A Critical Look at Cable Internet and Streaming Industry | #206

Popular Technology Radio

If you feel like your cable internet bill has growing curiously big over the last few years, you're not the only one. Kicking off the show, host, Mike Etchart, remembers the good old days of dial up internet and his $9/month American Online (AOL) bill. Then, we chat with Consumer Columnist for The Los Angeles Times, David Lazarus, about the cable companies stranglehold on regional broadband internet services and how things got to be the way they are. We also explore how the shift of TV consumers from bloated cable TV packages to cord cutting streaming services is making internet service providers (ISPs) charge more to offset their losses; but that doesn't mean these price hikes are justified. David offers a case for having more regulation in the telecommunications industry, not necessarily in a heavy handed sense, but we at least need a referee on the field or an adult in the room. Closing the show, Popular Technology Radio Producer, Cody Castleberry, describes his experience with broadband internet in the pacific northwest. Tune in for more about the under-regulated world of ISPs.

• [00:00:00] A Brief History of ISPs
• [00:05:23] Are Cable Internet Prices Justified?
• [00:12:30] From DSL to Cable to Streaming Video
• [00:19:51] Streaming Entices ISPs to Charge More
• [00:27:54] The Telecom Industry Needs An Adult
• [00:35:52] Largest ISPs and Content Bundles