Jonbo298
join:2004-01-12
Council Bluffs, IA | and they wont care...
Unfortunately, this wont do much if anything. Bellsouth knows it has a stranglehold over the city and is too afraid to advance itself for the future. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
2 edits |  Guess what: courts rule and not votes
Voters don't get to overrule the constitution and other duly passed laws just because they vote for it. In Louisiana back in the 60s they voted to keep segregation and that vote was overturned. In the US, for good or ill(and I agree often for ill), the last word is in the courts. The letter writer invokes democracy, but the US is a republic and not a democracy and voters don't always get what they want. See California and many other states where passed voter propositions are frequently overturned by the courts.
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richardpor
Fur it up
join:2003-04-19
Portland, OR
| Time to Thow In the towel.
One of the problems with any form of direct democracy is the people tend to vote themselves more benefits from the public trough.
Do not get me wrong I do not like the creation of a government monopoly in what should be a private business, but there should be a way for Bell South revoke any conditions of the franchising agreement and sue for breach of contact and to recover any cost and taxes and to terminate at will any services in Lafayette. |
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Unregistered user
| reply to Jonbo298
Re: and they wont care...
You are, unfortunately, correct. What they need to do is organize something more painful to BellSouth. For example, tell everyone who has local phone service to evaluate their bills and cancel any services they don't need on a certain day. I'm talking about things like Call Waiting, Caller ID, etc. Pick a date, and ask people to cut down on anything they can live without. Not only will it make BellSouth take notice, but it will also save people a few bucks each month. It might even encourage some people to ditch their landlines altogether.
Another effort should be directed to the Louisiana Legislature to change the laws that are allowing BellSouth to obstruct this project. |
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DataDoc
My avatar looks like me, if I was 2D.
Premium
join:2000-05-14
Greenville, NC | Fight fire with fire
The city should use imminent domain and condemn all locations of BellSouth equipment, buildings, etc. to put up their own network.
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Wake up, John Doe, you're the hope of the world. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to richardpor
Re: Time to Thow In the towel.
said by richardpor  :One of the problems with any form of direct democracy is the people tend to vote themselves more benefits from the public trough. You're absolutely right here... Anyone who wants to rob Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul.
However, if BS had bothered to offer upgraded services as a result of customer dissatisfaction in Lafayette, a vote might not have even happened. I am sure that once Verizon Fios and whatever other offerings cable companies throw at their customers will keep most of them happy enough to not opt for the socialist broadband route.
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Rove / Rumsfeld 2008! |
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vanDSLuser
Unimaxx for your biz
Premium
join:2004-07-28
West Vancouver, BC
 ·TELUS
| reply to DataDoc
Re: Fight fire with fire
Something tells me that would bring more lawsuits 
The point being, the only reason the vote was passed is BS provided subpar service that was unacceptable to the citizens. If BS spent even 1/10th of what they spent in legal fees on improving their service this entire thing would not have happened.
It's corporate stupidity at it's finest! |
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lawrence171
Evilly Yours - Evilness
join:2001-12-24
Canada | A Private company?
Why can't the government create a private business to compete with Bell South? |
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digiblur
Got Sipura?
Premium
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana | Who's BellSouth?
Who's BellSouth? Ohhh....that's the company I used to get a bill for almost no service back in 2001 right? |
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Prhamil
join:2001-05-01
Winchester, KY
1 edit | "A Private company?
Why can't the government create a private business to compete with Bell South?"
How can it be "private" if created by "government"??? Are there a lot of private government businesses in Canada?? |
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dcurrey
Premium
join:2004-06-29
 ·ViaTalk
| reply to lawrence171
Re: A Private company?
I have always wondered why the government just doesn't role out fiber and sell access to it to everyone who wants to pay. Treat it as just another infrastructure.
This would force Bellsouth, Verizion, Time Warrner, Comcast all to compete with each other might even get some better and cheaper services out of the deal. |
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GhostDoggy
join:2005-05-11
Duluth, GA
| reply to vanDSLuser
Re: Fight fire with fire
said by vanDSLuser :Something tells me that would bring more lawsuits The point being, the only reason the vote was passed is BS provided subpar service that was unacceptable to the citizens. If BS spent even 1/10th of what they spent in legal fees on improving their service this entire thing would not have happened. It's corporate stupidity at it's finest! Subpar services? Ok, time to play devil's advocate. If BellSouth provided such subpar services then what does that have to say about the thousands of BellSouth Telephone customers, BellSouth Internet Services customers, thousands of Cingular service customers, BellSouth long Distance customer, and so on and so forth?
Stupidity is on both sides of the table. People voted, sure, but they are under the belief that the vote would do something, like ignore the law, ignore court rulings, etc., etc., etc. Also, I can repeat the above paragraph for all telecommunication companies and all cable operators within the city of Lafayette.
