FCC: "US in dire need of 'national broadband strategy'

Two FCC commissioners showed up to a Senate hearing yesterday and argued that the US is in dire need of a "national broadband strategy" that would bring universal access and more competition to the increasingly-important broadband market. the complete article is available here

Private DSL Companies?

I'm not familiar with many (um . . . any) "private" DSL companies so I was pleasantly surprised when I found this article about this, apparently, very successful firm. Granted, NW Pennsylvania is vastly different from just about any part of California I can imagine, but I suspect there may be similar models out there we can look for now. Maybe some of them are a better fit. -w

Wireless -- With Strings Attached

John E. Wroblewski, Client Business Manager for Software Technology Concepts called our attention to this Wall Street Journal article. The article discusses the very significant pitfalls being encountered by some cities as they pursue various wi-fi strategies. This is pertinent to the Design Nine recommendations in that it illustrates a point Dr. Cohill will concede is a major problem with wi-fi networks, and a major opportunity of fiber to the premise. That is, the wi-fi business model depends on end users signing on to the system for content. The fiber to the premise model earns revenue from the content providers as opposed to the end users.

Twin County Broadband Project - Virginia

Another interesting example of public-private collaboration out of Virginia. The Galax Gazette reports the group working on the Twin County broadband effort will get a letter allowing the project to use the Carroll County Public Service Authority's assets for mounting equipment and providing power. The full news article is available here.

Seattle's Fiber Vision

Interesting editorial from the Seattle Times. Apparently Seattle has been evaluating fiber-to-the-premise solutions in the form of a public-private partnership since, at least, 2004. This writer raises the issue of net neutrality. This concept strikes me as particularly pertinent to the Design Nine recommendations. In effect, the network he proposes would be "metered". That is, a large content provider like a telephone or cable company providing services over the network would be charged more - based on their 'throughput' - than you, me, and other everyday users. This flies in the face of the 'free-for-all' equal access principles upon which many argue the Internet was founded.

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FCC Commissioner: US playing "Russian roulette with broadband and Internet"

Pretty passionate words for a man a lot of people might regard as a bureaucrat.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps in a speech at the YearlyKos convention is reported to have talked like a "man with a fire in his guts". He said, the state of Internet and broadband access in the US is "so poor that every citizen in the country ought to be outraged."

The Commissioner was expressing his concern regarding "a small number of corporate gatekeepers" who control the public's access to information, an arrangement that threatens to "invert the democratic genius of the Internet."

The Design Nine/Andrew Cohill recommendations for Northwest PA advocate an "open systems" model. One of the key questions we'll need to address is what does "open system" really mean in both the short and long-term.

The full article is available here.