The FCC is not perfect. But what it did first in breaking up local vs. long distance, then in separating basic from value-added services, effectively turned the US into an Internet incubator. This regulatory feat has not been duplicated in many places, and in fact Internet is stymied -- or else radically different -- in those places. In the absence of REAL competition or regulatory fiat, telcos like to charge monopoly prices, defined as "100% of what you might possibly make by using my infrastructure, less small fraction."
McCullagh says, "nevermind, fiber will carry everything soon anyway"...whose fiber?? Does he think that individual homes and enterprises all all have multiple fiber entrance facilities? Any network operators on Slashdot like to colo their network gear in sites with a single provider? Why not???
Who thinks that coax and and WiFi are going to compete on an equal footing with fiber?
If the 10th Circuit has its way and the RBOCs are permitted to return to their old ways next week, the fallacy of this argument will become abundantly clear soon enough....too bad for those of us who will have to find out (again) the hard way...
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The FCC is not perfect. But what it did first in breaking up local vs. long distance, then in separating basic from value-added services, effectively turned the US into an Internet incubator. This regulatory feat has not been duplicated in many places, and in fact Internet is stymied -- or else radically different -- in those places. In the absence of REAL competition or regulatory fiat, telcos like to charge monopoly prices, defined as "100% of what you might possibly make by using my infrastructure, less small fraction." McCullagh says, "nevermind, fiber will carry everything soon anyway"...whose fiber?? Does he think that individual homes and enterprises all all have multiple fiber entrance facilities? Any network operators on Slashdot like to colo their network gear in sites with a single provider? Why not??? Who thinks that coax and and WiFi are going to compete on an equal footing with fiber? If the 10th Circuit has its way and the RBOCs are permitted to return to their old ways next week, the fallacy of this argument will become abundantly clear soon enough....too bad for those of us who will have to find out (again) the hard way...