Verizon Ban Could Cripple Philly Wi-Fi > Cannot read it...

Cannot read it...

Should be fixed now?

reply to keyboard5684
Someone had a link to a website that allowed you to get a username and password, without registering.

I forget who posted it or where... hopefully the person will post again..

reply to keyboard5684
Your the only one. I can read it just fine without signing up for anything. Anyway this is just an example of corporate greed. I hope the lawmakers don't pass this bill.

reply to David
»www.bugmenot.com/

Bug me not...

But I believe I fixed the link.
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Vote Palpatine/Skywalker '05: Moral Values for the Republic!

reply to jsouth
I think they fixed the link after I posted...

Anyway, now that I can read it, I do not think governments should be able to set up broadband networks that are extremely cheap because they are funded by tax payers.

Everyone in a city uses water, it makes sense to have local government run that. Less than 40% of people have broadband and I think the last numbers I looked at were 70% do not even want any internet access!!

So my point is the government should not be bringing in cheaper services than the current providers already have. Market driven prices are market driven prices and introducing government (again, tax payers) into the picture basically throws the idea out the window.

Why not start government controlled grocery stores that are cheaper? Maybe car sales? Of course not. Generally the only think the government used to get into were things that were not profitable, where the only people that would pay for it was tax payers. This includes roads, street lights and other things that really do not rake in profit.

The way I see it, cities needs to generate income -- we all know they got too fat in the '90s, so way not resale access?

Or they could just say, f-it, and raise taxes or better yet, lay off police, fire, teachers, their brother in-laws, wifes, girl friends, etc.

Don't lose sleep over it, Comcast and everyone else selling access is making a small mint.

reply to keyboard5684
Couldn't have said it better myself. I agree with you 100% Why not state run grocery stores? Can you say, "USSR"? LOL! It's a slippery slope when governments think they can take taxpayer money and run private enterprise (greedy corps to some of you) out of business. Glad I live in a Red state where conservative heads prevail.
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Of all the people I know... you're one of them.

reply to Karl Bode

reply to keyboard5684

I was thinking more of borough/city roads.

reply to keyboard5684
You don't consider data-communications networks as part of the necessary infrastructure of a modern, civilized, society? What if things like exercising your civic duty, move entirely on-line? (Hopefully that will never happen, but it's possible.)

What about the telephone networks, or the postal mail network?

Should only 40% of society have access to those?

One of the only reasons that the telco POTS network has such widespread coverage, is that gov't regulations *mandate* that.

Why should the newly-emergent datacomms networks be any different?

reply to needforspeed59
Okay, so how about we privatize those fire departments and police stations then? I'm sure that quality Verizon-type customer service would be just wonderful.

"For grease fires, press 1. For electrical fires, press 2. For gasoline fires, press 3...If you suspect arson, press 4. For other life-threatening emergencies, press 5. If you don't know the type of fire you are being burned by, please press 6."

reply to Karl Bode
Login: yourlosingreaders@philly.com Password: verystupid

quote:

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Posted on Thu, Nov. 18, 2004

Pa. may block city 'Wi-Fi' plan, backers say

By Akweli Parker

Inquirer Staff Writer

Supporters of Philadelphia's plan to provide wireless Internet access blasted a bill in the state General Assembly last night that they said threatened the city's proposal.

House Bill 30, which needs only Senate approval before being sent to Gov. Rendell, contains a clause forbidding governments from providing fast Internet services - including wireless fidelity, or "Wi-Fi," access - that competes with private services such as Verizon Communications Inc.'s DSL and Comcast Corp.'s cable modem.

This fall, Mayor Street said his administration would look at providing Wi-Fi access citywide at little or no charge.

At a Wi-Fi Forum organized by Philadelphia nonprofit Media Tank last night, speakers told the audience to complain to legislators about the restriction.

"Your involvement as citizens is crucial; as citizens, you don't have to put up with that," said Harold Feld, associate director of the Media Access Project in Washington.

Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell didn't see what all the fuss was about.

"This legislation and that facet of the legislation has been there for a year," he said in a telephone interview. "House Bill 30 represents a negotiation among several parties."

A Comcast spokeswoman said the company did not view Philadelphia's plan as a threat, as Comcast's cable-modem service includes add-ons such as video e-mail and exclusive content.

Feld and other speakers portrayed government-sponsored Wi-Fi as a cheap, simple way to provide citizens Internet access where the private sector either does not, or does so at unaffordable prices.

"The private sector is doing what the private sector always did, which is serve rich people," said Mark Cooper, research director for Washington-based Consumer Federation of America.

Philadelphia's Wi-Fi venture is reminiscent of cities that long ago established water and electric systems to serve their poorest citizens when private firms failed to step up, Cooper said.

"We see this as a fundamental public function," he said of broadband access.

The contested bill is the proposed replacement for the state's far-reaching telecommunications law that was created 10 years ago and expired in December. Both the old and the new versions define the rules for competition among telephone providers and established a time line for deploying fast Internet service, or broadband, throughout the state.

Verizon's Mitchell said: "There is a lot of good stuff in this bill, good stuff for Pennsylvania," including a $42 million technology fund for schools, and a 30 percent discount on high-speed Internet service for schools.

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reply to keyboard5684
Verizon really doesn't want wireless community wi-fi, people might get the bright idea they don't need those expensive cell phones anymore. Verizon still needs millions more-- when they collect all those 'taxes and surcharges' it goes into their accounts where they make investments while they find every loophole to delay paying their taxes to municipalities and gov't agencies so they can have the best advantage tax wise, did I mention they pay taxes like an unemployed worker...
:=-)
Well if philly can't be known for wireless, they can add fiber platters to the philly cheesesteak!! and make
it a MUNI!

reply to bluestateofmind

said by bluestateofmind:

Okay, so how about we privatize those fire departments and police stations then? I'm sure that quality Verizon-type customer service would be just wonderful.

"For grease fires, press 1. For electrical fires, press 2. For gasoline fires, press 3...If you suspect arson, press 4. For other life-threatening emergencies, press 5. If you don't know the type of fire you are being burned by, please press 6."

reply to keyboard5684
I am as conservative as anyone out there (at least as far as economic policies are concerned) but I do think that telecom services are "public goods" in the strict economic definition, and should be treated as such.

I think you can argue they are at least as much a public good as K-12 education, and most people seem to think that public funding of education is OK.

However, a practice that I find horrific, especially in the supposed free market, is that any company would choose support laws that expressly reduce competition and enforce those companies' ability to monopolize and provide crappy service.

And as I recall from economics 101, the overall economic loss from the inefficiency of monopoly is pretty large too.

reply to enOehT
the country needs a broadband versions of the TVA imo, but it wont happen.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports