Almost from the very beginning it has been a race to the bottom for internet service providers. While actual utilities like electricity and water can be boiled down to a cost per unit, the name of the game in the Internet is artificial scarcity. The entire business model of wireless Internet is about throttling service to create tiers and make more money. As you likely well know, this is a business where the industry leaders are known to do whatever they can to pinch a penny, where survival is all about finding a way to reduce the cost of doing business rather than improving service.
Soon enough, the behemoth ISPs will have purchased enough lobbyists to end net neutrality. Though we thank John Oliver for finally getting people to care about it, it is probably too little too late. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is a former cable industry lobbyist for god's sake. Why did Obama allow this conflict of interest, or as Mr. Oliver put it “the equivalent of needing a babysitter and hiring a dingo?” Wheeler raised at least half a million dollars for Obama’s re-election campaign. So, when net neutrality ends, you can at least feel good knowing that our President takes care of those who do him favors.
Though it seems likely that eventually the nation’s ISPs will be one cold, uncaring monster who would make the White Walkers look sympathetic, in the meantime, we can celebrate how terrible things already are. The nation’s major internet companies are pretty terrible; you already knew that. Let’s take a look at just how terrible they are find out which of them is the most terrible. Let’s dig into the business practices, employee relations, and customer service of the big ISPs: Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, and Verizon, and find out once and for all Which ISP is the Worst?
Worst Netflix Streaming
Highest Fees
Most Lobbyists
Biggest Throttler
Slowest Speeds
Most Litigious
Worst Commercials
Worst Twitter Account
Most Political Donations
Most Corrupt Executives
Worst Customer Service
Pays the Least Taxes
Most Anti-Labor
"Winner": Comcast
All four of these companies are aggressively anti-union. Verizon and Comcast both have a particularly antagonistic relationship with labor unions, but we have to give the slight edge to Comcast. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has called Comcast "The Wal-Mart of Cable." The Writer's Guild of America has come out strongly against the company's anti-union practices. Reclaim the Media found several stories of Comcast engaging in the kind of anti-union behavior that sounds more at home in a 19th century mining town than in modern America. The watchdog site writes:
"Two years ago in Beaverton, Oregon, Comcast broke its employees union, forcing employees to attend daily anti-union meetings, and even sending company mangers and anti-union workers to ride in trucks with the cable installers, urging them to vote out their union. And just last month in California, Comcast fired 10-year employee and Navy veteran, Will Goodo. 'Goodo's offense,' the CWA reports, 'was testifying before the Oakland City Council and at a workers' rights forum last December about Comcast's unrelenting assault on workers in the Oakland system who wanted a union voice.'"
There are numerous stories like these from across Comcast's business. They'll do anything to keep union rolls low. They've even institutionalized their union busting with a 37-page anti-union training document. Most estimates put union participation of Comcast employees at only 2%.
Worst Treatment of Employees
And The Winner Is ...
