Muni Fiber and Politics

Mon Jul 21 20:26:54 UTC 2014

Do you have an example of a municipality that gives free internet access 
to it's residents?

On 7/21/2014 2:26 PM, Matthew Kaufman wrote:
> 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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Aaron Wendel
Chief Technical Officer
Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
(816)550-9030
http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
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