RJ44
join:2001-10-19
Nashville, TN
4 edits | Next Gen Broadband Primer (In regards to: »Everything You Need to Know About Next-gen Broadband
Moved from front-page comment section to this forum, since thread focuses on my techno-political positions, not the article itself. -Karl)
Cool, straight news without the anti-Telco bias for once. Those of us who are prefer to use facts to form our own opinions thank you for the refreshing change of pace.
RJ |
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Cod
join:2000-07-05
Kernersville, NC Reviews:
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Refreshing said by RJ44:Cool, straight news without the anti-Telco bias for once. Those of us who are prefer to use facts to form our own opinions thank you for the refreshing change of pace. RJ couldn't agree with you more!!! Well said, RJ44. A nice, UNBIASED Q & A article. This place sure could use more of that around here. |
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| reply to RJ44
Can you provide one concrete example of "anti-telco bias" from any article in the last month, so I can be sure to avoid it in the future? |
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| It would be nice to have some acknowledgment that:
1) DSLReports was dead wrong when it reported that Verizon's fiber plans were a "smokescreen" that would never happen.
2) Telco (partial) deregulation is working exactly as its proponents predicted. |
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Cod
join:2000-07-05
Kernersville, NC Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode:Can you provide one concrete example of "anti-telco bias" from any article in the last month, so I can be sure to avoid it in the future? The last month, no. The last 6 months, where shall we start? Karl, you write great articles and those of us who give you a hard time do so because of the glaring jaded opinions in which they are/were written in. You are very correct though that in the last month there has been a signifigant reduction in 'telco bashing' opinions inserted into front page articles.
I guess all of us who somewhat support the telcos or just want unbiased journalism just feel that we were getting fed up of such articles but it does seem that its being noticed and reduced. The other thing seemed to be that it was always telco bashing and never negative remarks towards the cable companies or atleast on the scale of what was posted in the past about the RBOCS.
Keep up the good work. |
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1. What? Show me that quote. The criticism against Verizon has always been largely focused on their railroading of Pennsylvania back in the mid-nineties. It's great to see decade old promises finally materialize. Nobody claimed it "would never happen". Fiber is obviously the future.
2. I think straight market demand for bandwidth is more responsible than deregulation. Compared to cable, the telcos have remained considerably regulated through this growth spurt yet have gained on cable market share, does that mean regulation works? Jury's still out. |
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| reply to Cod
Thanks for the compliment, but I honestly think - like with Mac users - many telco-fans are very loyal and defensive, and confuse criticism with "telco bashing". If you dig through the articles, cable providers get it in equal doses. For capping, for endless price-hikes, etc.... |
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Cod
join:2000-07-05
Kernersville, NC Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | said by Karl Bode:Thanks for the compliment, but I honestly think - like with Mac users - many telco-fans are very loyal and defensive, and confuse criticism with "telco bashing". If you dig through the articles, cable providers get it in equal doses. For capping, for endless price-hikes, etc.... Well said and probably true. Yes, there are those of us in the telco industry (including myself) who are very loyal and have to bite our lips alot because we know much more about next-gen deployments yet can't say on a public forum as our companies don't like us spreading proprietary information.
I genuinely see my particular RBOC I work for (put 2+2 together by seeing where I live) really pushing next-gen deployments. I am a CO technician and it would amaze people to see the tons & tons of equipment we are installing for future ADSL speed upgrades, IPTV, VOIP, etc. Our contractors who initially install the equipment are so backlogged that they can't keep up with our demand. State wide & regional oc192 rings (10gb) are being turned up right now to meet all of these new services. I hear that all new subdivisions will be getting fiber-to-the-curb in our territory. These are things that aren't widely known.
So, my point is that even with all of the pessimism here, mostly by posters, it makes many of us bite our lips because we see first hand the real initiative and push of what the telcos are doing. Its not half-hearted and is the future of our industry. With the recent BrandX ruling of the cable co's not having to share & contrary to popular belief, that will give the telcos that much more incentive to increase their fiber deployments. |
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RJ44
join:2001-10-19
Nashville, TN | reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode:Can you provide one concrete example of "anti-telco bias" from any article in the last month, so I can be sure to avoid it in the future? Cod's been busy answering this while I was (unfortunately) occupied with trivial matters like moving and related crap, but I'll second his reply about within the last month, maybe not. Did something happen a month ago to change policy here, because I do find it interesting you put a 30 day time limit on your challenge. I think back to a front page headline berating BellSouth for planning to offer IPTV over a 6meg service, for one thing. That was based on two separate articles, one announcing plans for IPTV and another announcing plans to offer a 6meg service. Even though the IPTV announcement clearly stated they were looking at bonding ADSL2+ pairs for 24meg, the DSLR article omitted that part and made it look like they were planning to offer IPTV over a 6meg line.
