When it comes to technology, it takes a lot to get me excited.
That's because as a tech editor I'm constantly pitched products, services, and gadgets that I'm promised will be life changing or the next big thing. Of course, they rarely are — usually they aren't anything I'd buy, use, or recommend to friends, family, and readers.
But on Wednesday, I was, for lack of a better word, stoked. That's because I had just attended the press briefing for Starry, a new company founded and headed up by Chet Kanojia.
You may remember Kanojia from a couple of years ago, when he was CEO of Aereo, a company that allowed subscribers to stream and record broadcast channels. Broadcasters weren't happy, the company got sued, and ultimately Aereo lost the case in the Supreme Court and filed for bankruptcy.
Just about 18 months later, Kanojia is back with a new company that has the potential to be much more disruptive than Aereo — a service that could change the internet industry as we know it.
And that could potentially be a great thing for consumers.
I don't need to tell you that the state of broadband internet in the US is atrocious. It's slow, it's expensive, and it's only going to go up in price. We have the biggest economy in the world in terms of GDP, but when it comes to internet speed, we fall behind countries like Romania, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Russia.
Much of this is due to the fact that internet service providers (ISPs) are monopolies where they operate and don't have to worry about competition, so they can do what they want without fear of losing customers. More than half of Americans have only one choice for broadband, according to the FCC, and nearly 20% of Americans couldn't get broadband if they wanted to because it's not offered where they live.
Kanojia and his 50-person team — about half of them came from Aereo — have set out to change this. They've built a set of products that they say can wirelessly transmit ultra high speed internet — up to a gigabit in speed, which is much faster than what most people have — into homes.
Four-foot tall antennas installed on buildings in cities will send high speed internet signals to subscribers, who have small receivers peeking out of the windows of their homes.
"There is no competition" when it comes to Internet, Kanojia told reporters at a press event on Wednesday. "Consumers want more competition, better products, and cheaper prices."
Kanojia is absolutely right. Consumers would enthusiastically welcome another choice for internet.
I know I would.
I live in Brooklyn, and my only option for high speed internet is Time Warner Cable. I pay the company $67.99 a month just for internet access. And that's just for the service, as I bought my own modem so I wouldn't have to pay a monthly rental fee. (You should too!).
And it's only going to get more expensive. Cable companies are experimenting with making internet plans similar to wireless plans, charging different amounts based on how much data people use. So if you stream a lot of Netflix, or get your TV through the internet with a service like HBO Now or Sling TV, then you could end up paying a lot more for your internet.
Cable companies, how many people get broadband, also routinely rank at the bottom in terms of consumer satisfaction.
Starry's service won't just be another option — it will be a better option, Kanojia says.
Starry won't have data caps, so you won't have to worry about streaming too much video during a billing period. It won't require a technician to come to your home to install anything. It won't have long-term contracts. And Starry promises that if you have an issue, a person from customer support will call you within five minutes.
Starry certainly faces a lot of obstacles, like lobbying from traditional ISPs, weather conditions, and getting permission to put its antennas around cities.
But if it works out, it could bring real competition to an area that has had very little. And competition forces innovation. As I wrote earlier, Starry Internet will not only give consumers another choice for an ISP, but it could also force big cable companies to lower their prices, improve customer service, and improve their own offerings.
When I asked Kanojia after the event why he wanted to enter the business, he said it was less about taking on the big cable companies and more about finding a good business opportunity.
"You want to invest in an area that you would always have increasing demand [and] loyal customers and not have to sell them everyday of the week with something new," he said. "[Internet] access is a great business."
If Starry Internet is successful, it will not only be a great for Kanojia's company, but it'll be great for consumers, too.
