How AT&T Is Planning to Rob Americans of an Open Public Telco Network - Polidicks

[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wa5xZDHRyDw/US-76qWAJQI/AAAAAAAAI38/NEKrJoAEQHo/s0/att1.jpg[/img] [quote]AT&T has a sneaky plan. It wants to exploit a loophole in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s rules to kill what remains of the public telecommunications network — and all of the consumer protections that go with it. It’s the final step in AT&T’s decade-long effort to end all telecommunications regulation, and the simplicity of the plan highlights a dysfunction unique to the American regulatory system.[/quote] Source: [url]http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/the-latest-sneaky-plan-to-rob-americans-of-a-public-telco-network[/url] Basically, they're trying to modify their system in a way that exempts them from consumer protection regulations so they can increase prices and run less expensive, less reliable networks as well as quench some competition. Unfortunately most of those regulators have been bought out, so it's unlikely anything will be done.

Less reliable? Last I used AT&T their networks were already shit.

[QUOTE=Dougz;39751334]Less reliable? Last I used AT&T their networks were already shit.[/QUOTE] They're planning just to lengthen the string between the two cans.

Doesn't laws prevent price fixing?

[QUOTE=Dougz;39751334]Less reliable? Last I used AT&T their networks were already shit.[/QUOTE] My ping used to be perfect. It has been in the high hundreds for the past few days. ATT came yesterday to fix it and it worked fine for an hour or so. Now it's back to the high hundreds. I can't play any online games now. I'm very pissed off.

I knew phone companies were shit, glad I don't have to deal with them.

Daily reminder that the federal government granted taxpayer money to several telecom companies for the express purpose of improving their infrastructure so that all citizens could have equal access to broadband internet, but said companies didn't spend a cent of it on that and basically pocketed the money, all by exploiting a legal loophole.

That's one depressing building.

What a fucking ugly building.

Damn it, it's AT&T all over again. Oh wait...

[QUOTE=Ezhik;39753949]Damn it, it's AT&T all over again. Oh wait...[/QUOTE]AT&T&T

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;39753904]That's one depressing building.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Vasili;39753919]What a fucking ugly building.[/QUOTE] Its designed like that so a natural disaster/nuclear attack can't wipe out nation wide communication systems.

Wow AT&T, like my ADSL isn't already unreliable enough...

I guess im lucky, AT&T is pretty good around here.

If you look closely you'll notice the old Bell logo on the building. I suppose AT&T probably REBOUGHT them out after being broken up in the 80s.

[QUOTE=elevate;39755115]If you look closely you'll notice the old Bell logo on the building. I suppose AT&T probably REBOUGHT them out after being broken up in the 80s.[/QUOTE] The whole breakup is slowly becoming a circle with AT&T re-buying all of the telecom companies that once broke away from it.

I knew AT&T were awful... But I didn't expect their buildings to look like super villain fortresses too.

It is really hard to believe that, in living memory, the US government broke up Ma Bell for being monopolistic.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;39755292]It is really hard to believe that, in living memory, the US government broke up Ma Bell for being monopolistic.[/QUOTE] Yeah its like AT&T is a hydra, except instead of each head flailing around, they are all working on one unified purpose: to fuck us over. (Or they all merged together into one terrifying head...which is a little more disgusting when you think about it...)

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;39755292]It is really hard to believe that, in living memory, the US government broke up Ma Bell for being monopolistic.[/QUOTE] AT&T already has 5 of the 7 "Bells" back. This makes me think of Dragonball Z for some reason. It's just so over the top.

[QUOTE=mblunk;39751236][img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wa5xZDHRyDw/US-76qWAJQI/AAAAAAAAI38/NEKrJoAEQHo/s0/att1.jpg[/img] Source: [url]http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/the-latest-sneaky-plan-to-rob-americans-of-a-public-telco-network[/url] Basically, they're trying to modify their system in a way that exempts them from consumer protection regulations so they can increase prices and run less expensive, less reliable networks as well as quench some competition. Unfortunately most of those regulators have been bought out, so it's unlikely anything will be done.[/QUOTE] It's been proven time and time again for all telcos that any noticeable dip in reliability and (to a lesser extent) quality hurts the business more than the consumer. People already have had it with the bandwidth caps and the data throttling. If they did this, it would be corporate suicide, and I am sure they know that.

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;39755292]It is really hard to believe that, in living memory, the US government broke up Ma Bell for being monopolistic.[/QUOTE] Oh man, what if this is the culmination of a plan set in motion when they were being broken up? Let the fed break their monopoly up, and then over the years, whichever company was doing the best would buy up the others until their monopoly was whole again. :tinfoil:

The ghost of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. on that building. Memories of years past when you could bluebox your ass across the world.

[QUOTE=Neckername;39755698]It's been proven time and time again for all telcos that any noticeable dip in reliability and (to a lesser extent) quality hurts the business more than the consumer. People already have had it with the bandwidth caps and the data throttling. If they did this, it would be corporate suicide, and I am sure they know that.[/QUOTE] They don't give a shit, most of the country runs on an AT&T network, internet or cell phones, and lots of people don't have much choice(me).

If the government's broken them up before for having a monopoly, can't they just do it again?

[QUOTE=Amez;39755159]The whole breakup is slowly becoming a circle with AT&T re-buying all of the telecom companies that once broke away from it.[/QUOTE] Here's hoping the breakup happens again.

[QUOTE=M2k3;39754873]Its designed like that so a natural disaster/nuclear attack can't wipe out nation wide communication systems.[/QUOTE] Just slap some black paint on it and remove all logos and you will have a really sweet evil HQ

[QUOTE=Marcolade;39757160]If the government's broken them up before for having a monopoly, can't they just do it again?[/QUOTE] No, because the government is a wholly owned subsidiary of Corporate America and will never do anything like that again.

I'm honestly astounded at all the lengths telecoms companies go to to screw consumers over. Someone needs to forcibly fucking nationalize them again.

[QUOTE=mblunk;39751236][img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-wa5xZDHRyDw/US-76qWAJQI/AAAAAAAAI38/NEKrJoAEQHo/s0/att1.jpg[/img] [/QUOTE] holy shit AT&T have an ugly as hell building