A lot of lawsuits and state PUC rulings have gone a long way into improving this picture. I remember reading an article a few weeks ago that quote a Covad exec as saying that their average per-line LEC charge has gone from approx. US$20/month, which is the same amount Verizon charges for a standard voice line to around US$5/month.
Remember, the LEC is either handing the copper pair off directly to Covad, bypassing the POTS network, or splitting it in front of their POTS switch and running a "splice" to Covad. In neither case is $20/month justified.
Also, the LECs seem to have figured out that (a) many state PUCs are serious about not letting them sell inter-LATA services (long distance, multi-state IP backbones) until they learn to play fair with CLECs and DLECs, and (b) Tauzin-Dingell, the LECs' best, last chance at getting rid of Covad et al, won't be signed into law anytime soon. Hence, the increased cooperation.
The switch to line-sharing DSL has helped a lot as well, since a LEC truck roll isn't needed to deliver a new copper pair, and because the line also carries dialtone, there's no way it can be "mistaken" for an available pair by a telco tech.
Depending on the LEC involved, this is not as easy as it seems, and you really have to understand exactly what Covad does to understand this.
Covad is NOT and ISP, they do the dirty work of connecting ISPs to DSL end users. They do this by colocating their DSLAM hardware in the LECs' central offices, which the LECs are required by law to allow them to do at prices typically set by the state PUC. Covad then provisions residential lines from the LEC, having them terminate into their DSLAM instead of (or in addition to, via a signal splitter) the LEC's own POTS switch. From there, Covad connects the DSLAMs into their switched ATM network, which Covad's client ISPs also connect circuits into. Covad then routes the data streams from the ISP to the end user and back.
Some LECs, most notably SBC, have a similar service, although not offered in all areas. In this case, the ISP can, and does, order connectivity to the end user directly from the LEC. However, Verizon doesn't do this, so without Covad (or Northpoint or Rhythms, pre-crash), the ISP would be forced to colocate DSLAM hardware and provision trunk circuits into every LEC central office in the area they wish to service. This, as you might expect, is extremely expensive, and few ISPs can achieve the per-DSLAM customer density to make it remotely profitable, epecially low-margin ADSL customers.
In the Washington DC area, only Network Access Solutions is taking this route, to the best of my knowledge. They only offer business-class SDSL service, which is premium priced, and probably the only was NAS can hope to recover the cost of putting a DSLAM in every CO in the area.
Not necessarily - @home, Northpoint and Rhythms all filed Chapter 11. Northpoint and Rhythms both amended the filing later to Chapter 7, which mandates the company more or less shut down upon filing, IIRC. @home will do the same when they cease operations.
There's a lot of speculation that AT&T planned all this in advance...they are the majority shareholder in @home, and the best theory is that they intentionally ran the company into the ground so they could pick up the rest of the company that they don't already own at fire sale prices. Then, they could sell the entire AT&T Broadband business unit at a tidy profit. AS it stands, AT&T could easily dismantle @home and use the hardware they acquired for pennies on the dollar for AT&T Broadband's network.
Shutting down the network would only help in this regard, as the bondholders are even less likely to get more than the amount of money AT&T is offering for the rest of the company than before.
And the fact that AT&T is the only provider with a backup plan fully in place can't help but add fuel to the speculation...
Actually, it's getting faster - my ADSL via Speakeasy (via Covad, in Verizon territory) was installed in under two weeks. I don't know how typical that is, but the line-sharing self-install has sped things up considerably - there's no need for a truck roll, the ILEC cross-connects the line in the CO, and you just plug your DSL modem in and play.
or at least, if it/is/ an IP network, each device will be a VPN client. I would presume Disney has enough money to hire people smart enough to not depend on WEP for security.
Then again, larger companies have done dumber things...
I have to agree that Stallman is being a bit shortsighted - just because the _entire_ system isn't free doesn't mean that the FSF's mission is a failure. The simple fact that there's a demand for open source software on a proprietary OS should mean something right there...
