Re:Wikimedia doesn't support Net Neutrality
by dboreham on Monday November 27, 2017 @11:17PM
(#15794358)
>Witness the disparity between American and European cellular plan rates.
I spend a fair bit of time in Europe and since I'm Scottish by birth I devote an unreasonable amount of time trying to find the cheapest decent cell service. Something about this didn't jive so I did a quick check:
Picking France as an example European country, Orange will sell you a 2G/Unlimited voice/SMS plan[1] for 25 Euro/mo. Meanwhile Verizon will charge you $35/mo for a similar 2G/unlimited voice plan[2].
Current $/Euro exchange rage is 1.2 so the French service ($30) is a little cheaper but not significantly.
Also in my experience service in Europe is generally less good in terms of coverage and QoS than we experience in the US. YMMV of course.
Re:Wikimedia doesn't support Net Neutrality
by kuschku on Monday November 27, 2017 @11:05PM
(#15794284)
This is especially striking when you compare Germany and Denmark, two countries bordering another, and a truly unlimited plan in DK is available at 16€/month, and in Germany at 190€/month
Re:Wikimedia doesn't support Net Neutrality
by yjftsjthsd-h on Monday November 27, 2017 @11:05PM
(#15794282)
Yep. There's a reason that the laws are called antitrust laws.
Re:Wikimedia doesn't support Net Neutrality
by johnhenry on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @12:13AM
(#15794609)
Sorry, I wasn't clear. ISPs tend to have monopolies over specific areas orchestrated by an oligopoly that they have over the industry as a whole. Either way there isn't competition, and net-neutrality laws are necessary in this case for a free and open internet. Otherwise, if actual competition did exist, net-neutrality rules wouldn't matter so much.
Or they collude to keep fees artificially high. Witness the disparity between American and European cellular plan rates. They all just happened to decide that we can't have sub-$30 plans despite "competition".