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FCC Sides With Google Fiber Over Comcast With New Pro-Competition Rule (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission today approved new rules that could let Google Fiber and other new [ISPs] gain faster access to utility poles. The FCC's One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) rules will let companies attach wires to utility poles without waiting for the other users of the pole to move their own wires. Google Fiber says its deployment has stalled in multiple cities because Comcast and AT&T take a long time to get poles ready for new attachers. One Touch Make Ready rules let new attachers make all of the necessary wire adjustments themselves. Comcast urged the FCC to "reject 'one-touch make-ready' proposals, which inure solely to the benefit of new entrants while unnecessarily risking harm to existing attachers and their customers." FCC Chairman Ajit Pai rejected this argument, saying that startups are unnecessarily delayed when they have to wait for incumbent ISPs before hanging wires. Here's what Pai had to say: "For a competitive entrant, especially a small company, breaking into the market can be hard, if not impossible, if your business plan relies on other entities to make room for you on those poles. Today, a broadband provider that wants to attach fiber or other equipment to a pole first must wait for, and pay for, each existing attacher to sequentially move existing equipment and wires. This can take months, and the bill for multiple truck rolls adds up. For companies of any size, pole-attachment problems represent one of the biggest barriers to broadband deployment."
For once anyways.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I feel dirty. Good for him though; I guess they're really trying to make good on that whole expand competition thing.
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... About now is a good time to realize that world isn't fucked up beyond recognition. We take steps forward and back all the time. Let's celebrate that the FCC took a huge step forward. They've done enough back steps recently...
Do you honestly think Google or whoever else is going to do a decent job relocating the existing wires on the poles? They'll likely be ripping them off brute force and hammering them back on with bent nails. What a clusterfuck this is going to become. I don't know why they would be allowed to touch anything up there that is not theirs. They should be building underground anyway. Everything should be moving off the poles.
...just where is the real Ajit Pai and what have you done with him?
Don't worry - Pai isn't suddenly getting a conscience. Remember that Pai is basically beholden to Verizon (where he will end up at after his "public service"). Verizon is not a wireline provider (like AT&T, Comcast, Cox etc...) When 5g starts to roll out, one of the key battles is going to be over telephone poles. There are going to be tens of thousands of mini-cells mounted on poles to support this rollout - and if you don't own the poles (like Verizon), you're going to be at a disadvantage compared to the companies who do (like AT&T)
This vote isn't pro-internet or pro-freedom or anti-monopoly - it's entirely about ensuring that Verizon isn't at a competitive disadvantage in rolling out their 5g network.
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
Car analogy
No, that's Old and Busted. Let's try a vampire analogy instead:
You're in a room full of vampires, and they're goddamned thirsty. They could fight each other over who gets to drain you. Or they could decide to tie you up, put a feeding tube down your throat, and install a valve on a handy vein, so the can drain you regularly. Which do you think they're going to do? Oh and don't forget that thye're not giving you a choice in any of this.
Net Neutrality as mandated by the GOVERNMENT isn't "competition" of the free market. Quit pretending it is.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.