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The Turf Wars Between Phone and Cable
An anonymous reader writes "The New York Time is carrying a story about squabbling between phone and cable companies, now that they're sharing the same 'turf.' While it may sound humorous, it's anything but for customers. Bad blood between the cable providers and the bells has resulted in shoddy work, slapdash repairs, rumours of sabotage, and (of course) higher costs." From the article: "In some cases, cable and phone companies accuse one another of ripping out equipment. In others, wires were reportedly left exposed and ungrounded. Elsewhere, Verizon asserts that dozens of times this year, Comcast and other cable providers ran their wires down phone company pipes instead of installing separate conduits. Verizon said that in one case it sent a letter to Comcast asking that the practice be stopped, but that the paperwork and repairs that followed not only cost hundreds of dollars, but delayed installations for its customers."
Don't run your cable down the other guy's conduit if you don't want it ripped out.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
Kind of reminds me of when I was a cable guy for Comcast. We would constantly be replacing lines and equipment that Knology (the other cable company in this area) would rip out when they ran their stuff. It just kinda went back and forth like the for a few years. Last I heard, they were still doing it.
Claiming that government interference is always a bad thing is pretty much a colossal load.
I'm a libertarian. It almost always is.
However, I believe that natural monopolies are a place where government intervention can be justified sometimes. A larger coercion can exist when someone has no choice than the minor coercion of a use tax with equality of access.
I believe in the concept of net neutrality, I don't agree with the current legislative attempts to enforce it.
The solution is as someone else mentioned here, just municipalize the last-mile. It's the only place where the natural monopoly exists. The backbone (commercial bandwidth) market is competitive, and there's plenty of choices there. The market will work there if anyone attempts anything funny.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
And this is all about getting rid of the oversight - let the market regulate itself my ass.
Let's face it. The FCC has made it easy for incumbents to keep new competitors out. So now we have incumbents fighting each other with dirty tricks, because they know consumers have no choices but the incumbents. Talk about a recipie for failure. Our broadband choices suck ass, and the providers take turns screwing customers.
Belief that an unregulated market will cure all evils is a belief that long-coddled Baby Bells and cable companies will suddenly embrace open, honest competition. They're like rich kids, born with silver spoons in their mouths, crying about equal opportunity. It's disgusting.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Perhaps you've heard of this little place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon.
http://www.boeing.com/ids/a_to_z.html looks like a lot of pork (IE government subsidies) to me.
I get your point, but don't think for a second that the US is not funding R&D for Boeing. And they are using money confiscated from me to remain the "world's policemen," even though most of the world didn't ask us in the first place.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
And this is all about getting rid of the oversight - let the market regulate itself my ass.
Let's say you wait too long to get to the gas station and you run out. So you walk up to the first car you see where the owner isn't around and siphon out a gallon of gas. There's no regulation saying you can't do that.
...of course, it's theft. So it's illegal.
"Let the market regulate itself" is an advisement against creating additional rules over and above the law that applies to everyone - I'm not really sure why people keep mistaking this for advocating exemption from the rule of law. In this case there is no market to regulate - you have two co-owners of access points who are destroying one another's systems. We don't need additional regulations - we need to ensure that the current law is applied to this situation.
Idiot. You ever hear of 'Miss Dig'. Someone wants to dig, they call, and every company that has buried cables/pipes whatever within a certain radius has to come out and mark them, so they dont get cut. All this poor guy knew is that he was supposed to mark some cables, and you were giving him a hard time. He probably was from the telephone co, and the cable co probably *did* have a call in to Miss Dig. He probably figured since you were being such a jackass that you didnt want service from them (the telco) anymore and just didnt want to admit it that you had ordered something from cable (wether that was true or not).
Just think, when your Internet or whatever is out and you hear it is a 'fiber cut' just figure some asshole didnt let the guy come mark the fiber.