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from: TechBlog

February 27, 2008
Choosing the lesser of two evils: Comcast or AT&T?

I've been a cable-modem user ever since the service first launched in Houston as Time Warner's Road imageRunner. Despite occasional outages and a relatively high price, I've stuck with it, mainly because it's fast and simple to set up and use.

But when Comcast took control of the Houston cable franchise last year, I began to have doubts. The quality of the service declined for many users, including me. I never thought I'd hear people way, "I miss Time Warner," but I hear that all the time from Comcast customers. I find myself thinking it, too.

While the sporadic outages at my house have slowed, I'm even more troubled by Comcast's recent behavior. The company has decided that BitTorrent traffic isn't as worthy of traversing its network as other types, and is slowing that protocol by sending reset commands to computers engaged in a transaction. That flies in the face of the concept of network neutrality, in which all information traversing the Net is treated equally. That's an important principle, and one that helps make the Internet so valuable.

But what may have finally torn it for me was Comcast's actions related to this week's field hearing on BitTorrent meddling. The company admitted that it paid people to stand in line to attend the hearing, ostensibly to hold places for Comcast employees who wanted to be there. But those placeholders wound up taking seats, so many of Comcast's opponents didn't make it into the room.

I'm not sure I want to give money for Internet access to a company that behaves in that way, so I am seriously considering quitting Comcast. However, there's a problem -- my alternative in Houston is AT&T, a.k.a. Ma Bell 2.0, and she's not so innocent, either.

I'm not concerned about getting lesser service from AT&T. It offers a DSL that's as fast as cable -- 6 Mbps -- and indications are I can get that full speed at my house, something that's not always the case with DSL. And from I understand talking to my neighbors who have it, it's quite reliable in my neighborhood.

But the company has colluded with the National Security Agency to illegally spy on Americans. AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein has alleged that the company set up equipment capable of sniffing the entire content of the Internet.

In addition, AT&T executives have indicated they're interested in trying to block the transfer of copyrighted material that traverses their network. Of course, AT&T's lines form the backbone of the Internet, so that means they'd be filtering everything. This could make Comcast's resetting of BitTorrent packets look primitive and benign by comparison.

So what's an Internet user with a conscience to do? I sure wish there was third, viable choice in Houston, but at the moment, there's not. I'm not interested in satellite Internet, nor do I want to fall back on relatively slower cell-phone broadband.

Comcast and AT&T, help me out here.

Comcast: Please e-mail me and explain why I should continue to be a customer. Explain to me why I shouldn't care that you don't seem to care about Net neutrality. Tell me why -- with as little corporate jargon as possible -- that what you're doing isn't evil.

AT&T: Please e-mail me and explain why your actions with regard to domestic surveillance shouldn't matter to me as a customer. And tell me why, as a customer, I shouldn't worry about your plans to block traffic you unilaterally deem illegitimate. Tell me why -- with as little corporate jargon as possible -- that what you have done and may be planning to do isn't evil.

I'm not the only Internet user concerned about these issues, so when I receive your e-mails -- which I hope happens in a timely fashion -- I'll post them there in TechBlog.

After reading your responses, I'll make my decision. And who knows, maybe others who read what you have to say may make some decisions of their own.