Bruce Kushnick recently pointed out to me that the FCC is using data from a period between 1997 and 2002.
The key difference between then and now is that through 2002, the ISPs still had control of the market, but today, the phone and cable companies rule.
The Washington, D.C. district court handed down its decision (.pdf) in the Comcast vs. FCC case on April 6, 2010.
The decision throws into focus the muddle that is current internet law in the United States.
“America needs competition among its high-speed internet providers. Open access has proved to be an effective way to do this elsewhere. Barring that, the FCC’s now-voided rules on net neutrality would have been a poor, but adequate substitute,” wrote The Economist, which is not a radical lefty ragsheet, in its response to the decision. The magazine recommended that Congress clarify the distinction between the internet and telecommunications.
All of this is necessary only because of a mistake the FCC made in 2002.
The stimulus won’t actually change the business of providing internet service, but it did demonstrate what the current administration would like ISPs to be doing. Those that got funded were, for the most part, already deeply involved in their community. Many projects were already in the planning stages or had even been partially implemented before they received stimulus funds.
An example is the OpenCape project, which I wrote about here. Planning for it began years ago. It involved local emergency services, educational instutions, and the local small business association.
ISPs should already be working these institutions (if they are reasonable as customers).
http://www.tested.com/news/this-is-why-people-hate-the-phone-company-att/60/
” Reading AT&T’s announcement that the nationwide rollout of its femtocell product–called the Microcell 3G–is about to begin called into sharp relief the level at which I expect to get screwed by the phone company. About halfway through decoding the PR doublespeak, I had an epiphany. It was if I suddenly saw the words on the page for the very first time. “
Here’s a draft executive summary.
Here’s a list of whom Forbes expects to win.
My comments, based on what we know at this time, are here.
Today, a significant water line bursts on average every two minutes somewhere in the country, according to a New York Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data.
I wish some of the stimulus went towards repairing basic infrastructure.
(h/t Karl Bode’s twitter feed)
“Of course the lesson learned is that in the Internet age, the harder a company works to stifle criticism, the more attention that criticism gets. The better path is perhaps to listen to what your customers are saying about your business practices, and change them where possible if you value your customers,” Bode writes.
The legal documents are here:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/23/magicjack-legal-docu.html
Feld warns that the telcos are really attacking a still-unpublished National Broadband Agenda.
The executive summary of your broadband stimulus application is very important. In Denver, speakers said that some applications were rejected instantly because of poorly written executive summaries.
The best applicants are proud of their executive summaries. Victoria Proffer of St. Louis, Mo.-based ShowMe Broadband said in a press release that she was pleased that the government decided to post her entire executive summary. You can read her company’s executive summary here. As you can see, it clearly describes the history of the company and the purpose of the stimulus application.
At WiNOG, we help you write the summary — and help prepare the numbers too. Read the rest of this entry »
The RUS has decided that, in round 2, there will be a specific and clearly defined role for satellite internet service providers.
Satellite service grants will be accepted for specific areas (the map showing those areas has not yet been published).
Satellite service is designed for those areas where wireline and wireless won’t work, where either would cost over $10,000 per home connected.