[IP] More on: Rendell caves and signs HB30 - Verizon can prevent municipal networks statewide
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jock Gill <jg45@xxxxxxx>
Date: December 3, 2004 10:54:13 AM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Hendricks Dewayne <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxx>, Gerry Faulhaber
<faulhaber@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Jock Gill <jg45@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] More on: Rendell caves and signs HB30 - Verizon can
prevent municipal networks statewide
Dave,
Clearly those who do not like government operated utilities, such as
Prof. Faulhaber, point only to failures of which, of course, there are
examples of. Human beings are well known to be imperfect.
Those of us who see municipal services as part of the essential social
contract between tax paying citizens and their government point to the
many successes. Locally in Massachusetts, for example, lucky are those
who live in towns with municipal power plants. They almost always pay
less and get much better service than those of us forced to rely on the
quasi monopolistic giants. Belmont, MA is a prime example.
The problem is that the PA law assumes broadband access must be
privatized on a for profit basis. We have to reframe this argument to
reflect the frame of broadband as part of the social contract. We are
more than the captive customers of the incumbents. Clearly we living
breathing citizens should have more rights than the legal artifices
called corporate entities. Our social contract is more important to
Democracy than their market place only model with its over reliance on
the metrics of the 90 day number and the bottom line.
As part of this reframing, we need to restore the separation of
transport from content and bits from spectrum. As David Weinberger has
written, it looks pretty much as if the spectrum is like colors. No
one disputes that here is an infinite amount of blue. And it appears
to have been demonstrated that the spectrums ability to transport bits
actually increases with use. We must not let the incumbents conflate
these issues nor get away with the bogus notion that spectrum is scarce
and like property.
The incumbents, of course, want to tightly bind carriage and content
together as well as deny that spectrum is color. Otherwise they will
have to adopt new business models.
As a relevant example, Prof. Faulhaber might want to look at a few of
these stories about the success of the Columbia REA & Columbia Energy,
LLC - A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Columbia REA.
BTW, this system is reported to provide 700 kilobit connectivity at 65
mph within the cloud.
From the Google search on [Columbia REA WiFi]
... network covering 3,700 square miles is a challenging proposition,
given the immense coverage area," said Tom Husted, chief executive
officer of Columbia REA. ...
www.vivato.net/press/press08232004b.html - 25k - Cached - Similar pages
Wi-Fi Brings Broadband To Rural Washington | NetStumbler.com
... Columbia REA, a nonprofit, member-owned utility, wanted to expand
local residents' broadband options and rejected wired options because
of the cost of laying ...
www.netstumbler.com/2004/08/24/
wi_fi_brings_broadband_to_rural_washington/ - 11k - Cached -
Similar pages
Wi-Fi Planet Conference & Expo, San Jose, CA
... More recently, Husted and Columbia REA have received numerous press
accolades for the development of the largest WiFi hot spot in the
country through a ...
www.jupiterevents.com/wifi/fall04/husted.html - 37k - Cached -
Similar pages
Up to Speed: Rural America Joins Broadband Crowd
... and the Columbia Rural Electric Association (Columbia REA), based
in Dayton, Wash. ... The Columbia REA needed to cover 1,500 square
miles. ...
www.wirelessfidelitymag.com/hotnews/49h1611238.html - 30k - Nov 30,
2004 - Cached - Similar pages
[PDF] Building a Community Communications System Using Wireless Wi-Fi
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Faced with this situation, and an ever-increasing need for
high-speed communications, Columbia REA created a wholly owned
subsidiary, Columbia Energy, LLC. ...
www.vivato.com/cgi-bin/fileview.cgi?get&CASE_STUDIES/
Rural%20Wi-Fi%20Deployments%20White%20Paper.pdf - Similar pages
ARNnet | Wi-fi turns business on
... Based on Vivato's "smart antenna" technology, Columbia REA's access
points - or base stations as Vivato calls them - have a range between
two square miles to ...
www.arn.idg.com.au/index.php/ id;1829470890;fp;1024;fpid;319049444 -
Similar pages
wireless.itworld.com - Wi-Fi brings broadband to rural Washington
... The service is available now, with Columbia REA already up and
running as a customer, Husted said. ... Hotspot WiFi Service, $21.95 a
Month. ...
wireless.itworld.com/4265/ 040824wifiwashington/page_1.html - 43k -
Cached - Similar pages
HeraldNet: Rural Walla Walla area gets Wi-Fi
... This, the energy service of the future, is on the verge of opening
in Walla Walla now, said Columbia REA Chief Executive Officer Tom
Husted. ...
www.heraldnet.com/stories/ 04/11/22/bus_wallawalla001.cfm - 39k -
Cached - Similar pages
[PDF] Columbia REA Wins First Annual Catalyst Award
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... the work Columbia Enegy is doing to build the largest WiFi hot spot
in ... wireless Broadband network synonymous with the orginal mission
of Columbia REA, to build ...
www.columbiarea.com/news/pressroom/
Columbia%20REA%20Wins%20Catalyst%20Award.pdf - Similar pages
Muniwireless: Terrific sessions planned at Wi-Fi Planet Conference ...
... Speakers: *Thomas Husted, Chief Executive Officer, Columbia REA &
Columbia Energy, LLC - A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Columbia REA
*Willem Poterman, CEO and Co ...
www.muniwireless.com/archives/000471.html - 21k - Cached -
Similar pages
Regards,
Jock
Jock Gill
Meme Intelligence
http://public.xdi.org/=Jock
On Dec 2, 2004, at 2:53 PM, David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Gerry Faulhaber <faulhaber@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: December 2, 2004 11:08:42 AM EST
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] More on: Rendell caves and signs HB30 - Verizon can
prevent municipal networks statewide
> I consider this to be a very very important topic and will continue
to
> send relevant mailings on it
>
> Dave
>
> ps I am looking for someone who can defend the law
I really hesitate to "defend" a law which I don't like very much. But
there
is one point that is lost in all this. Municipalities have shown
themselves
to be very eager to tax the living bejesus out of any private telecom
service to peoples' homes, imposing very high fees for digging up the
streets plus ongoing taxes on revenues for the service. To cities,
broadband in its various forms is a honeypot, to be milked for every
last
tax penny (sorry for mixing metaphors). For example, several years
ago the
state of Michigan passed legislation forbidding municipalities from
levying
"unreasonable" right of way fees and revenue taxes on such services,
because
they feared this would chill broadband development. Cable and
telephone
firms have struggled to avoid these ruinous taxes.
So how would having a municipal WiFi (or other) network impact this?
Think
how much more vigorously a municipality would tax a private-sector
service
offering competitive with its own service! In essence, you can write
off
any private deployment of broadband (that is not already there) in a
muncipality with its own network; they will be taxed out of existence
and we
will be left with a public monopoly. Now this may be just great if the
municipality runs the network the way "we" think they "should." But
honestly, how many public monopolies can you think of that are even
decent,
much less optimal? For Philadelphia residents, how would you like a
broadband monopoly run like SEPTA? Makes you think twice, doesn't
it? If
you think this network will be managed like the streets, perhaps you
should
take a drive on Philadelphia streets some day and tell me if you think
this
is a good idea. And once it's a monopoly, how long do you think it
will
take for City Council to start ramping up the fees, in order to meet
the
next fiscal crisis?
Prof. Gerry Faulhaber
Wharton School, Univ of Pennsylvania
currently on leave, Penn Law School
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Prof. Gerald R. Faulhaber
currently on leave @ Penn Law School S-135
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
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