[hombre_fatal]

13 years ago, last I used them, Comcast would send an email with a list of the titles of the torrents it thought you downloaded.

Good enough to scare ~everyone by itself, though iirc they did threaten to halt your service, something I never decided to test out.

[gabereiser]

I tested it, it's legit, they will terminate your service.

[account-5]

I've always wondered about this. I'm assuming that they terminate, you so paying (obviously), but can't you just get another service with someone else?

I'm aware that in the US the ISPs are essentially monopolies avoiding each others areas, which always confused me for the original capitalist economy. Are you then on a blacklist? What's the recourse?

[gabereiser]

The last mile problem with internet and telecommunications to homes has been a battle going on now for decades.

Comcast, Spectrum, Charter, etc all lobbied for laws that said that they “own” the equipment (and poles) going all the way to your house. Not the property owner and certainly not the city/municipality. This is why community fiber has failed here in the US. It would have to be done with entirely new lines and infrastructure not owned by a “utility”.

Worse still is they have lobbied to make sure they AREN’T classified as a utility and be regulated as one.

Are you on a blacklist if you get kicked off? Yes. Though it’s easy to work around it.

I got kicked off because my IP address was the same IP address that someone saw on a torrent tracker. Despite the fact that cable has dynamic IP’s. I eventually fought them and got back on their good side.

So to recap. A community foots the bill for infrastructure, that they’ll never own, to a cable company, who has guaranteed rights through legislation, to own all of the infrastructure including the coaxial cables running to your house. They still want to own your router and modem and your TV. Most people just give it to them. It’s absurd. Using Comcast’s router/modem, on Comcast coaxial, on Comcast utility poles, to a Comcast repeater station, and yet NOT A UTILITY.

[wccrawford]

In most places, there's at least 1 other option in my experience. But there's rarely more than 2 decent options, and there might only be the 1.

Starlink is coming into play, though, giving everyone a third option that is probably decent, unless you're a serious gamer or have other needs that require minimum latency.

[lotsofpulp]

There is no recourse for 90%+ of US households if they want wired internet. The company that owns the coaxial wire connection to your home is the only broadband option (download bandwidth only). Comcast is the biggest company, but there is always only 1 coaxial cable connection to each home so only 1 company you will be able to get it from.

If you are one of the lucky few, then you also have the option of fiber internet. But fiber actually provides broadband upload in addition to broadband download, so if you get cut off from fiber, then you are left with no option for broadband upload.