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FCC Commish - US Playing 'Russian Roulette' with Broadband
LarryBoy writes "In a speech given at the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps lambasted US broadband policy, saying that the US is 'playing "Russian roulette with broadband and Internet and more traditional media."' Copps also took issue with an op-ed piece ('Broadband Baloney') by fellow commissioner Robert McDowell last week. 'In his speech, Copps didn't mention McDowell by name, but he did claim that broadband in the US is "so poor that every citizen in the country ought to be outraged." Back when then OECD said that we were number four in the world, he said, no one objected to its methodology. Copps also had fighting words for those who blame the US broadband problems on our less-dense population; Canada, Norway, and Sweden are ranked above us, but all are less dense than the US. Besides, this argument implies that broadband is absolutely super within American urban areas. Copps noted, though, that his own broadband connection in Washington, DC was "nothing compared to Seoul."'"
Your connection is not the norm. I'm in suburban St. Louis, MO, and I have a "choice" between The Phone Company (AT&T) and The Cable Company (Charter), neither of which is required to care about anything either by law or by market forces.
AT&T offers the following plans, generally:
- Mediocre DSL: 6M/768k, $60/mo.
- Crap DSL: 3M/768k, $40/mo.
- Crappier DSL: 1.5M/384k, $30/mo.
- Why-Bother? DSL: 512k/128k, $20/mo.
Charter offers similar plans, like so:
- Mediocre Cable: 6M/512k, $60/mo. plus cable TV
- Crap Cable: 3M/128k, $40/mo. plus cable TV
- Useless Cable: 1M/128k, $20/mo. plus cable TV
- They-call-this-broadband? Cable: 512k/64k, $20/mo. but no cable TV requirement
Personally, I'm on a grandfathered DSL plan, at 1.5M/768k for $25/mo. I don't call AT&T for service, because if I do, I will get my plan changed to something current and end up paying more for less. Yes, it beats dialup. No, it's not good. I drool at the thought of having even 1/10th of what is "normal" in Korea.
Just open up all of the lines between the telco's central office and the home. By that I mean don't have them under the same local monopoly. Allow independent businesses to operate them. If you generate a competitive revenue stream here, there will be a lot of businesses who depend on offering you the best broadband access possible.
After all, these were paid for by U.S. tax dollars. We deserve better. Right now, the third-world nations are on-track to surpass (and in some cases, have surpassed) the U.S..
If that doesn't bother you, consider what the effects of better broadband and offshoring will do to the U.S. economy.
There really is no other option if the U.S. is going to remain competitive in today's world.
Ok folks, comparing the density of sweden or norway is not like comparing the density of the US. First of all, the US is a shit-ton larger than those countries. I understand the argument, but I don't think they're really incorporating the total size of the US. When you take the lack of density and spread it out over an area that is many multiple times larger than norway AND sweden combined, I think you can better understand the technical problems and costs involved with such an endeavor.
That being said, I do believe that the ridiculous telco/cable monopolies that have been governmentally supported for so long now has an effect as well. It's a combination of alot of factors, just like most other things in life.
All things are subject to interpretation, whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and n
Of course you're going to think yours is big enough if you don't know how to use it...
Faster broadband, both upstream and down (especially up) would have an enormous societal impact. Think of all the travel that could be avoided (jet fuel not burned) if video conferencing didn't suck. Think of all the commuting that wouldn't have to be done if VPN access were equivalent to sitting on the corporate LAN. Some of us with fiber-optic connections are already seeing the benefits. $0.99 Amazon movie rentals that only take 12 minutes to download, for example. You can literally start watching in seconds. The whole thing is done transferring in less time than it would have taken to drive to Blockbuster and back... Remote desktops are actually usable for non-graphical apps, and even for some CAD applications...
Faster internet access really would provide better quality of life for many people.
Copps argument is that, in certain respects, the entire area of the United States should not be considered. No one should expect Topeka to have the same type of service, but one think that Manhattan should be better than Seoul.
My office in Japan, located in a bedtown area about 100 miles from then center of Tokyo, has 2x100mbps symmetrical fibers. The company paid the equivalent of about $150 in installation costs, and the monthly fee is around $55 for each fiber.
For the same monthly cost back home in Southern California I can only get (at best) 10mbps/512kbps down/up on cable; granted my neighbors aren't using too much of the pipe.
So how is such a difference possible in Japan?
1. All utility cables are all mounted above ground on poles in Japan, greatly reducing installation costs. (Same in Seoul,Korea last time I was there).
2. The gov't has a "fiber to the curb" initiative; so basically the installation is either subsidized or forced (political coercion?) to be the responsibility of the provider.
I must mention to all the satisfied customers who find their 7mbps/1mbps "broadband" sufficient that there IS a difference. When the internet (at least domestically) becomes as fast as a company or home network at 100mbps. It's night and day.
I won't mention how antiquated DSL technology in the US is...
Actually, even Canada's rural areas far from the border get good broadband. Your argument doesn't hold. It's really only the truly remote, hard to reach places that are still on dial-up or slow dsl.
What the hell are you talking about?
I'm talking about the internet not being a web-browser. The content you're talking about is poor quality short clips, intended to supplement a web page. The content I'm talking about is a well produced high quality television broadcast that'll compete with cable and satellite producers, but also have the nearly infinite amount of choices. Right now if you want to distribute content like the cable stations produce, you need a ton of money to buy time on a satellite. An internet TV revolution would eliminate that need and open up an entirely different means of content distribution.
I'm talking about the internet taking over the television and going into the family room, not the computer room. That's starting to happen a little with consoles, but nowhere to the degree I'm referring to.
AccountKiller
Because they would rather you consume content, which means downloading it, than provide content, which means uploading it.
If you consume content, you will likely make someone else more money than the phone or cable corp. makes from broadband alone. If you provide content as an individual, that's less likely. Those who make money from consumption are likely to pay those who provide connections to make downloading easier than uploading...
That goes double for providers who make their own content (Time Warner comes to mind).
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
Hmmm... How many decades has "America's Funniest Home Videos" been on the air now?
Oh, so you mean like...
Akimbo: http://www.akimbo.com/
Democracy Player (Miro): http://www.getmiro.com/
JOOST: http://www.joost.com/
Zatoo: http://zattoo.com/
BBC iPlayer
Nullsoft/NSV TV
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Here's a recent chart of broadband speeds and costs around the world.
And somehow a single government controlled monopoly will be better than numerous independent monopolies?
It's working fine in at least one place, in northeastern Utah a group of communities have been able to build a Broadband Utopia. Anybody can start a business delivering any service the infrastructure is capable of, whether it be broadband access, phone service, tv, or a combination of them. It is capable of speeds of up to 100Mbs.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Here is the high quality video:
http://stage6.divx.com/
Well, apart from the good video quality, it is another Youtube ^^
We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.