ISP's In Uproar Over Verizon-MCI Merger

Wed Aug 24 06:21:14 UTC 2005

Apologies for this possibly off topic post, but it does touch on the  
future speeds and feeds of networks.  What follows is my opinion, not  
employer's, etc, etc, etc.

On Aug 23, 2005, at 4:42 PM, Randy Bush wrote:

> does not take much convincing in dc that what is good for big business
> is good for america these days.

True.  We've been through this in Texas recently.  During our regular  
legislative session, we successfully fought and killed a bill that  
would have done much harm to local ISPs, regional WISPs operating in  
partnership with a city, and POTS consumers.  Problem is that the  
cablecos and telcos came back with a somewhat under the table push  
during a special session that was supposed to be devoted to school  
funding only and passed a modified (read--written to benefit both  
cablecos and telcos, instead of just telcos) bill.  There's lots of  
information from the opposition side at http://www.savemuniwireless.org/

For those outside the state or the US, Texas has some very odd  
political traditions and laws that are beyond explanation in email.

On Aug 23, 2005, at 4:45 PM, Iljitsch van Beijnum wrote:
> I'm not sure that's the case, AFAIK the US holds its own.

The US ranks somewhere around 10th to 14th, depending on the survey.   
Yes, part of that is dues to our wide open spaces.  I agree that it's  
much more difficult and expensive to deploy broadband in US-style  
suburbs vs. high density apartments.  But there's also a speed gap.

On Aug 23, 2005, at 5:23 PM, Daniel Senie wrote:
> I'm not opposed to local telco and cable companies being the only  
> players, IFF there's a "must serve" rule, same as there is for  
> local telco service. There are lots of towns that have no  
> broadband, and no chance of ever getting it unless there's a "must  
> serve" rule like there was for rural telephone service.
>
> So, if we're going to put Ma-bell back together, then let's do it  
> right and make last-mile broadband a required service just like the  
> telcos have to provide dialtone.

If we follow this course in the US, we'll be stuck with the minimum  
speed that can be defined as broadband.  A while back, I think that  
was 128Kbits/sec as defined by the FCC.

In the meantime, Japan, Korea, and the rest of the world are  
deploying cheap, fast services.  Yahoo BB offers 100Mbit/sec  
residential service.  Anyone in the US want to step up to that for  
$40/month? Oh, and you get VoIP too.  1 gig service coming Real Soon  
Now!
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_26/b3939087.htm

Yes, this will make a difference.  Say what you like about the dot  
com days, but it did change the world.  Many of the companies that a  
good chunk of people on this list work for were started in dorm rooms  
with really fast always on connections.  If we spread the college  
dorm's ResNet across the globe, how will the world look in five more  
years?