In other words, don't discount the small victories just because they're small. Keep going for the gold, but accept the bronze graciously.
Kinda true - in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if MS themselves release an emulator. That way they can make money off the games without having to lose money on the console sale.
Although, honestly, I doubt MS is paying retail fo the parts, so they're not losing $139 on each unit either...
I think the key word in the above posting is CONSUMER OS - There's no 64-bit Windows or MacOS, and, hate to say it, Linux, even RedHat, isn't anywhere near a consumer OS yet.
An alternative would be to include the source for both VM systems in the kernel, and have the compiler choose which on to use in "make config" just like any other tunable compiler option. Has this option been discussed on the kernel list at all?
This is something I've been considering going to my homeowner's assocation with - I'm in a 200-home townhome community in Annandale, VA, only about.25 mile square, and could potentially cover the entire area with maybe five or six access points, and the costs could be built into HOA fees, potentially no more than $20/month.
T1 prices are currently in the 1-2K/month range, but we could also do this with SDSL, which is about $400/month for T1 speeds. The only open questions are a) how long SDSL will be available - if Covad shuts down, Verizon is the only provider left, and they only do ADSL to individual homes, b) what the actual hardware costs (how many APs) will be needed to get a 802.11b signal to every home in the community, and c) how much bandwidth will actually be needed to service the whole community.
Has anyone done this with their HOA's cooperation? If so, what problems/solutions did you encounter?
Re:A waste of time. Probably OEMed by someone else
on
Apple releases iPod
·
· Score: 1
Firewire is not an Apple-only technology - it's the same thing as Sony's iLink and IEE1394 (the "official" name of the protocol). However, it's unlikely that Apple will write software for other platforms to support it, and unknown whether or not the iPod communications protocol can be reverse-engineered (possible DMCA issues?) so that third-party commercial and/or open source software will be compatible.
the MPAA /is/ a political organization...
on
DivX;) Goes Legit
·
· Score: 1
At least the part of the MPAA that lobbied for DMCA and is currently lobbying for SSSCA. So the two-sides-of-the-mouth-talking doesn't surprise me one bit.
Yeah, asuuming that there ARE other options for broadband - if the writer isn't in DSL range, and doesn't have line-of-sight to the DirecPC/Starband satellites, then cable is going to be the only net access available over 128K, short of a $1000/month T1. And currently, if you have a cable modem, you only have one choice for an ISP. Hopefully that will end soon...
That isn't quite true - yes, it is substantially more difficult, and more expensive, to obtain credit after filing Chapter 11, but it isn't anywhere near impossible. "Sub-prime" financing is a legitimate sector of the credit industry, and these institutions lend to companies as well as to individuals.
Mind you, a company with a bankruptcy in its history will pay substantially higher interest rates and have its finances put under much closer scrutiny than otherwise, but if the company is otherwise financially sound, and as the letter states, cashflow-positive, there's somebody out there who will lend them money. The question is, how expensive will the credit be?
Of course, this probably meant that the disconnect didn't get processed and they continued to bill you for the service...
What's sad is that the FCC and/or the state PUCs seem to be just sitting by watching the carnage from afar. When one CLEC goes under, you can say "they didn't manage their business properly". But when they ALL go under, the FCC should start smelling collusion.
The reason for this pricing is to maximize the profit reaped from the "money is no object" buyer - the one who will say "I want the fastest chip you can put in a PC" and not worry about how much it costs. You'd be surprised how many of them there are, and how much of a chip manufacturer's profit comes from these buyers. These are the same people that spend $400 on a video card to get them 50% more frames per second than a $150 card. Again, you'd be surprised how many of them there are.
Slashdot Mirror
The site's unreachable already, as is spymac.com as well.
in fact, the first "real" computers were used to crack German cryptography during WWII.