That's the most glaring example I could come up with just off the top of my head, but if the policy has changed to reflect unbiased reporting in the last 30 days, that's wonderful.
RJ |
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4 edits | No, feel free to reach back before 30 days if need be. I just figured if I put a 30 day window, you'd be able to pick plenty from memory. If I'm hard on a telco, it's usually geared around their lobbyist manipulation of the political system.
In Bellsouth's case, the criticism was that 4-6Mbps worth of post video bandwidth for a next gen upgrade is not impressive, I think that is a fair critique. You'll note as they announced they'd be using VDSL2, that criticism softens.
Here's every deep-link article posted on BellSouth's ADSL2+ plans, from most recent to oldest:
»More on BellSouth Next Gen
»BellSouth Will Embrace VDSL2
»BellSouth 4-6Mbps
»BellSouth DSL Upgrades This Year
»BellSouth Network Upgrades
I don't think a single one is even remotely harsh. The very first one I recall had a mistype suggesting they would try to push video via 6Mbps (when it should have read 12 or bonded 24) in the sub-headline, but that was a corrected mis-type, not malice. |
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I'm talking about articles like these:
"The Boy Who Cried Fiber"
»The Boy Who Cried Fiber
"Blinded By the Light"
»Blinded By the Light
The thrust of these articles is that Verizon's fiber deployment is vapor, a ploy, a mere "trial", and should not be believed. In fact, it was (is) a landmark event in U.S. telecom history, and you completely missed the story. |
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4 edits | Please don't mischaracterize what I've written.
Neither story called fiber deployment a "ploy", and neither predicted fiber would never come. And at the time, Keller was a trial.
Both of those stories urged skepticism after almost 15 years of empty promises. Both focused on skepticism surrounding the use of fiber as a deregulatory carrot on a stick. There's still industry skepticism about the costs per install (as evident by SBC and BellSouth's exploration of VDSL2 instead).
Those were all valid arguments back then, and are still valid arguments today.
Now we're just now starting to see the deployment of residential fiber promised (and in some cases paid for by taxpayers) way back in 1993 and I'm thrilled, as I've mentioned in probably three dozen Fios news posts since then. In fact I just dished out praise again yesterday.
But people should still be skeptical about the Fios PR hype. The majority of users will not see Fios for half a decade, if ever, and I think Dave's 50% in 4 year prediction is very optimistic. I also still don't like the use of fiber as a deregulatory tool, or their muni-blocking legislative efforts. |
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 tschmidtPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:5
 ·Fairpoint Commun..
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| reply to RJ44
Re: Refreshing I want to chime in and defend Broadband Reports in its reporting of both Telcos and Cablecos. One needs to draw a distinction between legitimate skepticism and unwarranted bashing.
Both industries have made and broken many broadband promises. That is starting to change as broadband becomes more of a commodity. We are seeing a flurry of activity on both sides to deliver higher speed service.
On the down side, as Karl Bode  posted, both have lobbied Congress to sway lawmakers in their favor, while disadvantaging competitors. In the short term the burst of build-out activity benefits everyone in that more residences are able to get high speed Internet service. The down side is we have set up a system where First-Mile providers are building vertically integrated networks that are able to exercise almost total control over how they are used by customers and service providers. The power of the Internet is its ability to provide transparent end-to-end delivery. This allows anyone to set up shop and deliver a service without the permission or cooperation of the network owner. This openness also makes it difficult for First-Mile providers to differentiate their service on other then a speeds and feeds basis. Both industries see vertical integration as a way to increase profitability. To their credit Telcos have delivered a more open network then Cablecos, due to their long history as a regulated common carrier.
The question before us is what sort of “public good” restrictions should First-Mile providers operate under? Currently the answer is none. The belief is that unregulated free enterprise is the best way to deliver next generation communication services. The jury is still out on how successful this approach will be in the long term.
/Tom |
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