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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: What problem... how about this one? Um, move out of the sticks you crazy hick! Oh, er... | |
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newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD | Re: What problem... how about this one? Well gollleee . . . ain't that jus' whut they said when we got 'lectricity & telerfone . . .
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| | | viperlmw
Premium
join:2005-01-25 | Re: What problem... how about this one? newview, love the Max Headroom! | |
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| JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
| said by PhoenixDown  :I live in NYC yet I'm unable to get DSL. If I want broadband, my only choice is via Time Warner Cable. You at least have an option. Be glad you are not in Western Massachussetts,West Virginia,Maine or New Hampshire. I'm sure they are more no broadband areas but those are the ones that come to mind right away.
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| | Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA | Re: What problem... how about this one? Southern NH has FIOS, just for the record. | |
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wifi4milez
In Need Of Garbage Pail Kids 1st Series
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| said by PhoenixDown :I live in NYC yet I'm unable to get DSL. If I want broadband, my only choice is via Time Warner Cable. Is that because your building management will only let TW in? If you can receive phone service from Verizon then you should be able to get DSL. You must be within 18k feet of a DSL equipped CO! I was not aware that any area of Queens did not have the equipment necessary to provide DSL, assuming you can get a POTS line of course.
PS. A great tool I just found on this site.
»/coinfo
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я люблю Денди! | |
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Phattieg
join:2001-04-29
Jacksonville, FL
| The FCC could give two $h!+$ if your oly option is TWC. All they SHOULD care about is the fact that a broadband connection is even available in your area. You may HATE Time Warners service, you may love it, I don't know. But what matters is YOU HAVE AN AVAILABLE ISP FOR BROADBAND. Whether or not you even like them, consider the fact that the main concern of the FCC is to get broadband access available in some way, shape, or form to everyone. But I do agree with raising the standard on what is considered broadband. I have seen plenty of DSL customers who are on packages that are so slow, my Sprint Motorola Q can out perform them. And I don't know about you, but I have also seen my cellphone out perform a Clearwire "broadband" connection. So I agree. A new set of rules would help, and may even lower some bills for folks who are "below the new FCC standard". Either that, or they could also force everyone to pay more for the plan that adheres to the new standard. But clairification is more important. No upgrades will be deployed unless they are in the hot seat. | |
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| | magusat999
join:2005-07-08
Oakland, CA
 ·Comcast
| Re: What problem... how about this one? Yeah - but what the heck IS broadband? As the net gets heavier, 1.5mps doesn't cut it anymore - that's like 56k now, because nobody is optimizing their websites for speed anymore. I don't agree that people should be happy "just to have broadband". We should have COMPETITIVE BROADBAND - and when I say competitive, I mean worldwide. Europe is jogging at 10-20mps, Japan has it for FREE at 30+mps, Canada is right next door and they get 10+mps - yet here we are in America; supposedly the most advanced, the most innovative, the richest and most powerful country in the history of the entire Earth - and we can't seem to string a freakin' line across a few miles to give someone broadband internet - and if we do, it's barely 3% of the quality (speed) and ten times more expensive than our competition in another country that totally depends on us to even make enough to put food in the bowl!
We shouldn't be satisfied or happy with that dark reality! It's ludicrous and ridiculous, not to mention ironic. Unfortunately, nothing going to change unless every apathetic American is replaced by a real human and actually DOES SOMETHING... and there's as much chance of that happening as there is for the FCC not toturn down a pay-off... | |
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Anon Name
@rr.com | What's wrong with Time Warner Cable? They are the best and #1 in NYC. DSL is just a phone line and is very slow, always disconnects daily. I've had it and don't like it. | |
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TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
|  Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points
Freshly appointed FCC Commissioner Michael McDowell
The "Freshly appointed" adjective is supposed to make McDowell's points sound like they are coming from an inexperienced person. In fact, he took office more than a year ago.
