal.
321278
Im pretty sure that Cox offers cable advertising. perhaps the Cox Communications website is worth a try?
188184
Ya, Giganews newsgroups. It's not totally free, but many ISPs offer free access. Comcast uses Giganews I believe. Contact your ISP to find out what they offer.
908582
My hubby works for a cable company.  He is always running into people stealing cable.  Actually he makes most of his money turning them in and re-selling to them.  \nIt's easy to spot and I don't recommend anyone doing it.\n\nYou may say that it was on when you moved in but a good persistant sales guy will keep checking to see if you have reconnected and keep cutting the lines back until you either pay or get satillite.  There are a few honest people left.
151440
Due to antitrust restrictions, it's unlikely there will be a single, national local and long distance provider owning all the phone lines into homes and businesses nationwide.  It is possible there will be at least a few more mergers nationwide among local and long distance companies, and possibly cable companies, resulting in 3 or 4 large national teleconm companies, with many very small companies competing for small shares of business.
1095891
Comcast. DSL is soo much slower, and SBC will make you sign a 2 year contract. Comcast won't make you sign a contract, and the price stays pretty much well the same. My room mate signed the contract with SBC, now she's stuck with it for another year. The connection sucks. I would recommend getting Comcast above all else. I had Comcast before, I loved it!
841853
It was all Bell that's for sure. If I recall the company was deemed a monopoly and forced to break up. Sherman Anti-trust?
1108881
Well, due to tough competetions, all are more or less, the same.\nBut before you buy connection of any company, make sure you evaluate them on their customer service and quality.
631506
We just switched back to bellsouth from Comcast. We had the same problems with bellsouth. Comcast was good but we decided to give Bellsouth a try again as they are offering cheaper prices. So far, so good. The bad weather we had about a month and a half ago (tornadoes and higwinds) it didnt efect our internet from bellsouth. The price is cheaper is the quality is just as good if not better than comcast.We are in Woodstock so we are not too far from you.
70733
There is an easy way to find out.\n\nGo to:\nhttp://metrot1.com/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,44/\n\nEnter your information and in seconds it will tell you if high-speed is available in your area.  It has all the top providers for cable, dsl, and satellite.\n\nIt will show you specials and pricing.  You can sign up right online or call for more help.
1007495
yes i do, please tell me.  I'll be switching over to ISP's soon(6months) from comcast..too much for me monthly.