moby866
Premium
join:2000-10-07
Above you |  Very good news
Perhaps this will inspire other places to do the same. |
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JPuppy
Java Heathen
Premium
join:2002-11-24
Honesdale, PA
clubs: | Awesome
I hope this turns out well, for their sake and for Munis that are trying to get the ball rolling.
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Official BBR Grouch |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20 | Don't care...
I don't care who launches advance technologies such as fiber to the home just as long as they are launched.
It's good that a po-dunk part of the country will get a great service, but I still personally don't care if it's muni run or not. |
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rodoke
join:2003-10-28
Carbondale, IL
| It's good to see
that people can get what they want at least once in a while. Compared to the past successes of telcos and cablecos, it's encouraging to see that some people don't just blindly accept those companies' FUD and promises.
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英語の言葉は綴り難い。 |
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Mactron
el camino Real
Premium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv
| reply to moby866
Re: Very good news
Good news for service to the community. Probably not so good for the 1300 employees of the SBC wireless center that SBC will close now like spoiled children. WaW, you didn't play by my rules. I'll just my ball (jobs) and go home. Waw, Waw !! Gotta love Monopolies. 
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If only the Verizon CSRs worked this well.  |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to moby866
said by moby866  :Perhaps this will inspire other places to do the same. I hope so too. But I am sure Bell South and Cox aren't done battling yet. The next battle in this war will no doubt be in the courts. Monopolies have large legal staffs with nothing to do but help maintain those monopolies.
--
My Web Page
Join Red Room Forum |
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AbBaZaBbA
Premium
join:2002-07-10
Wildomar, CA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to fiberguy
Re: Don't care...
said by fiberguy :I don't care who launches advance technologies such as fiber to the home just as long as they are launched. It's good that a po-dunk part of the country will get a great service, but I still personally don't care if it's muni run or not. trust me here... if verizon was the only provider to rollout ftth all over the us, they woudl drive everyone out of business at first, but then later when no one can compete they'd jack rates to higher than they were before. It's how monopolies work. |
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lippy
@comcast.net | no to taxes
wow, taxes paying for fiber. What a shame. |
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RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
 ·XMission
|  But on the negative side
[RANT]
73% of the people either said they did not care or that what ever side they would vote on would fail, so why go vote.
That means that only 17% of the people voted for it and 10% against it. I do not care which side you are on, the telco/cable side or the town side, this just points up one of the biggest problems with democracy. If Joe six-pack is content to sit in front of the telly sucking on his suds (no sexist meaning intended), then a very minor minority will decide what happens, good or bad.
Where were the other 36,000 or so people? Do they not care that the call center was threatening them if they did this or that the City maybe was doing a boondoggle or that maybe this is the best idea since (insert favorite best idea), or any number of reasons to hit the polls? It is not like like it is all that hard to vote (well, except for a few places that you can think of).
[/RANT]
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
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ScottMo
Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-15
Stony Brook, NY
| Government run?
Why is everyone so gung-ho on this? I can't imagine what a fiasco a muni-run FTTH would be. This city of 110,000 is going to take $125 million from a bond and build FTTH. Don't they have better use for $125 million than to spend it on fiber? Except that the bond issue says that the utility company can spend the $125m on said by bond:
"...for repurchasing or paying any such bonds and for constructing, acquiring and improving the combined waterworks plant and system, electric power and light plant and system and sewer systems of the City..."
The city's plan is to "test" out their fiber network in a few neighborhoods to see if people will buy it. If its not a hit, the utility company (LUS) will just abandon it. If it loses money the utility company will cover the bond costs from water/sewer/electrical bills. Whether you have FTTH or not, you'll pay for those who do.
Municipalities running what should be provided by for-profit companies (telecommunications) are generally a poor deal. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Very good news
BellSouth serves Lafayette not SBC, but don't let facts get in the way of a good rant.