A lot of lawsuits and state PUC rulings have gone a long way into improving this picture. I remember reading an article a few weeks ago that quote a Covad exec as saying that their average per-line LEC charge has gone from approx. US$20/month, which is the same amount Verizon charges for a standard voice line to around US$5/month.
Remember, the LEC is either handing the copper pair off directly to Covad, bypassing the POTS network, or splitting it in front of their POTS switch and running a "splice" to Covad. In neither case is $20/month justified.
Also, the LECs seem to have figured out that (a) many state PUCs are serious about not letting them sell inter-LATA services (long distance, multi-state IP backbones) until they learn to play fair with CLECs and DLECs, and (b) Tauzin-Dingell, the LECs' best, last chance at getting rid of Covad et al, won't be signed into law anytime soon. Hence, the increased cooperation.
The switch to line-sharing DSL has helped a lot as well, since a LEC truck roll isn't needed to deliver a new copper pair, and because the line also carries dialtone, there's no way it can be "mistaken" for an available pair by a telco tech.
Covad is NOT and ISP, they do the dirty work of connecting ISPs to DSL end users. They do this by colocating their DSLAM hardware in the LECs' central offices, which the LECs are required by law to allow them to do at prices typically set by the state PUC. Covad then provisions residential lines from the LEC, having them terminate into their DSLAM instead of (or in addition to, via a signal splitter) the LEC's own POTS switch. From there, Covad connects the DSLAMs into their switched ATM network, which Covad's client ISPs also connect circuits into. Covad then routes the data streams from the ISP to the end user and back.
Some LECs, most notably SBC, have a similar service, although not offered in all areas. In this case, the ISP can, and does, order connectivity to the end user directly from the LEC. However, Verizon doesn't do this, so without Covad (or Northpoint or Rhythms, pre-crash), the ISP would be forced to colocate DSLAM hardware and provision trunk circuits into every LEC central office in the area they wish to service. This, as you might expect, is extremely expensive, and few ISPs can achieve the per-DSLAM customer density to make it remotely profitable, epecially low-margin ADSL customers.
In the Washington DC area, only Network Access Solutions is taking this route, to the best of my knowledge. They only offer business-class SDSL service, which is premium priced, and probably the only was NAS can hope to recover the cost of putting a DSLAM in every CO in the area.
Not necessarily - @home, Northpoint and Rhythms all filed Chapter 11. Northpoint and Rhythms both amended the filing later to Chapter 7, which mandates the company more or less shut down upon filing, IIRC. @home will do the same when they cease operations.
There's a lot of speculation that AT&T planned all this in advance...they are the majority shareholder in @home, and the best theory is that they intentionally ran the company into the ground so they could pick up the rest of the company that they don't already own at fire sale prices. Then, they could sell the entire AT&T Broadband business unit at a tidy profit. AS it stands, AT&T could easily dismantle @home and use the hardware they acquired for pennies on the dollar for AT&T Broadband's network.
Shutting down the network would only help in this regard, as the bondholders are even less likely to get more than the amount of money AT&T is offering for the rest of the company than before.
And the fact that AT&T is the only provider with a backup plan fully in place can't help but add fuel to the speculation...
Actually, it's getting faster - my ADSL via Speakeasy (via Covad, in Verizon territory) was installed in under two weeks. I don't know how typical that is, but the line-sharing self-install has sped things up considerably - there's no need for a truck roll, the ILEC cross-connects the line in the CO, and you just plug your DSL modem in and play.
or at least, if it /is/ an IP network, each device will be a VPN client. I would presume Disney has enough money to hire people smart enough to not depend on WEP for security.
Then again, larger companies have done dumber things...
-C
I have to agree that Stallman is being a bit shortsighted - just because the _entire_ system isn't free doesn't mean that the FSF's mission is a failure. The simple fact that there's a demand for open source software on a proprietary OS should mean something right there...
In other words, don't discount the small victories just because they're small. Keep going for the gold, but accept the bronze graciously.
