Consumer broadband prices keep rising. According to a new study, the trend is likely to continue, as providers of high-speed Net access consolidate--an evolution that typically means less competition and higher prices. [CNET News.com]

Yes, broadband prices are rising.  What do you expect from cable companies, who are used to raising prices?  Or from the monopoly phone companies?  Cable modem Internet access from Comcast in my neighborhood costs $55 per month plus $5 for modem rental.  For that price, there is no personal web hosting (although it was promised months ago), no Usenet access, lots of restrictions against running "servers", no dial-up access for use when the cable connection is not working.

If you are a music or movie company, you gotta love it.  If you are a Silicon Valley company, you gotta hate it.

Here's a telling quote from the article:

"We expect that this trend of increasing prices will hamper the widespread adoption of broadband services and that the vast majority of users will continue to access the Internet via dial-up connections for the foreseeable future," ARS analyst Mark Kersey said in a statement.

<sarcasm>Perhaps these cable companies just don't get it. Don't they know they are supposed to be the savior of the high tech industry?! What, do they think this is some kind of cash cow?</sarcasm>

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here.  I'm going to say that the real killer application for broadband Internet access is telecommuting.  If you live in a growing metropolitan area, like I do, then you know what I'm talking about.  The only way to really work effectively at home is with a broadband Internet connection.  And as traffic gets worse, telecommuting will be promoted more and more.  Entertainment via broadband Internet doesn't stand a chance.

I wonder, don't these phone and cable companies know that all they are selling is bandwidth?  Jeez, it's a pure, undifferentiated commodity.  And being that, it has to become cheaper over time, doesn't it?  Like computing power?  So, what's the future of broadband Internet?  It's like the classic question of an unstopable force meeting an immovable object.  Or like a jelly toast tied to the back of a falling cat.  In this case, we have a pure, undifferentiated commodity -- bandwidth -- which, like almost all technology, should become cheaper over time.  (Think of long distance phone service.)  Doesn't everyone concur that bandwidth will get cheaper and cheaper for the forseeable future?  On the other hand, we have phone companies and cable companies that know no other laws of economics than that of monopoly pricing power.  In the end, what prevails?

9:12:51 PM