»www.fcc.gov/commissioners/mcdowell/ sworn in as FCC Commissioner on June 1, 2006. »www.fcc.gov/commissioners/mcdowe···phy.html
Commissioner McDowell brings to the FCC approximately sixteen years of private sector experience in the communications industry. Immediately prior to joining the FCC, Commissioner McDowell was senior vice president and assistant general counsel for COMPTEL, an association representing competitive facilities-based telecommunications service providers, emerging VoIP providers, integrated communications companies, and their supplier partners, where he had responsibilities involving advocacy efforts before Congress, the White House and executive agencies. He has served on the North American Numbering Council (NANC) and on the board of directors of North American Numbering Plan Billing and Collection, Inc. (NBANC).
Prior to joining COMPTEL in February 1999, McDowell served as the executive vice president and general counsel of America's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA), which merged with COMPTEL at that time. As to the points in his editorial statement:
OECD methodology is flawed as he adequately demonstrates;
Gov't regulation usually causes problems(I admit this is a debatable position depending on your viewpoint);
Broadband growth will continue based on new video apps.
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Internet News
My BLOG
My Web Page | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points rah rah rah | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points You forgot "siss boom bah". I hate it when that happens.
Oh, and while I was reading the "worthy's" bio, the phrase "industry shill" kept running through my head. Why is that? | |
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Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA
| Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points Ah yes, the old "industry shill" line. Childish and irrelevant, but still frequently used as a hedge against having to build a real argument.
It couldn't possibly be that one actually holds those opinions, right? It must be that the person is a mindless robot for the evil "industry."
Even if a person works for the industry, how does that make his opinion less valid? In fact working, you know, IN the industry might actually give them a better perspective not necessarily based in the "me, me, me, mine, mine, mine" of many anti-industry groups.
Adam | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points What makes me use the "Industry Shill" sobriquet? It's easy:
The copious amounts of whitewash the guy utilizes.
And I am sure the gentleman holds the opinions that he states. After all, shilling has been profitable to him. Can't really expect full spectrum candor, now can you? | |
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Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points Nor from the "Consumer Shills..." ie, the "me, me, me" crowd...
Adam | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points "Me, me, me"?
Well, it certainly beats the alternative, which is a chronic case of being bent over with one's pants around one's ankles.
You might also take notice of the fact that few of the benefits of the "economies of scale" that all these mergers and acquisitions in the telecom and cable industries ever seem to filter down to the lumpen proletariat, whom, you must admit, pays the bills.
You need but ask any Comcast subscriber about that. | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points I've always found consumers were very unreasonable with their constant demand to not be screwed. | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points You have a point. After all, how dare they protect their cloacal vents from their betters and their whims? | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points Well and their unwillingness to at least negotiate being screwed just strikes me as really, really stubborn. | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points And unreasonable. They just refuse to accept that we now live in The Age of The Goddess Ayn Rand, where giants walk the earth and refuse to be bound by the petty laws, made by jealous lessers, passed to fetter them from attaining their true greatness and just rewards. They are our New Nobility, destined to greatness by God.
It is the responsibility of everyone to happily accept every baseless increase in their bills, every announcement of executive pay increases and packages that soar beyond the astronomical, every degraded service and every customer support depredation. For verily, they benefit giants and we are fortunate to breathe the same air as them. | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
Road Runner
PC gaming GAMES
PC gaming Tech
| Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points Personally, I think that any consumer who can't see that a free market and deregulation are the path to the holy land should probably be shaved and sterilized. I say this only among friends who understand that we can only find true peace and happiness through a total lack of accountability and the death of humanism. | |
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| Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA | Every statistical analysis has error. I've yet to see a better methodology than the OECD's for US broadband. Do you suppose we just take the word of those who have the most to lose if it's less than true? | |
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Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points That works both ways... Do you suppose we just take the world of those who have the most to gain if it's true?
Adam | |
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| | | Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA | Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points Of course it works both ways.. What does the OECD have to gain again? | |
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| bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
 ·Packet8
·Cox HSI
| said by TK Junk Mail :The "Freshly appointed" adjective is supposed to make McDowell's points sound like they are coming from an inexperienced person. In fact, he took office more than a year ago. One year of experience still isn't all that much...
