AT&T merger with Time Warner

Soapbox time:

I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlords.  AT&T's DSL service is one quarter the cost of COX communications in my area.  I have no problem with AT&T owning a movie studio/ tv network, they really do need to compete with Netflix/Amazon/Hulu.

Do data caps suck?  Yes.  Are they necessary for reasonable network management? Also, Yes.  Should the network be soaked by some kid who wants to torrent every episode of every tv show ever made?  Nope.

Operating a telecom / ISP requires a huge amount of physical infrastructure.  I would guess there are well over 10 million telephone poles in my state alone, over 100 million feet of legacy telephone wire which also runs DSL, the same amount of coaxial cable for the wireline cable distribution system, and fiber being installed as well.  All of this requires a huge amount of manpower to install and maintain.  AT&T has 254,000 employees. I would bet most of these employees actually do stuff related to installation / maintenance.   At some point, we will all be able to beam internet to our homes via cellular towers and have infinite capacity, but for now I think running cables really is the smartest way for people to get internet / data communications to the plethora of devices that power our homes in these heady times.


This was a 100 percent politically motivated action by the DOJ and I am happy that AT&T prevailed.