AT&T sues Louisville to stop Google Fiber from using its utility poles
The telecoms are masters of destroying competition through legislative means. They utterly destroyed DSL competition during the dawn of broadband (my first company sold to independent ISPs; I watched them all wither and die within the span of about four years, as broadband took over and they were prevented from competing by shady behavior by AT&amp;T and Verizon), and now they&#x27;re trying everything at their disposal to continue to deliver poor service at high prices without effective competition.<p>The difference this time is that Google is bigger than they are, and not <i>quite</i> as much of a pushover in the legal domain. It&#x27;s still an uphill battle, and consumers are still going to be the ones to suffer under pathetically poor quality and expensive Internet service (the US is something like 14th in quality&#x2F;speed&#x2F;price in the world for Internet service, despite it having been invented here, and despite having vastly more infrastructure investment at all levels).<p>The best thing that could possibly happen for the Internet in the US would be the swift and total annihilation of anti-competitive companies like AT&amp;T, Verizon, and the major cable companies, leaving room for innovators to step in and fill the void. But, that won&#x27;t happen...they&#x27;re too good at stacking the deck to remain in leadership positions in the market, despite delivering terrible service on nearly every front.<p>Not that I&#x27;m bitter, or anything.