OECD methodology is flawed as he adequately demonstrates;
Michael McDowell has a statistics degree or has statistics/research design training ? Okay, so where is his study analyzing the problems ? I want numbers... Something that I can plug into all the stats formulas I learned and see if he really is right.
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Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool. | |
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TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
| Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points said by bmn :said by TK Junk Mail :The "Freshly appointed" adjective is supposed to make McDowell's points sound like they are coming from an inexperienced person. In fact, he took office more than a year ago. One year of experience still isn't all that much... At least 16 yrs experience in telecom. »www.fcc.gov/commissioners/mcdowe···phy.html
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Internet News
My BLOG
My Web Page | |
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| | | bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8
·Cox HSI
| Re: Experienced commissioner McDowell makes good points said by TK Junk Mail :said by bmn :said by TK Junk Mail :The "Freshly appointed" adjective is supposed to make McDowell's points sound like they are coming from an inexperienced person. In fact, he took office more than a year ago. One year of experience still isn't all that much... At least 16 yrs experience in telecom. » www.fcc.gov/commissioners/mcdowe···phy.html That's in telecom... That is not in the regulatory side of telecom. Two VASTLY different things.
That's like saying ten years of college makes of a professor with one year of experience more experienced. Doesn't work that way.
Also, it is also worth pointing out that the group whose research McDowell uses in his editorial is far from unbiased and scientific. A Quote from the Pheonix Group's site:
"Founded in 1998, the Phoenix Center’s mission is to maximize consumer welfare by promoting free markets, competition, and individual freedom and liberty."
Hardly a group whose research should be relied upon because, as a think-tank with an agenda, their research is already suspect to people who are properly trained.
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Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool. | |
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
| what stupid arguments Europe also suffers from a dearth of robust competition from cable modem and fiber. Cable penetration is only about 21% of households. In the U.S., cable is available to 94% of all households. Also, the U.S. is home to the world’s fastest fiber-to-home market, with a 99% annual growth rate in subscribers compared with a relatively anemic 13% growth rate in Europe.
also highly misleading.
the U.S. is the only place on the planet, I think, where there are more cable broadband connections than DSL - you can thank our wonderful incumbent telcos for sitting on their @sses for several years for that particular statistic. That statistic tells you nothing at all about the state of competition. Also in Europe, they have been able to get video over ADSL+ or VDSL for a while now - that's why some people don't get it over cable.
Fiber growth rate; hmmm, let's see: if FIOS goes from 100,000 customers to 200,000 customers, that's a 100% growth rate  if fiber in Japan goes from 1 million customers to 1.1 million customers, it's only a 10% growth rate  - but how about that, they both add the same number of customers!
isn't lying with statistics fun!
I had hopes for McDowell, but it looks like he's just another big business douchebag (please note I didn't call him a republican douchebag, because, hey who knows, maybe he just hates consumers) | |
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| sm2016a
join:2004-03-02
Belleville, IL
·VoipYourLife
·Charter Pipeline
edit:
July 25th, @04:41PM
| Re: what stupid arguments The statistics can be very misleading if you do not take the time to see what they mean. The growth rates really don't mean as much as everyone thinks as nasadude has pointed out. The U.S. will continue to lag behind other countries in means of broadband due to people like McDowell.
Criticisms of our definition of “broadband” being too lax are already irrelevant as over 50 million subscribers are in the 1.5 to 3.0 megabits-per-second “fast lane.”
I do not consider 1.5 to 3.0 fast lane broadband. Fast lane would be 5.0+ in my opinion and that is being considerate since 5.0 is not technically a fast lane broadband speed. | |
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| | tpac_man
join:2007-02-27
Riverbank, CA | Re: what stupid arguments DITTO! | |
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| | bi0tech
join:2003-06-19
·Comcast
| Not to mention it completely ignores that those speed are unidirectional in probably 95+ percent of cases.
Hell I had a better upstream with my Northpoint Symmetric DSL 8 years ago and paid half as much as I do now with the same or better latency.
