ISP competition in Midwest Republic

[HHAYD]

[quote name='Lynneth' timestamp='1293586807' post='2556767']
XE would request such licenses from the FTA, waiting patiently, but attempting to use every possible (legal) way to speed the process up a little. They planned for 3 channels (News, general, education) on TV and a general-themed radio channel with news at set times during the day.


Where DP was purchasing a number of DCC's former networks, XE was attempting to do the same, but at the same time expanding with its own money whenever possible.



XE would of course advertise that its services were cheaper tthan DP's, which asked for $24 for a 5Mbit/s connection, while [i]Xanatos Enterprises[/i] charged only $20 for the same speed.
In the higher regions, this was even more visible, with XE charging $800 for a 300 Mbit/s connection, while Digital Pipeline was charging more than $1,200 for a 250 Mbit/s connection.
The advertisements also would show DP misleading its customers, claiming a "Gigabyte" connection at 1 Gbit/s, even though that was only an eighth of a Gigabyte, 125 MByte per second.

In the meantime, XE would try and make its name by being honest, having a good customer service and offering the most reliable internet connection in the country, with up to two redundant lines in case the main line was damaged in any way.
In addition, to minimise the risk, many lines would be placed underground and even secured against earthquakes and the like, only deliberate sabotage or major accidents capable of severing them.

Over time, [i]Xanatos Enterprises[/i] would also upgrade its services to include up to 8 Gbit/s (or 8192 Mbit/s, equal to 1,024 MByte per second) at a rate of $8,192 (or $1 per Mbit), all other prices slowly dropping to similar, but slightly less favorable ratios (such as the most basic connection being $12.50 for 5 Mbit/s).
Advertisements for the highest rates would show that the 8Gbit/s connection was only about half as slow as the data transfer rate of even the best HDDs of the day, being SATA3.0 in Sri Lanka at 18 Gbit/s or approximately 2.2 GByte/s transfer from the buffer to the computer, faster transfer rates only available with solid state drives which weren't anywhere as popular. (OOC: Current fastest, ~300-350 MByte/s buffer-PC, see [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive#Data_transfer_rate"]this link[/url] /OOC)
The argument was along the lines of why anyone would require an internet connection faster than the speed of their PC, and that even a 500 Mbit/s connection was good enough to download a 6 Gigabyte-file in approximately 80 seconds, if the website even supported such speeds, which wasn't often the case.
[/quote]

[quote]From: FTA
To: Xanatos Enterprises

Please wait as we review your request for the TV and radio channels. It may take a while.[/quote]

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A few of DCC's ISPs agreed to merge with XE, the rest were still mingled with management mess as they try to break up without major issues.

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Digital Pipeline responded to XE's advertisement a few days later, claiming XE was also trying to fool customers. DP stated that each gigabyte was eight gigabit, not the other way around. Therefore, $266.99 for 54 MBps was also $266.99 for 432 Mbit/s, faster and cheaper than XE's offer. DP claimed their services which lacked capping or throttling in its services and will support unlimited amount of computers on a network. They stated that the stated bytes per second were the base bandwidth, not the max. The max bandwidth was double of the stated bytes per second. DP also responded to XE's questioning of why such high bandwidth was required by reminding them that unless XE planned on limiting the network to one computer each, a group of computers can easily use up even the largest bandwidth, especially if its a business where large amount of computers and/or supercomputers are using the internet.

DP had also added a new policy, reduction in service charges if the customers used the internet during non-peak time and to ensure the customers knew when non-peak times were, they would be provided an hourly chart of the data traffic on DP's website for free. If a customer's bandwidth dropped below the base level, that customer's service charges would be reduced as well.

However the standard pricing was only available in areas with communication equipments that could handle the extra demand for bandwidth, primarily in urban areas. Outside of the urban areas and some suburban areas, the price per megabyte was higher, ranging from a few cents to nearly double. Much of the high bandwidth services were also unavailable, especially in rural areas. The good news for XE is that DP doesn't plan on expanding into areas that were deemed to have too little population, the bad news is that if XE wanted to offer reasonably priced high bandwidth services, they are going to need to replace much of the communication networks, especially DCC's former networks. In some areas that were occupied by DCC since DCC's early history, they had corroded aluminum wiring and hastily repaired obsolete equipments to transmit the data, severely restricting the volume of data that could be transmitted.

