[jenga22]

The one thing that is good about this is that a lot of cities are now talking about rolling out their own broadband network. If Comcast does anything remotely as not adhering to the principles of net neutrality, then you are going to see even more cities talk about getting their own network.

[exhilaration]

They're one step ahead of you. Comcast & Co have already gotten municipal broadband outlawed by many state legislatures: https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/08/28/15404/how-big-tel...

See previous HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15655548

[briandear]

What happens when cities start banning “offensive” content based on the political flavors of the day. Imagine how much filtering happens at public libraries — when governments control the pipes, individuals have no alternatives.

Government should provide incentives for competition, not socialist collectivization. People here seem to have an unhealthy obsession with government. Have we learned nothing from the soviet era? We should be demanding smaller government. Government is what created the ISP near-monopolies.

What we need is competition. Government should be facilitating that. Would we want internet to be run like the NYC MTA? A profit motive is a powerful thing.

[legitster]

I live in a city with municipal broadband. It's pretty overrated. Everything has to be managed by third parties, so it's more expensive than the national brands and service sucks.

Not saying it can't be done, but just saying it can be worse than the current alternatives.

[dboreham]

And they can get their upstream connectivity for said network from...Comcast.