The real problem was the ludicrous amount they were going to charge when their investment in infrastructure was so little compared to how much money they have been making.

And also the amount they want to charge us compared to the competition. They were planning to charge 100 times or more than some of their competition for much less throughput at the end of the month.

The main reason for this is not to have fair pricing, it’s to make it impossible for competitors to offer video on demand through their pipes. It has always been thus, that the owners of the pipes do not want to allow others to use them without extortion-level tolls.

What Congress should do is make cable truly utilities. And not allow those who carry the signal to be the originator of any programming running through their own systems. It’s a conflict of interest, and this fiasco over the past few weeks shows exactly how they are – anti-competitive and always looking for more ways to squeeze blood from the proverbial turnip (their customers).

I’m a Time-Warner/Roadrunner customer. I really like the fast connection I have. But I consider what they charge now to be too much. With the next generation of cable coming that will only cost $150 – $300 per customer to carry out, I can only imagine the excuses they will dream up to make it sound vastly more expensive to do. If they carry out this plan at the rates they were proposing, I’ll swith to anything else out there. I will not allow them to rob me with ludicrous rates backed by self-serving, untrue, arguments.