Broadband Shuffle

[jc at trillian.mit.edu (John Chambers)]

Jeff Kirkland writes:
| It stinks that some of us really have no choice in the matter.  I live in
| Plaistow, NH where there is no DSL service, only AT&T Mediaone or
| ***blech*** dial-up.  I just cannot go back to a d/u connection.  So, I
| guess we will have to see how there service is.

If history is any guide, we may soon start seeing strong pressure  to
institute Internet access regulations.  Such access is conceptually a
lot like postal and telephone access.  There  were  similar  problems
with  these  in  the early days, caused in part by the fact that such
things tend strongly towards a monopoly, and private  companies  will
never  voluntarily  provide  service where it's not profitable.  This
eventually led to regulations  that  forces  the  local  monopoly  to
provide universal service at an standard price.  If they won't do it,
there will be a public utility that will take over.

We are already reaching the point that some public services are  only
available  online.   (It's  especially  interesting that unemployment
offices are shutting down in favor of web  sites  here  and  in  many
other  states.)  This  trend  will continue, because of the huge cost
savings.  The result will be to  lock  out  anyone  without  Internet
service. And the result of that will be laws that mandate access. The
local monopolies will fight it tooth and nail, of course, but it will
happen, whether we like it or not.

OTOH, I wonder if the people outside the cities  could  get  the  act
together and set up their own wireless networks. All it would take is
one tie-in to the Internet to give everyone in your area access. This
is how rural cooperatives have happened in the past.