dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
 ·Comcast
1 edit | Leagalese
Instead of hiding it in some BS Lawyer-Speak on some agreement... try stating *UP FRONT* that there will be a fee schedule and see how far these cities drag your asses along.
I'm betting that if it was clear... they would have been shown the door a long time ago!
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Think outside the Fox... Opera |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
|  Newsflash...
quote:
The city of Anchorage says that MetroFi unexpectedly requested a $3000 monthly fee for a service that the government expected to be free.
Wow... stuff costs money, who knew?!
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| $3 gasoline
Well, just like everything, isn't Alaska swimming in OIL rich cash flow? you know it's hovering in the $60-80 per barrel mark these days.. which equates to $3 gasoline.. and the state is crying poor?
That deserves a 3 month ban on Alaska broadband topics from BBR! |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
1 edit | It's not the money...
The issue here is not the actual money. $36k/year is really not very much for a city the size of Anchorage.
The issue is that this was a bid process and MetroFi won the bid in part because they offered free access to the city. Then, after the bid was awarded and before the contract was signed, MetroFi added the fee that was not in the original bid. There were five other companies who responded to the original RFP who now should have an opportunity to beat MetroFi's real offer.
And as the mayor mentioned, the city expects even more companies to respond to the new RFP.
The problem is not the money, the problem is MetroFi submitting bids that they cannot meet.
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ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://bbs.iscabbs.com
Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | Wow that's lame. They should be fined into bankruptcy. |
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Done_Posting
Shoot to kill
Premium
join:2003-08-22
Toledo, OH
·buckeye cable
| MetroFi - Bah
These guys need to go away. I haven't heard anything good about them, and it pisses me off that they somehow beat out the telco I work for to provide WiFi here in Toledo.
Shady, shady, shady.
- Tate
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Happiness is an OC-48 in your basement... |
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supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL
 ·Cox VOIP
·Skype
·Cox HSI
 ·AT&T Southeast
·magicjack.com
| reply to tmc8080
Re: $3 gasoline
said by tmc8080  :Well, just like everything, isn't Alaska swimming in OIL rich cash flow? you know it's hovering in the $60-80 per barrel mark these days.. which equates to $3 gasoline.. and the state is crying poor? That deserves a 3 month ban on Alaska broadband topics from BBR! The pipeline has suffered huge problems and eventually has to be taken off-line to redo some sections that sprungs leaks.
Alaskians do get about $3,000 or so a year from the oil revenue sharing. How come they can't afford free broadband on that windfall they get every year?
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | reply to Anonymous
Re: It's not the money...
No need for fines. Rebidding is the way to handle it.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | And what's preventing some other company to try to pull the same crap? |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | What crap? They bid, they didn't live up to the bid, they lost the contract and (if Anchorage has any brains at all) their bid deposit.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to supergirl
Re: $3 gasoline
said by supergirl :Alaskians do get about $3,000 or so a year from the oil revenue sharing. How come they can't afford free broadband on that windfall they get every year? I was going to say they spend it on tubes and dump trucks, but I am also guessing all those bridges to nowhere add up to a pretty penny too.
Oh wait, the rest of us are paying for that.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| reply to marigolds
Re: It's not the money...
said by marigolds :The issue here is not the actual money. $36k/year is really not very much for a city the size of Anchorage. The issue is that this was a bid process and MetroFi won the bid in part because they offered free access to the city. Then, after the bid was awarded and before the contract was signed, MetroFi added the fee that was not in the original bid. There were five other companies who responded to the original RFP who now should have an opportunity to beat MetroFi's real offer. And as the mayor mentioned, the city expects even more companies to respond to the new RFP. The problem is not the money, the problem is MetroFi submitting bids that they cannot meet. So, what your saying is Alaska doesn't know how to write iron-clad contracts? There should have been no real wiggle room and this should have been spelled out or written in as "negotiated in good faith" language, etc.. no company should be THAT stupid to do a free buildout, AND give free bandwidth, and expect to lose in the return on investment at the same time... because if so, I've got an Iraqi oil field I'd like to sell the rights to... oh wait, we're already pumping about 10+Billion over there.. and not a single drop of oil lowers our price at the pump... quite the contrary. |
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | There was no contract. It didn't even get that far. They won a bid and then tried to change the terms before it went to contract.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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waiter
Premium
join:2006-12-20
Millbury, OH
| reply to Done_Posting
Re: MetroFi - Bah
Me To;
I'm wondering if Carty or someone else got thier pockets lined. This deal stunk from the very beginning.
I sent a copy of the article to the local radio stations.
Waiter
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HN7000S .74m antenna pointed at 113 West 1250 Mhz Pro-Plus Static IP |
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koolman2
Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK | reply to supergirl
Re: $3 gasoline
$3,000 a year? The PFD has yet to top $2,000... Even then, $1,500 a year isn't THAT much.
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There's no place like ::1. |
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koolman2
Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK | reply to pnh102
The Knik Arm bridge is very much needed. If you would like to have a discussion about it, please PM me. The other bridge down near Juneau is a stupid idea.
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There's no place like ::1. |
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Brat75
Cats rule
join:2003-02-05
Auburn, WA
| reply to supergirl
We do NOT get that much money.
PFD (permanent fund dividend) has varied in amounts since 1982.
Here's a link, showing a table of the various dividends.
»www.pfd.state.ak.us/dividendamou···dex.aspx
One thing this PFD does for us is help us LIVE in Alaska. If you don't know, almost EVERYTHING must be shipped (barge, truck or airline) to Alaska. Our produce is 10 days old when it's for sale in Anchorage. Our clothing is slightly outdated. Beer kegs, for god's sakes...have a week long expiration point, due to shipping! They *kegs* start as 21 day long items, but by the time they land in AK, they have 7 days before they're considered dead.
Gas isn't cheap in Alaska. Anchorage is the main city, but people live in the Bush. Sometimes Diesel costs $6/gal out in the Bush, due to shipping. A lot of villages out in the Bush still don't have plumbing/ sewage. Food....is interesting. Costco does a great deal of business for Bush orders - staples bought by customers out in the Bush. But guess what? Most of the villages don't have commercial sized airline strips!!! A lot of the flown in stuff is flown in on smaller airplanes - which means - less per shipment coming in.
Something else:
There are 2 - 3 FO pipelines coming into Anchorage from Seattle. There are a couple going to Juneau and Seward. There is literally no fiber optic infrastructure past Fairbanks. If you live in Nome, you use...Satellite. With a 600ms lag. If you live in Willow, you _might_ get cable modem, but it really depends if the ISPs have decided to lay any infrastructure in that area.
Does this answer your question?
Brat75
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Salted Pineapple, anyone? |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to koolman2
said by koolman2 :The Knik Arm bridge is very much needed. The Intercounty Connecter is needed near where I live.
I-95 in Virginia needs to be significantly expanded as well.
We need to add the Purple and Silver lines to the DC Metro (among other lines which I cannot remember off the top of my head).
There are literally tons of needed road and transit projects here that won't get built because of lack of funds. But we don't have senators or representatives with seniority like Ted Stevens or Don Young who can funnel the money into our coffers for us either. For the ICC, we ended up paying for that one out of our own pockets by making that a toll road.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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koolman2
Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK | The Knik Arm bridge would save 100 miles per day on commutes in extreme cases. 50 miles per day would be typical.
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There's no place like ::1. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by koolman2 :The Knik Arm bridge would save 100 miles per day on commutes in extreme cases. 50 miles per day would be typical. I'm not disputing your claim that the bridge is needed. I am just saying it would also be nice for the federal government to pay for other transportation projects as well.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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