At 1/31/2011 10:33 AM, David Weddell wrote: >(Somewhat of a soapbox) > >The whole "stimulus" plan was the first step to reward a "few" >winners. When you see the red tape attached to stimulus awards, it >should make one run far away. We applied because "consultants" >convinced us that it would be a way to fund our rural areas. We, >Indiana WISPA, heard a great message a few weeks ago at our >statewide meeting from Dan Picker of Purewave on how stimulus funds >were the biggest disaster towards stimulating anything. Those of us >that wasted time applying for funds kept from ordering equipment, >making commitments to build out our network in the same manner that >got us where we were already and we all suffered for the delay. >Suppliers had the worst year and equipment manufacturers sat idles. >Now we see how a government can control the entire Internet business >with one switch. The sad thing is, we are down to a handful of >"real" Internet providers that we buy our services from in the US. >How long will it be before the Government will be able to shut us off l > ike they did in Egypt? >
Not all of the stimulus grants were so problematic. Some will be very useful to the WISP community. Some of the middle mile networks will make backhaul a lot easier, providing the first competition to very very expensive ILEC Special Access. Maine's Three Ring Binder and the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, for instance, are running fiber into rural areas with the hope that WISPs will pick up some of the last mile (which alas BTOP round 2 would not pay for). However, the BIP program was largely a handout to the usual rural ILECs, since it favored existing RUS borrowers (like ILECs). Still, some competitive providers did get a piece of the action. As to protection against shutoff and blocking, we need to think about how fragile the Internet architecture is, and how to work around its weak points. I doubt that a "kill switch" would be very effective here, but the more the Internet is concentrated in the hands of a few providers, the easier it will be. I wonder if the FCC's strongly anticompetitive push starting early in 2001 was being encouraged by the "security" apparat. -- Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ +1 617 795 2701 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
