Some truth about Comcast - WikiLeaks style

Thu Dec 16 06:41:23 UTC 2010

----- Original Message -----
> From: "JC Dill" <jcdill.lists at gmail.com>
> > see also my running rant about Verizon-inspired state laws
> > *forbidding*
> > municipalities to charter monopoly transport-only fiber providers,
> > renting
> > to all comers on non-discriminatory terms, which is the only
> > practical
> > way I can see to fix any of this.
> 
> The problem is that this should have been addressed 5-10 years ago,
> when
> there *were* alternative ISPs who could have provided competition. Now
> that Comcast has a monopoly on cable, and fiber is so bleeping
> expensive
> to install, at best we might get *one* alternative to Comcast, and a
> duopoly is really no better (for consumers, for the marketplace) than
> a monopoly.

I believe you misunderstood my assertion.

Many local municipalities are doing the trenching themselves (well, generally,
subbing it out to a contractor), and then offering the customers out to
all IAP comers -- you meet-me in my fibernoc, and we'll cross connect every
customer you sell to you.

Lots of *other* municipalities would dearly love to do this, but state laws 
(lobbied for, in many places, by Verizontal) make this *illegal*.  Wonder
why Verizon would want to do *that*...

See http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2010/03/15/tech_tt_fiber_fios.cnnmoney/ 

and also http://www.freepress.net/files/mb_telco_lies.pdf

And ORA's Mike Loukides:

  http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/03/google-fiber-and-the-fcc-natio.html

and a whole lot more here:

  http://www.ftthcouncil.org/en

Those links from the consumer-level piece I wrote on this earlier this year:

  http://baylink.pitas.com/#LASTMILE

Cheers,
-- jra