CenturyLink Urges Employees to Thank North Carolina Lawmakers > What's So Bad?

reply to openbox9

Re: What's So Bad?

reply to swintec
I know, I asked the same question in Karl's last editorial when the law was passed. I never received a realistic response.

reply to swintec
Why? TWC and Suddenlink are building for profit, a government project is building to provide service and ideally run self-sufficiently. Two different goals, why should the government sponsored project have to play on the same "field", especially when the private companies have taken a pass or are non-committal when they will expand/upgrade?

What sort of things would constitute this "playing field", in what ways will the government project have advantages?

gov't does NOT have to pay ROW fees. Gov't is non-profit there for does NOT pay taxes. Gov't project is tied to PUBLIC money. It's a money pit as it can NEVER turn a profit. It's subject to the $$$ it makes before it can even upgrade. A Gov't system may never have the $$$ to even upgrade the system when needed (BPON to GPON,etc), more bandwidth to the Internet, be able to pay the fees that content providers demand to access their channels, etc. It all costs money that they NEVER include over time. Also those trucks that install the service cost money- who do you think pays for those? The Citizens do- They also pay for the fuel those trucks use. More and more money always going down the drain. The cities should be focused on providing an updated emergency response crew (new fire trucks, EMSes, police cars, etc) and training that is ALWAYS on-going and changing. Those come FIRST when running a city. NOT after an FTTH network. If you don't have any people living in the city due to your first responders are NOT able to put out fires or respond people are going to move; then who is going to foot the bill for the network that nobody is signing up to use? TAX PAYERS that still live there. Also why should a 90year old Grandma have to pay to support a network that she'll probably NEVER use to start off with; nor care about?

The atlantic coast has so much fiber runing from north to south, there should be room for more than 2 companies if there is no real competition. Let's not forget where the goal posts should be by now: 25 megabits entry level, 50 megabits 2nd tier, and 100 megabits 3rd tier. Prices capped at $35, $65, and $140 stand-alone. Yet, if you can't even get DSL or cable above 25 megabits you are being screwed and that gives a 3rd carrier (goverment owned & operated or not) the right to correct this abuse & neglect. Broadband was considered an important item to obtain way back in the mid 1990s. SOme 25 years later these goals fall far short despite how close some of this unlit fiber physically is to your home. As more consumers demand broadband access, the service does end up becoming a national interest which puts it in the category of a utility. Once this happens the public interest must be served and corporations either go with the flow or get out of the way. For at least city adopted by google, that's the reality. Verizon is re-examining certain municipalities in (rual) upstate NY for deployment-- once they decided to go municipal. If companies such as AT&T can't be pushed to deploy, then they're gonna see some 2nd & 3rd carriers push into their footprint in the next 5-15 years. Also, if some of these carriers are muni's that have an unfair advantage.. so be it! Milking DSL/copper pair and docsis 2.0 (or not providing service at all) is not going to be well recieved by consumers anymore into 2012 & beyond.

reply to firephoto
unsafe drinking water as it's not treated to take out any chemicals that may have leaked into the water- and states are changing that law allowing people to dig wells again. Sorry. You can also have your water hauled in and use a sisterin. Burning trash creates pollution and causes people to get sick. We have enough floating around in the air than having someone out burning their trash. An out house? LMAO! Back to the water issue. You do realize that untreated human waste will make you sick if it leaks into the water you are drinking?

Gov't's right is NOT to be in business. It's to PROTECT and Serve their citizens with the PROTECTION they need. You do NOT need the Internet. It does NOT keep you safe, healthy or anything else you get from city taxes (Fire protection, ems services, police, etc).

reply to tmc8080
The fiber that is in the ground already and is NOT used is NOT the same fiber that is being talked about. That is dark-fiber and backbone fiber. They're not going to turn that into FTTH. The FTTH network has to be linked to that at some point at the CO.

The talk is about spending money that is NOT needed on building out the CO and the last mile of the FTTH network to areas that have services. l and Internet will NEVER be a utility. Talking about Google? LMAO! You know that network is only used for ONE reason. To spy on those users and will be closed down after a while. Google's stock holders will NOT be a competing ISP service with any carrier. VZ with FiOS? That's another laugh. Their numbers are not matching protections and that is a HUGE problem of theirs and they know it. Shareholders will NOT put up with that problem. They have LTE to cover those areas that will NEVER have FiOS in their actual footprint and in areas that they decided to sell off (smart move on VZ's part on getting rid of a landline based service- reduced cost by having it wireless).

And customers/consumers will take what ever the companies give them. Why? because the only thing that they'll do is complain on message boards or threaten to cancel and NEVER do. So yes; you will get what they give you; take it and move on. The same as what consumers do with gas for your cars.

reply to hottboiinnc
I've always been confused by how people who have a fundamental belief in the corruption, incompetence and even malignant intent of government can be so willing to allow such a government to define and deliver the protection they need. How can a government that can't be trusted to spend tax money be trusted to decide war and peace, life and death, and to coerce us into giving our lives in war? Surely any sane human being would give government control over their money before they would give government control over their survival and physical safety?

reply to hottboiinnc
Corporate troll.

reply to swintec

I think the fundamental question or outlook here is, is fiber high speed broadband really something that should be a public utility like water, roads, etc.? Should the government bear the cost and manage the buildouts? I really don't think we are there yet as a society. I don't think this is a top of mind burning issue for most people.