-Dear Steve and others: Steve, we have exactly the same situation here, you could get DSL provided by your local phone carier...IF you move two towns over where the -competing cble company hasn't made a sweetheart deal with the local municipal government. As is the case, I happen to love in the "high rent" district where the majority of residents are fairly affluent and not overly concerned with the price of a service just the provision of a service. So we only have access to cable or dial-up. DSL may be coming--possibly two years down the road, according to the local phone provider, but this has remained the static answer for the LAST two years. On a business services level- it sounds like another way to circumvent free market competition by SOUNDING like free market competition. -- very much akin to the way ENRON promoted deregulation of the energy services market in California, only to use the lack of competition to drive up prices and restrict services to the point of crippling an entire sta! te. We pay an absolutley outrageous rate for high-speed cable internet because no one else is allowed to provide the services in my community. This bill would just legitimize this practice on another market level disguised as a free market enterprise while strangling yet another market commodity. Oh the neocons are very clever- making us believe that competition is free and open while they totally monopolize another market - a disguised American Way!
No municipality faced with higher social service and health care costs could even allocate funding to a project of this magnitude, never mind be competitive, so the private sector can just keep carving up the markets. Beleive me when I say that no telecomm really cares about the rural areas where the customer/population base per square mile isn't profitable. Remember when large telecomm companies weren't deregulated? Regards, Susan Susan Crane-Sundell [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Stephen Snow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Charlie, et. al., > > > As to Steve's point, however, I think the bill is quite clear: > > > > "neither any State or local government, nor any entity affiliated with > such > > a government, shall provide any telecommunications, telecommunications > > service, information service, or cable service in any geographic area > within > > the jurisdiction of such government in which a corporation or other > private > > entity that is not affiliated with any State or local government is > offering > > a substantially similar service." > > > > I read this as: don't offer a service in an area where the private sector > is > > already offering a service. Is it an impossible stretch of the > imagination > > to say that where private companies are NOT offering a service that the > > government MAY do so? Do others disagree? > > > This is deja vu "all over again". > > Here's the thing. The telcos *say* they are offering the service. But guess > what? They offer it...BUT YOU CAN'T GET IT! hahaha! The joke is on us! This > is *so* similar to 10-15 years ago when the baby Bells were saying all they > needed were a few billion in tax breaks and they would have fiber to the > home in 4 years. Well, they got the breaks, worth billions, and never > delivered the fiber. Oops! I am sure that was just some little oversight. > They *meant* to provide fiber...they just forgot! > > Well, with so much going on in the telecom business, you can certainly > understand how THAT could happen! This is no different. Of COURSE they are > "offering" wireless *just about everywhere*. they can show you their plans. > They put it in their long-range work plan, fer gosh sakes. Just like they > are "offering" DSL in Charlotte, NC, where I live. But why can't I get DSL > from BellSouth? Oh, they offer it in their service district, but just not my > PART of the service district (lata). > > That is telecom-speak. Always has been. If you believe anything else for > longer than a New York minute, then please contact me about my "near the > high water line" property. > > My $0.15 > > Steve Snow > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE > in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
