Hi Patrick, I'm sorry. My note was more directed at my good friend Jack than at you. :-)
I'm not a fan of the government's intervention in the marketplace. I know you've been frustrated too. $7 billion approved for broadband buildout a year ago and they are just now getting the money out. I said from the get-go that if they are going to do it, they should have made up a 3 or 4 part formula using current subscribers, area covered, population covered, and what you could cover extra with more money. Hand Scriv, Mac, Matt, etc. a check and say "bring me the receipts!" We'd have had that money working within a month. Would there have been fraud? Sure! There will be fraud with this program, despite all their efforts. This process has been too long and too ham handed. I HOPE that something good will come out of it, but I'm not convinced that it will. Ultimately, I think most will go to the LECs/RBOCs/CableCos/Etc. and precious little to our industry. I hope I'm wrong. Regards, Jeff Jeff Broadwick ImageStream 800-813-5123 x106 (US/Can) +1 574-935-8484 x106 (Int'l) -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Leary Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 6:37 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] From Today's WSJ Hi Jeff, Mine was not a return bomb to you Jeff, just a general comment about the state of our society. To be sure though it was not a news article, it was an opinion piece and one, in my opinion, laden with the codes du jour intended to drive people apart into one camp against the other. About broadband, the author would assert no national policy is needed (which translates as him saying keep the government off my broadband), but any one with an ability to look cross borders and analyze the sorry state of our broadband relative to most other industrialized societies will recognize we do need a national plan. We need targets and brave goals, not this tepid duopoly we have now. Writers like this are not helpful. Not every national effort is some socialist, communist, nazi, Islamic, fascist plot to enslave patriotic, hard-working Americans, sometimes it is just an attemp to form a rational, coherent and necessary national initiative to further prevent Americans from sliding down into number 20 (or worse) in yet another measurable aspect of Americans' quality of life. Getting tired of the chest-beating, dillusional "We're America, we're number 1!!" Really? In what are we number one in any more? (I know a few things, but they are not metrics to proud of.) Americans need to genuinely start working together to solve very real and very darned serious problems. Find our shared interests and work from there. We need to end this tribal garbage that's reared up before we end up like the Baltic republics circa early 1990's. Patrick -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Broadwick Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 2:52 PM To: 'WISPA General List' Subject: Re: [WISPA] From Today's WSJ Wow, Jack and Patrick. I respect the two of you as much as any two people in this industry. Has the day come when posting an article about broadband, from a respected national newspaper, warrants this sort of a response on list? I wasn't trying to throw a bomb...I don't really have a firm opinion on this particular matter. I thought that the List members would be interested in the article. End of story. There are many different points of view on this List. I respect that and I can respectfully disagree with just about anyone. I really try to keep my personal political opinions confined to Facebook. If the day has come that one cannot make this sort of post, then maybe it's time for me to drop off of the List. Regards, Jeff Jeff Broadwick ImageStream 800-813-5123 x106 (US/Can) +1 574-935-8484 x106 (Int'l) -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Jack Unger Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 4:46 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] From Today's WSJ It's those damn communists. They're on the march again. Quick, man the barricades! Wait, I'm wrong. It's AT&T and Verizon. They're on the march again. Quick, open the gates to the City. Jeff Broadwick wrote: > REVIEW & OUTLOOK MARCH 15, 2010 > Broadband Trojan Horse > The FCC has a new plan but doesn't want a vote. > Health care isn't the only policy arena in which the Obama > Administration aims to ram through controversial new rules. The > Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil a "national > broadband plan" opposed by industry and without any of the five commissioners voting on it. > > Last year, Congress directed the FCC to develop a plan to make > high-speed Internet available to more people. But given that 95% of > Americans already have access to some form of broadband-and 94% can > choose from at least four wireless carriers-rapid broadband deployment > is already occurring without new government mandates. > > Since 1998, the FCC has classified broadband as an "information service" > subject to less regulation than traditional telecom services. The > Supreme Court's Brand X decision in 2005 validated that > classification, and the upshot has been more investment, innovation > and competition among Internet service providers, all to the benefit > of consumers. > > In 2009 alone, broadband providers spent nearly $60 billion on their > networks. Absent any evidence of market failure, the best course for > the FCC is to report back to Congress that a broadband industrial > policy is unnecessary. Instead, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is > moving to increase the reach of his agency and expand government > control of the Web. > > Among other things, he wants broadband services reclassified so the > FCC can more heavily regulate them. The national broadband plan, to be > unveiled tomorrow, will call for using the federal Universal Service > Fund to subsidize broadband deployment. The USF currently subsidizes > phone service in rural areas, and Mr. Genachowski knows that current > law prevents it from being used to subsidize broadband unless > broadband is reclassified as a telecom service. Congress ought to be > wary of letting the FCC expand its jurisdiction through back doors > like this. > > Mr. Genachowski wants more control over broadband providers so that he > can implement "net neutrality" rules that would dictate how AT&T, > Verizon and other Internet service providers manage their networks. To > date, Congress has given the FCC no such authority. Nor has the agency > had success in court. Based on oral arguments last month, the D.C. > Circuit Court of Appeals is almost certain to rule against the FCC in > a case involving Comcast's network management. > > At the urging of liberal advocacy groups like Free Press and Public > Knowledge, Mr. Genachowski also wants to use the national broadband > plan as a vehicle for returning to the bad old 1990s era of "open access" > regulations. He recommends forcing major broadband providers like Time > Warner Cable and Qwest to share their high-speed networks with smaller > competitors at federally set rates. We can't think of a better way to > reduce capital investment and slow the build-out of high-speed networks. > > Mr. Genachowski's proposals are meeting resistance from telecom > companies and fellow commissioners, which is reason enough to put his > broadband plan to an agency vote. Instead, the chairman is urging his > colleagues to sign a general statement that endorses the goals of the > plan and ignores the details. > > "Instead of risking a split vote among the five regulators on > approving the plan," reports National Journal, "Genachowski is seeking > consensus on a joint statement, which sources said would provide him > with some political cover for the controversies that are certain to be > triggered by some of the plan's recommendations." > > The FCC chairman and his staff have spent the better part of a year > preparing a major report while keeping his colleagues largely in the dark. > What happened to the Obama Administration's promise to be open and > transparent? > > Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved > > Regards, > > Jeff > > > Jeff Broadwick > Sales Manager, ImageStream > 800-813-5123 x106 (US/Can) > +1 574-935-8484 x106 (Int'l) > +1 574-935-8488 (Fax) > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > -- Jack Unger - President, Ask-Wi.Com, Inc. Network Design - Technical Training - Technical Writing Serving the Broadband Wireless, Networking and Telecom Communities since 1993 www.ask-wi.com 818-227-4220 jun...@ask-wi.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---- ---- WISPA Wants You! 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