I think you fail to really see the necessaity like all of those thousands of customers the phone and cable customers see: its a service they are willing to pay for. You may nit like it, but then again I'd like to see half of the current telephone and cable customers in Lafayette give them up on Tuesday morning. How about it?
Oh, let's start with the 911 and E911 service, too, since no one in Lafayette needs that either. 
BTW, I dislike a lot of things telephone companies do. I can say the same about the cable companies as well, and the cell phone companies, etc., but I can say one thing most of all and that is I trust politicians a lot less. And if you really think it can be done muni-style then why not find a capital venture company to back the public's desires and take it not-for-profit, but private? |
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GhostDoggy
join:2005-05-11
Duluth, GA
| reply to lawrence171
Re: A Private company?
said by lawrence171 :Why can't the government create a private business to compete with Bell South? They people of Lafayette want someone else to do it for them, which are the people they voted into office. They probably do not have the desire in magnitude to seek out the venture capital to create a private, not-for-profit company--then again, no VC entity will back a profitless venture. |
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GhostDoggy
join:2005-05-11
Duluth, GA | Lazy in Lafayette
I like to complain. I admit it. Its easier than getting off my butt and doing something physical. Takes less energy to vote then do. |
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| The power of money
As long as there are politicians to buy (at least not the case in Lafayette) or lawsuits to file, very few municipalities will be successful in putting a system in against the wishes of an incumbent monopoly or duopoly.
I must say though, BellSouth is being the biggest @sshole in Lafayette than almost anywhere else in the country. |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| reply to TKJunkMail
The trouble
With your statements is that there is a difference between a vote of the people that allows something that is unconstitutional, or, against federal law and a vote for something that is not and is clearly lawfull.
Voters in many states DO get to overturn "duly passed laws" and create them. It's called a ballot initiative. What bellsouth is doing is simply the standard tactic to try and obstruct/overturn such initiatives in court. It rarely works because even though there may be initial success in obstructing the vote of the people, the fact is that such ballot initiatives are written into stste constitutions and trump the courts and state legislature as long as they are legal, RE: do not violate Federal laws, or, the federal/state constitution. Inevitably, such cases go to the state supreme court where they are quashed because the court knows they really have no other choice since they themselves cannot violate the state constitution.
It is exactly because the US as a whole (which is made up of 50 individual republics) is a republic also that such things as the ballot initiative exist. It is another check and ballance. |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| reply to GhostDoggy
Re: Fight fire with fire
said by GhostDoggy :Subpar services? Ok, time to play devil's advocate. If BellSouth provided such subpar services then what does that have to say about the thousands of BellSouth Telephone customers, BellSouth Internet Services customers, thousands of Cingular service customers, BellSouth long Distance customer, and so on and so forth? It says those thousands of BS customers were acquired by BS when they didn't have a choice, and that BS is scared $#1+less that they will leave if they have an additional choice.
It doesn't say squat about the Cingular customers, because cellular is a different service, and it says that the thousands of BS LD customers were gained by leveraging the advantages of BS's historical telecom monopoly.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16
Stratford, CT | reply to Jonbo298
Re: and they wont care...
Im not really understanding this , it seems most of the letter is missing. If Bell South along with all the other RBOC's are planning to provide FTTP, why wouldnt they block anyone else if they could? Its just common sense. |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| reply to richardpor
Re: Time to Thow In the towel.
said by richardpor :...there should be a way for Bell South revoke any conditions of the franchising agreement and sue for breach of contact and to recover any cost and taxes and to terminate at will any services in Lafayette. Say what? The franchise agreement doesn't protect BS from competition--if it did, the cable guys couldn't get into the business. Besides, even those franchise agreements that pretended to grant total monopolies were tossed out by the Telecom Act of '96.
And yes, a few telcos pushed the idea that they were "entitled" to get "compensation" for the loss of their "contracted monopoly". They uniformly lost their arguments because there is no protectable property interest in government policies UNLESS they are specifically spelled out in contracts, which Bell monopolies never were.
And as for "terminating service at will", there is a little non-franchise matter of state public utility statutes to worry about, but I realize such concerns get in the way of a serious hissy fit, which seems to be what you advocate for BS to undertake....
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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jimahrens
join:2002-05-30
Owego, NY
1 edit | reply to nasadude
Re: The power of money
Your might at first think this opinion or comment off topic but,
The elected and well paid politicians no longer run America
The big corporations control every aspect of almost everything
Big campaign bucks
big contributors to the politician's favorite charity
(providing flawless service to the politicians home/office)
etc.
back to the golden rule
He who has the gold, makes the rule
You can change the constitution if you have enough money
You can kill 2 people and walk away for little more than 10 million
And if you are president you can lie your ass off and never pay for it
Theft is free for any CEO now days (edit)
Special this year:
Oil company execs get to lie to a congressional committee and be rude at the end
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