[hayksaakian]

literally state sanctioned monopolies

there was a website posted to HN a while ago that described the hurdles for municipal fiber in each state, i don't have the link any more, but it seems very relevant to this discussion

[sitkack]

I think state sanctioned monopolies are _probably_ ok if regulated well. Natural Gas falls in that category here and I think they do a pretty good job. I'd say Comcast falls into state sanctioned monopoly-power-abuse which is different.

[atom-morgan]

> I think state sanctioned monopolies are _probably_ ok if regulated well. Natural Gas falls in that category here and I think they do a pretty good job.

How would you ever know since they literally have no competition?

[sitkack]

Competition isn't the only way to calculate efficiencies.

But yes, my opinion of not feeling gouged is not a scientific indicator. I don't want 2 gas companies or 6 electric utilities.

That picture on the left, http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/jamesfallows/189... I have seen that in Vietnam. Everyone gets their own wire.

[steanne]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8065207 ?