Muni Fiber and Politics

Matthew Kaufman matthew at matthew.at
Mon Jul 21 19:26:24 UTC 2014


I think the difference is when the municipality starts throwing in free or highly subsidized layer 3 connectivity "free with every layer 1 connection"

Matthew Kaufman

(Sent from my iPhone)

> On Jul 21, 2014, at 12:08 PM, Blake Dunlap <ikiris at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> My power is pretty much always on, my water is pretty much always on
> and safe, my sewer system works, etc etc...
> 
> Why is layer 1 internet magically different from every other utility?
> 
> -Blake
> 
>> On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 1:38 PM, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 10:20 AM, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:
>>> Over the last decade, 19 states have made it illegal for municipalities
>>> to own fiber networks
>> 
>> Hi Jay,
>> 
>> Everything government does, it does badly. Without exception. There
>> are many things government does better than any private organization
>> is likely to sustain, but even those things it does slowly and at an
>> exorbitant price.
>> 
>> Muni fiber is a competition killer. You can't beat city hall; once
>> built it's not practical to compete, even with better service, so
>> residents are stuck with only the overpriced (either directly or via
>> taxes), usually underpowered and always one-size-fits-all network
>> access which results. As an ISP I watched something similar happen in
>> Altoona PA a decade and a half ago. It was a travesty.
>> 
>> The only exception I see to this would be if localities were
>> constrained to providing point to point and point to multipoint
>> communications infrastructure within the locality on a reasonable and
>> non-discriminatory basis. The competition that would foster on the
>> services side might outweigh the damage on the infrastructure side.
>> Like public roads facilitate efficient transportation and freight
>> despite the cost and potholes, though that's an imperfect simile.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Bill Herrin
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> William Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
>> Owner, Dirtside Systems ......... Web: <http://www.dirtside.com/>
>> Can I solve your unusual networking challenges?



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