I'm loading http://www.joepetrow.com with no problems. Is there a specific URL it crashes on?
Kinda true - in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if MS themselves release an emulator. That way they can make money off the games without having to lose money on the console sale.
Although, honestly, I doubt MS is paying retail fo the parts, so they're not losing $139 on each unit either...
What I think is odd is that a few weeks ago they stopped using Akamai's CDN. I had an easier time getting to them on Sept. 11 than I did this morning.
I think the key word in the above posting is CONSUMER OS - There's no 64-bit Windows or MacOS, and, hate to say it, Linux, even RedHat, isn't anywhere near a consumer OS yet.
An alternative would be to include the source for both VM systems in the kernel, and have the compiler choose which on to use in "make config" just like any other tunable compiler option. Has this option been discussed on the kernel list at all?
Unfortunately, quite simply, there aren't enough of you to meet the economies of scale necessary to make such operations profitable.
This is something I've been considering going to my homeowner's assocation with - I'm in a 200-home townhome community in Annandale, VA, only about .25 mile square, and could potentially cover the entire area with maybe five or six access points, and the costs could be built into HOA fees, potentially no more than $20/month.
T1 prices are currently in the 1-2K/month range, but we could also do this with SDSL, which is about $400/month for T1 speeds. The only open questions are a) how long SDSL will be available - if Covad shuts down, Verizon is the only provider left, and they only do ADSL to individual homes, b) what the actual hardware costs (how many APs) will be needed to get a 802.11b signal to every home in the community, and c) how much bandwidth will actually be needed to service the whole community.
Has anyone done this with their HOA's cooperation? If so, what problems/solutions did you encounter?
Firewire is not an Apple-only technology - it's the same thing as Sony's iLink and IEE1394 (the "official" name of the protocol). However, it's unlikely that Apple will write software for other platforms to support it, and unknown whether or not the iPod communications protocol can be reverse-engineered (possible DMCA issues?) so that third-party commercial and/or open source software will be compatible.
My company (a mid-sized national ISP) uses it for internal development/bug tracking. Who else?
Akamai's press release can be found here.
At least the part of the MPAA that lobbied for DMCA and is currently lobbying for SSSCA. So the two-sides-of-the-mouth-talking doesn't surprise me one bit.
Yeah, asuuming that there ARE other options for broadband - if the writer isn't in DSL range, and doesn't have line-of-sight to the DirecPC/Starband satellites, then cable is going to be the only net access available over 128K, short of a $1000/month T1. And currently, if you have a cable modem, you only have one choice for an ISP. Hopefully that will end soon...
That isn't quite true - yes, it is substantially more difficult, and more expensive, to obtain credit after filing Chapter 11, but it isn't anywhere near impossible. "Sub-prime" financing is a legitimate sector of the credit industry, and these institutions lend to companies as well as to individuals.
Mind you, a company with a bankruptcy in its history will pay substantially higher interest rates and have its finances put under much closer scrutiny than otherwise, but if the company is otherwise financially sound, and as the letter states, cashflow-positive, there's somebody out there who will lend them money. The question is, how expensive will the credit be?
Look at the 2.2 and 2.0 trees - the last 2.2 version was 2.2.19, the last 2.0 version was 2.0.39.
Of course, this probably meant that the disconnect didn't get processed and they continued to bill you for the service...
What's sad is that the FCC and/or the state PUCs seem to be just sitting by watching the carnage from afar. When one CLEC goes under, you can say "they didn't manage their business properly". But when they ALL go under, the FCC should start smelling collusion.
The reason for this pricing is to maximize the profit reaped from the "money is no object" buyer - the one who will say "I want the fastest chip you can put in a PC" and not worry about how much it costs. You'd be surprised how many of them there are, and how much of a chip manufacturer's profit comes from these buyers. These are the same people that spend $400 on a video card to get them 50% more frames per second than a $150 card. Again, you'd be surprised how many of them there are.