Yep, when the race to the bottom ends as the free money runs out, the big
players will dust off their Pac-Man suits and gobble

On Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 2:07 PM Adam Moffett <[email protected]> wrote:

> I don't always speak Steve, but I knew what he meant.  When I made a pole
> attachment agreement with Frontier in NY State I had to list all of their
> acquired companies as additional insured.  The list was so long that our
> insurance company had to print a special attachment to the form.  It seems
> like Frontier ate every rural ILEC who wanted to sell and Verizon ate all
> the Baby Bells.  We had semi-imaginary telco competition with CLECs, but
> most of those are Lumen now.
>
> The big guys came along like Pac Man.   Waka-waka-waka.  Are there ghosts
> in this analogy?  Maybe the state and federal regulators?  Big Telco avoids
> them until they're in a position to eat them and send them running
> temporarily back to their base.  It's an imperfect analogy, but maybe
> there's some truth in it.
>
> -Adam
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* AF <[email protected]> on behalf of Steve Jones <
> [email protected]>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 10, 2025 11:51 AM
> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] price war
>
> smalls got gobbled up by the bigs. same with cable companies. there are
> like 25 small ILECs in il vs like 355 ISPs. in 10 years id be surprised if
> the ISP count is still 3 digits
>
> On Tue, Dec 9, 2025 at 10:53 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Maybe he’s referring to all the acquisitions and mergers.  Contel acquired
> hundreds of small telcos and was itself acquired by GTE.
>
>
>
> My first apartment was in DesPlaines, IL and the phone company was
> Centel.  They were maybe acquired by Sprint?
>
>
>
> *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *[email protected]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 9, 2025 7:00 PM
> *To:* 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] price war
>
>
>
> All of the small ILECs made it.  They are still there and they are all
> still doing great.  Rate of return regulation is alive and well and makes
> it impossible to go out of business.  (Unless your mom too too much
> Tylenol).
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Steve Jones
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 9, 2025 12:21 PM
> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] price war
>
>
>
> Look at telephone
>
>
>
> Internet is the new telephone
>
>
>
> How many small telephone operators made it
>
>
>
> That is the exact future of Internet
>
>
>
> The exact same thing, only faster.
>
>
>
> Age related retirements excluded, the majority of operators on this list
> and the other ISP communities will not exist in 10 years. Consumer prices
> all went through the roof.  Anybody who thinks its going to go any other
> way, I truly wish it wasnt meth youre smoking, you should switch to cocaine
> while youre still profitable so you can share with me. I dont get to do
> cocaine since I became a growed up, but I will put the offer on the table
> to do as much cocaine as it requires with you to get you to recognize the
> future.
>
>
>
> Many of those who took the free money on the builds wont be able to
> maintain, particularly those who built tarana with it. The small regions
> where two or three overbuilds exist will eventually
> consolidate, competition requires customers. Regional monopolies are still
> monopolies. Monopolies always have the same outcomes. Eventually the
> governments going to step in to help the way they saved the consumer by
> breaking up Ma Bell.
>
>
>
> I dont know how big a cocoa plant is, but if somebody could dwarf them,
> maybe small scale cocaine production in the fiber huts would be an option
> to subsidize the burdens, But then your techs would be at risk of kinetic
> strikes. but pretty much without cocaine adjuncts, small operators are
> going to get edged out of the game across the board.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 10:07 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I lost a customer today to $30 AT&T 5G Home Internet.  Starlink has 100
> Mbps at $40 with $0 equipment, and that is without competition yet from
> Amazon Leo.
>
>
>
> All the companies looking to deploy BEAD fiber, I’m guessing they are
> counting on around $55 for their base tier, and something like 80% take
> rate.  But it looks like we are already into a price war.  Are they going
> to be disappointed at the revenue?
>
>
>
> We could say the price war will end and prices will rise, but how will
> that happen unless some of the competitors drop out or consolidate?  In the
> case of the big 3 mobile carriers, that’s not going to happen (although
> DISH is probably a goner).  They could become less aggressive about FWA
> pricing though if they use up all their excess 5G capacity and don’t get
> more spectrum.  Yeah, right.
>
>
>
> Convince me I’m wrong.
>
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