Gotta love 'progress' | |
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| new2fios
join:2006-07-20
Camillus, NY | What's wrong with there being more cable than DSL connections? Cable is equal to or superior to DSL. And Fios has well over a million customers. | |
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| | sm2016a
join:2004-03-02
Belleville, IL
·VoipYourLife
·Charter Pipeline
| Re: what stupid arguments I don't think he was saying there is anything wrong with it. He was pointing out that it is due to the teleco's being lazy about deploying broadband unlike the cable co's were. Hence why there are more cable than dsl connections. If the teleco's would have been more proactive the broadband availability could be higher and there could be more competition. | |
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Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA
| Re: what stupid arguments Either laziness or the fact that DSL is distance dependent while cable isn't. Geography has played a huge role in the United States in the cable vs DSL wars... People seem to assume that the telcos could wave a magic wand and upgrade all of their remote terminals.
Now that they've had time to upgrade, DSL is adding more subscribers than cable...
Do you really think the telcos didn't want that extra revenue stream? They researched it and added it as time, money and technology allowed without bankrupting the company. Laziness had nothing to do with it.
So many of the arguments on this site make absolutely no sense...
Adam | |
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| kaila
join:2000-10-11
Lincolnshire, IL
clubs:
| said by nasadude :.....the U.S. is the only place on the planet, I think, where there are more cable broadband connections than DSL - you can thank our wonderful incumbent telcos for sitting on their @sses for several years for that particular statistic..... It's more than just incumbent's sitting on their butts. In my case, AT&T can make no business case for bringing DSL to the relatively well off community where I live, right in the middle of Chicago suburbia. There has been cable broadband here for so long that Comcast has built up too much market share for them to enter. Although we've been told if Sprint's WiMax has even modest success here when they roll out next year, AT&T will be forced to finally offer DSL. | |
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| bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8
·Cox HSI
| said by nasadude :Fiber growth rate; hmmm, let's see: if FIOS goes from 100,000 customers to 200,000 customers, that's a 100% growth rate if fiber in Japan goes from 1 million customers to 1.1 million customers, it's only a 10% growth rate - but how about that, they both add the same number of customers! isn't lying with statistics fun! Exactly, it is why when you mention a growth or decline by X%, hard numbers numbers are suppose to be presented. It is always easy to spot someone with an agenda when they use percentages - they always leave out all the data needed to know what is ACTUALLY going on. For example, when a politician says that under their leadership violent crime fell X percent, you really need to know the time frame of when the two measurements were taken. That decline could have happened in the whole range of that politicos term or just in the last month and both would technically be true.
The "research" that McDowell cites is written by a think-tank with an agenda, ergo their results are already suspect. You can bet the farm that they aren't going to release any studies that don't jive with their agenda, so they will be selective in the data they use.
Like I've always said - statistics never lie, but liars use statistics.
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Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool. | |
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axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC
 ·Verizon Online DSL
·Cox HSI
| can have more competition without gov regulation It's crazy if they can't admit there is a problem... I'm not saying its a life-threatening problem but we used to not have telephones or electricity everywhere either.
FCC should be enabling competition with its efforts, first they need to identify places where competition isn't (rural areas and apartment buildings) and support new methods to reach them (700Mhz spectrum would have been nice, municipal broadband efforts, even powerline broadband).
FCC should not regulate things like prices or what services can or can't be offered, they are supposed to take care of interference concerns and compatibility... I think network neutrality is an interference and compatibility concern however. | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: can have more competition without gov regulation One would think that the reason for all this "deregulation" is to foster competition in the marketplace. Apparently, it isn't.
What is apparent is that this sham called "deregulation" is naught but a naked ploy to rebuild the natual telecom monopolies, with an eye towards a stable source of political contributions and, shall we say, "electronic surveillance considerations"(and the constitution be damned...) to be named later.
