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Verizon CEO Calls Municipal Wi-Fi 'a Dumb Idea'

Posted by timothy on from the and-he-might-be-right dept.

ozone writes " An interview with Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg quotes him as saying that 'Municipal Wi-Fi is one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard' and 'Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house?' -- apparently Verizon's own 'Can You Hear Me Now' ad campaign has given customers 'unrealistic expectations' that their phone service will work everywhere. What?"

2 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. Contact me! by ckeck · · Score: 0, Troll

    That is: Chad Keck Cingular Wireless chad.keck@cingular.com Shoot me an e-mail, will give you a great deal on service that DOES work in your house...and we want it to!

  2. Re:This CEO just made me promise never to buy Veri by numbsafari · · Score: 0, Troll

    And a municipal utility is a what? A monopoly?

    Ok, sure, so maybe cities won't outright ban other providers, but isn't it kinda unfair that the competition has to pay taxes in order to subsidize the municiple offering? Wouldn't it be better for companies to take those taxes and turn them into lower prices? Wouldn't it be better if the low-income families could pick and choose between providers rather than being forced to use a municipal provider?

    Anyhow. Verizon is hardly a monopoly.

    Sure, several years ago you could say that you could only get local phone service from them (in certain areas). Funny thing is, I can get local phone service (not VoIP) from at least one other company around here. Throw in VoIP and now things begin to sizzle.

    Just wait until wi-max starts rolling out, then see what happens to all these "monopolies"... oh wait! they won't be able to compete because the municipal government will have a wireless net access monopoly..

    Can't wait to read those interviews.