The growth of municipal broadband networks

Sat Mar 26 02:02:19 UTC 2011

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011, Leo Bicknell wrote:

> Having looked around the world I personally believe most communities
> would be best served if the government provided layer-1 distribution,
> possibly with some layer 2 switching, but then allowed any commercial
> entity to come in and offer layer 3 services.  For simplicity of
> argument I like people to envision the local government fiber agency
> (like your water authority) dropping off a 1 port fiber 4 port
> copper switch in your basement.  On that device they can create a
> layer 2 VLAN/VPN/Tunnel from any of the copper ports to any provider
> in the town CO.  You could buy video from one, voice from one, and
> internet from another, on three different ports.  You could buy
> everything from one provider.

And the natural question is - how will this differ from the way the
"government" services like water, power and transportation have
been run, privatised-but-not-quite, etc?

Adrian