But for anyone to have the gall to say that the rebirth of the telecom monopolies and the subsequent quashing of competitive market forces has been or will be a net plus for consumers? I would submit that such a person has a big, big problem with the inhaling of the fumes from Resistol Hat Glue, organic solvents and gold spray paint. | |
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Alpine
Premium
join:2000-01-11
Atlanta, GA | Re: can have more competition without gov regulation So what's your answer? What government programs and regulations do you suggest that would help this situation?
Adam | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Re: can have more competition without gov regulation I have but one:
Make them all utilities and every service they provide a utility. Enough with the "Information Service" sophistry. It's simply telecom/cable welfare. | |
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Eric Martin
join:2005-06-19
66308 | Wall Street Journal , Forbes, Businessweek. Are all sellouts to rich corporates.
Your not going to find objective journalism in their rags.
All of them are again network neutrality. They side with TimeWarner and Cox. | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | There are few problems.... ... that can't be resolved with the appropriate use of high explosives. | |
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RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY
| Re: There are few problems.... said by KrK :... that can't be resolved with the appropriate use of high explosives. Or selective use of copper-clad hypersonic administered lead poisoning (to get a better member of your favorite agency appointed). Martin is at the top of my list of people who have earned this "medicine". Note: I am not advocating this occurrence but would not be unhappy if it happened. Right now he is on borrowed time since in 16 months (after he has done his damage) someone whoever gets elected might fire his ass 2 months later (once they get sworn in). | |
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Fluker
join:2005-04-07
West Lafayette, IN | There's no problem here move along Were not even in the top ten for broadband availability despite having an economy which is the yardstick of comparison.
Obviously there is no need to the cause of this deficiency since there isn't one. | |
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jaa
Premium,MVM
join:2000-06-13
New Canaan, CT
·Vonage
·Optimum Online
| What exactly is the problem? I have a single broadband option (cable). It is cheap, fast, and reliable.
The ILEC (AT&T) is not interested in providing broadband or TV service to me. All they offer is POTS and marginal DSL (about 600kbps).
Will regulation bring broadband to those who don't have it? Perhaps, but at what price to the rest of us? If the telcos and cable companies cannot make a return on their investment, where do you think the rest of the required money comes from?
I don't have the option to get water from a utility. I have a well - my only option. And there is not enough water to water my grass. I don't consider that a basic necessity of life. If I wanted water service, I could move to a house that does.
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NOTHING justifies terrorism. We don't negotiate with terrorists. Those that support terrorists are terrorists. | |
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| bi0tech
join:2003-06-19
·Comcast
| Re: What exactly is the problem? It has little to do with you getting all the water you want and alot to do with making it possible for more than 1 entity to choose to deliver you water in the way they see fit. That way may be better/worse/different than now but you would still have a choice.
What if you were 1 street too far for cable, would you still feel the same? How about being limited to dialup or satellite because the 2 providers in your area didn't feel that county was profitable?
Unless you were locked in a cave somewhere for the last decade or so. (hmm a cave with cable internet, what a concept) The internet has grown far beyond just some fanciful recreation. Hell it's probably the defining creation of the last generation. The next, largest, and working its way toward most diverse media outlet in existence. To restrict access for the sole purpose of benefit a few corporate entities is rather silly.
I cannot fathom this pervading idea that somehow we need to protect the profits of corporations to the detriment of the populous at large. You ask where the rest of the money comes from, I ask you where did the money to build the current infrastructure come from. Largely our pockets, accompanied with false promises and scare tactics to let them have their way. | |
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i5050MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI
| Ya know... if UPS, FedEx and the Postal Service were like the phone companies, you'd have to live within 14,000 feet of one of their distribution terminals in order to have your package delivered.
"Sorry, we can't deliver packages to rural areas. It's just not cost effective...even with the $42 billion in USF funds. If you want your packages delivered, move closer to one of our distribution terminals." -Telco Management | |
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Tzale
Ron Paul 2008 - Proud Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NJ, USA |  I Agree!!!
In Hickville? No broadband? Move to the city.
-Tzale
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"I'm a Geek, Are You?" | |
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guardfrog
join:2004-08-27
Dallas, TX | The end is near!!! Government regulation will solve everything!
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FCC: What Broadband Problem?