Edited December 29, 2010 by HHAYD

[Lynneth]

[quote name='HHAYD' timestamp='1293595609' post='2556888']
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A few of DCC's ISPs agreed to merge with XE, the rest were still mingled with management mess as they try to break up without major issues.
[/quote]
Those that were absorbed would immediately be brought up to [i]Xanatos Enterprises[/i] standards, standards that would hopefully be hard to be equaled by other providers. Soon, further services such as TV and Telephone would be made standard, as was normal in Sri Lanka.

[quote name='HHAYD' timestamp='1293595609' post='2556888']
Digital Pipeline responded to XE's advertisement a few days later, claiming XE was also trying to fool customers. DP stated that each gigabyte was eight gigabit, not the other way around. Therefore, $266.99 for 54 MBps was also $266.99 for 432 Mbit/s, faster and cheaper than XE's offer. DP claimed their services which lacked capping or throttling in its services and will support unlimited amount of computers on a network. They stated that the stated bytes per second were the base bandwidth, not the max. The max bandwidth was double of the stated bytes per second. DP also responded to XE's questioning of why such high bandwidth was required by reminding them that unless XE planned on limiting the network to one computer each, a group of computers can easily use up even the largest bandwidth, especially if its a business where large amount of computers and/or supercomputers are using the internet.

DP had also added a new policy, reduction in service charges if the customers used the internet during non-peak time and to ensure the customers knew when non-peak times were, they would be provided an hourly chart of the data traffic on DP's website for free. If a customer's bandwidth dropped below the base level, that customer's service charges would be reduced as well.[/quote]

There would be several responses from XE towards DP's accusations and arguments.
[i]>>DP stated that each gigabyte was eight gigabit, not the other way around. [/i]
XE responded that: 8 bit (shortened to 8 b) = 1 byte (sh.: 1 B). By showing things such as [i]Tier 9: 750 Mbps, $3699.99[/i] in their announcement on service adjustments but claiming it was really Megabyte per second, DP was misleading not only customers, but its competition, creating an artificial and unfair advantage for itself.
Legal action was threatened to re-create a fair and equal market, and to prevent corporations from misleading the public and its competition. To shorten bit with "b" and byte with "B" was standard all over the world.

[i]>>They stated that the stated bytes per second were the base bandwidth, not the max. The max bandwidth was double of the stated bytes per second.[/i]
To this, XE responded that DP would have to invest a not inconsiderable amount of money into their lines, potentially ruining them in the process; Creating such high-speed lines with current technology was prohibitively expensive, with a few exceptions.

[i]>>DP also responded to XE's questioning of why such high bandwidth was required by reminding them that unless XE planned on limiting the network to one computer each, a group of computers can easily use up even the largest bandwidth, especially if its a business where large amount of computers and/or supercomputers are using the internet.[/i]
XE's response was that the average household in a civilised country has 4 or less people, with at least one shared computer. Thus, a maximum of 5 computers were allowed under conventional rates, giving all PCs connected still a higher speed than most common internet users would ever need. However, there were different prices, bandwidth possibilities, et cetera for universities, schools, businesses and other places where more than 5 computers had to be connected at all times to the internet.
The prices there were quite a bit cheaper due to bulk rates, the speed per computer in the network always being very similar to a household operating under conventional rates.

One lines began improving in the [i]Xanatos Enterprises[/i] network, prices would drop as well, as upkeep was lower than initial construction. Eventually - perhaps after a year or two - a 40 Mbit/s line with TV and phone would cost only 20 dollars or so, with excellent service and a 24/7 telephone hotline, among other things.

[quote name='HHAYD' timestamp='1293595609' post='2556888']
However the standard pricing was only available in areas with communication equipments that could handle the extra demand for bandwidth, primarily in urban areas. Outside of the urban areas and some suburban areas, the price per megabyte was higher, ranging from a few cents to nearly double. Much of the high bandwidth services were also unavailable, especially in rural areas. The good news for XE is that DP doesn't plan on expanding into areas that were deemed to have too little population, the bad news is that if XE wanted to offer reasonably priced high bandwidth services, they are going to need to replace much of the communication networks, especially DCC's former networks. In some areas that were occupied by DCC since DCC's early history, they had corroded aluminum wiring and hastily repaired obsolete equipments to transmit the data, severely restricting the volume of data that could be transmitted.
[/quote]
As the company had planned on expanding there anyways, upgrades to the networks in the appropriate suburbs and rural areas being performed almost at the same time as those in the urban regions. This was cheaper, due to less people living in the urban areas, but could lead to (relatively) better profit over time, as there was less competition.
The low quality of the currently available lines was irrelevant, as everything was being replaced with high-quality optical lines; Strong, durable and with a low upkeep cost.