Dollars Flow Out as Data Flows In

The article paints this situation at the fault of the consumer. I'm not entirely convinced that's true.

I would love to drop my cable TV and just pay for my internet connection - problem is, I call up my cable provider and they claim that it's actually more expensive to just buy a 5mbps connection than it is to tack on the TV. Ideally I would like to pay less money for less services, but its out of my control.

I'm sure there are plenty of folks who would pay a flat rate (also presumably cheaper) for a 3G/4G pipe that they could pull data and phone service out of (Google Voice, Skype, etc), but the carriers fight that for their bottom lines.

The problem isn't that we all pay too much, its that we're all forced into paying for too much.

[OT: that's my old Bishop quoted in the article. :-) I miss Boston sometimes...]

I think companies are absolutely aware of much easier it is to get people to spend $10-20/month on a subscription where if the consumer had to pay all up front they would definitely think twice.