Demand More From Your Copper

D3 wrote in with a submission about fiber to the home, or the lack of it, and the reasons behind this, and ways to work around the Bells to provide high-speed access despite them. A pretty decent article, which actually goes beyond the Baby Bell PR-speak that deregulation is the solution to everything. Maybe at some point state and Federal regulators will realize that the Bells are the problem, not the solution.

Comments

At least........

[g0hare]

when it was all AT&T I didn't get 10 calls a day asking if I'd like to switch long distance companies.

Change in business model required!

[Aviancer]

The article points out that the major reason the bells (er, bell; hasn't SBC bought all the others yet?) don't want to do this is because they are required to lease out the lines to competitors.

So why not swap business models and become a service provider to the "competitors" instead of "end users." This gives you the incentive to build the infrastructure.

Re:Why would we want it?

[stratjakt]

>> Other than a huge File Sharing Node, why would we want fiber?

Because competition for the cable monopolies is a Good Thing (tm).

Besides, this article is about copper, and how all the copper in the ground can still be utilized to do what fiber could.

Regulation

[drinkypoo]

The important point is that once you regulate you have to keep regulating. Regulation MAY be bad for consumers; Deregulation IS bad for consumers.

The FCC has ruined DSL by requiring that the telco be responsible for quality but third parties not. In other words, if covad DSL gives you poor performance, you have nothing to fall back on but your terms of service. If pacbell DSL gives you poor performance (lower than rated, or any significant downtime) then you can call the FCC and they'll fine SBC $500.

Regulation must be undertaken carefully, deregulation moreso. They deregulated the power companies in California, where are we now?

Re:Why would we want it?

[VoidEngineer]

For information on who wants it, and where it's being pioneered, check out the Chicago CivicNet project.

Imagine:

Real-time, video-on-demand services which act as video phones, and replaces the telephone as the major telecommunications medium which American society uses.

Real time autostereoscopic 3D television.

Virtual reality applications, such as the Street, the Matrix, the University, ChalkBoard, and so forth. Imagine walking into a virtual classroom or office, from home, when it's too cold and snowy out to drive to school or work.

Real time stock trading from your home to the local city's stock market or board of trade.

Real time browsing of Hubble Telescope data and Sloan data...

Imagine all of this in 1200x1600 32 bit color resolution, in stereoscopic 3D. And imagine it running 100 times faster than your current DSL connection.

That's why you want fiber in the home, and that's why people like Mayor Daley and 60+ corporations in Chicago are working to make it happen...