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Why You Don't Have a Broadband Connection
blandthrax writes "I ran across this article on The New Republic. The long and short of it indicates that the reason why almost 90% of Americans don't have a broadband connection is because current broadband providers are preventing other ISP's from entering the fray. The result: higher prices for broadband connections and a general lack of innovation. An interesting read full of good details. And, as usual, we learn that countries such as Japan and Korea are far ahead of the US in terms of innovation and technological saturation."
I agree with the post, havent read the article yet, but...
We work at a small ISP that used to (try) to offer DSL service, it worked for a few buisness clients, but the problem is, we are in california, and our telco is SBC/Pacbell/Devil-Company. It was so much of a hassle to deal with, and also too expensive. I don't think we made much profit on that deal at all...pacbell were whores. We ditched that pretty quick.
Part of the reason that Sprint canceled their ION service was that the local telcos were screwing them over when it came to provisioning customer lines. When I had ION installed, the local telco told me it would take them 30 days to install a "conditioned" line that was suitable for ION....
:(
Of course, when I called the telco the next day to inquire about their own DSL service, the "conditioned line" could be installed the next day....
In the end, it did take 3 weeks to get ION installed, and it was far better service than anything that DSL could provide.... I really miss ION
Broadband is definitely cheaper in Canada (average $40 USD per month in the U.S., average $40 CDN in Canada), but Canadians are still not as connected as Americans.
It's not like we have a huge amount of choice in Canada though. I had this choice: Cogeco for a cable modem, or Bell for DSL. I wanted a DSL, but when I signed up with Bell, they did a line test and said my phone line wasn't good enough quality. That left me with a cable modem, or satellite I suppose, but to me that's no option.
The fact is, even though I can choose from dozens of long distance providers, I still can't choose from different cable internet, or DSL providers unless they run a new wire to my house. The last mile is very monopolistic. Perhaps wireless will change that, but I'm still waiting.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
"In Virginia, when one small town, Bristol, wanted to set up its own broadband system, Verizon lobbyists persuaded the pliant, Republican-controlled state legislature to pass a law prohibiting any town from doing so."
I found that quote very disturbing. Fortunately, I read more on the subject and found out that Bristol won a lawsuit that overturned the decision. The state is appealing the decision (imagine that), but for now, Bristol has set a precedent that says that municipalities can set up their own broadband service. It's insane that Bristol even has to go to these lengths, but at least they won.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
To synopsize the synopsis, we've screwed regarding broadband. But then, anyone that's been keeping even a casual eye on broadband for the past couple of years already knew that. The Baby Bell shutout this year was just the last nail in the coffin.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
From FAIR.org:
Colin made $35M from his stock sales after the merger that his son approved. I wonder if the Powell's had a party when the "death" tax was repealed?
I'm much funnier now that I'm a subscriber.
No, but the streets and such that they need to block off and dig up to lay the cable are. Since the government that owns the streets in question probably doesn't want to have lots of companies taking turns digging up the streets to run cables, they pick one and give them a monopoly...
Therein lies the problem - at that point, the public (by proxy through their government) has given away a resource (path/land to lay cable and permission to block traffic temporarily in the process) to a single company. Other companies might be willing to compete, but are not allowed to lay their own cables.
Laws requiring the granted monopoly to share their cables in exchange for the use of public space to run their cables is intended as a sort of "patch" to make up for this. It seems kind of kludgy to me, but I can't think of a better solution in the circumstances. This is why it upsets people when the granted monopoly is allowed to exclude competitors.
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Here in SF, I have one option for broadband at home - ADSL. Cable modems are beginning to show up, but are not available for me yet. All other options (other than leeching off others 802.11b) are more costly.
The cost, per month, is $50, from PacBell. Of this, $40 is the rental fee to use the same line they had already installed for my phone. Due to government regulation, anyone can be my ISP, as long as they pay PacBell $40 per month to rent the line. This process effectively killed all competition, since the ISP margin is razor-thin, whereas PacBell is raking it in. Now, the ADSL works fine, outages are rare, and service is pretty good (excepting the slow time to get connected after ordering). But if the line rental were $10/month (or even $20/month - about what local phone service costs), I would have something that approached the value I receive. Remember - this uses the SAME LINE that my phone uses.
Recently I visited Japan. The hotel had free high speed access with DHCP. This wasn't even a costly hotel. It is seemingly ubiquitous there. And the blame in the US is a complete lack of appropriate government regulation on the people who own the lines.
The funny thing is, I signed up for DSL 3 years ago, and got a static IP address. Recently I moved, and now I have to use PPPoE - for the same price. That is right, after three years, they offer me worse DSL service for the same price. Something is rotten in Denmark.
One county near to me watched its revenues crash to the point where they couldn't pay teachers or policemen. So they voted to reinstitute a car tax to keep them solvent. Gilmore went out of his way to try and get rid of the county government. But hey- he cut taxes! What more do you need?
*You know you're a moron when the RNC fires your ass after only a year. Took him almost nine months to find another job.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"