Another commenter noticed the 27% turn-out. I noticed the "turned out in large numbers" puffery in the story posted here. Can't say that this was a ringing endorsement, unfortunately. Just that 17% of registered voters said "yes", 10% said "no" and 73% said "who cares". I seriously doubt that this win--and I think it was good for Lafayette--"will inspire other places to do the same". More likely, it will confirm what many local governments already think: This is a niche issue, with very little popular support. Oh well.. |
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acadiel
Keep trying - don't give up
Premium
join:2002-06-22
Bloomington, IL
·Comcast
·DSL EXTREME
| Its about darn time!!
I lived in Lafayette in 2000-2001 (worked on my Master's degree in Telecommunications at UL-Lafayette) and I remember all the talk about this fiber ring and what would come out of it.
I'm envious of the people of Lafayette being able to get this stuff now.... glad to see that the people didn't fall for Cox and BellSouth's BS - maybe they'll be forced to actually be competitive now?
- acadiel |
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chaser7016
@68.34.x.x | reply to ScottMo
Re: Government run?
They should just use the investment to build it and then hand the admining, marketing, customer serivice, etc to private businesses like Earthlink or NetZero. That would be great for competition and for the proliferation of broadband! |
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firephoto
KDE
Premium
join:2003-03-18
·Verizon west (ex G..
| reply to ScottMo
said by ScottMo :Municipalities running what should be provided by for-profit companies (telecommunications) are generally a poor deal. And why should these services be provided by for-profit companies? My electricity, water, sewer doesn't come from a for-profit entity so why does my ability to talk on the phone or use the internet have to?
My county has ftth and so does the other two counties close by and they are all connected together and they are all public entities running them. Now if you are an individual and want service you have to go through a private ISP since this state passed a law to protect the telcos and slow the progress of the public utilities deploying fiber but it doesn't add significantly to the cost unless you choose an isp with a high price. If you didn't have to go through an isp you would probably save about $15 a month. Also in this county they are using radios in a lot of places they can't serve with fiber directly but the public utility is providing those radios to the isp so that essentially is part of the utility fee. Also with small percentage of the population using the fiber it is paying for itself so I would expect wholesale prices to remain where they are or even fall somewhat as time passes and for them to deploy fiber directly to some of the more rural areas.
So I guess I'm still wondering where these bad municipality run ftth deployments are?
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Location: N48°05.3' W119°48.5' |
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TheGhost
Premium
join:2003-01-03
Lake Forest, IL
clubs: | reply to RadioDoc
Re: Very good news
Maybe they should have said "relatively" large turnout. |
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WiseOldNerd
De gustibus non est disputandum
Premium
join:2001-11-25
Phoenix, AZ
·Cox HSI
·Qwest.net
·Charter Pipeline
| Right On Lafayette
For profit monopolies are bad. Unregulated for profit monopolies, i.e. most cable companies, are worse. If these "great bastions of the American way" would welcome competition rather than trying to stifle it, perhaps many of us would be less likely to judge them negatively. |
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Time
Premium
join:2003-07-05 | Wow..
Our schools are giving children terrible educations and they are using tax money to build a fiber network? That's ridiculous. |
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FiberNow
@cox.net | You must have not followed the issue. The network is to be paid for with revenue bonds, not taxes. |
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RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
·XMission
| reply to Time
California schools may have gone to pot (no pun intended), but how can you judge schools in Louisiana? I worked with some sharp people from that state.
About California, when my niece moved to the Phoenix area of Arizona from just north of Los Angeles, she had to take remedial classes just to catch up. And some neighbors of mine moved from the Riverside area last fall and said about the same thing for their kids. And I thought Utah was bad when I moved here from Texas and my daughter was doing stuff she did the previous year in. I can see why you are griping.
So you should not judge other states on California's lack in order to support a view.
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
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gh4456
Premium,VIP
join:2004-04-07
Beverly Hills, CA | reply to Time
Of course it's the school's fault - sorry to hijack thread but why don't parents ever take any of the responsibility! |
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