in search of cheap broadband; phone, TV optional

[Richard Pieri]

On Jul 29, 2009, at 11:48 AM, Ben Eisenbraun wrote:
> It's possible you could get another ISP to offer you dry loop DSL  
> cheaper
> than Verizon, but I think it's unlikely.  The Baby Bells have made  
> it very
> hard for third party DSL providers to compete with them.

The CLECs stopped competing at the residential level.  Speakeasy and  
Covad do business-class service these days.

*shrug*

I happen to think that the whole shared infrastructure business model  
is fundamentally broken.  "Hi!  We based our entire business on our  
competition's infrastructure!  And maintenance!"  What's worse than  
that is when Speakeasy and Covad share space in the network cabinet  
and Speakeasy has to wait for Covad's maintenance window to reset  
something -- and the loop is down until then.  Why, yes, I have had to  
deal with that bullshit before.  Repeatedly.  It isn't just ILEC vs.  
CLEC; sometimes it's CLEC vs. CLEC.

But that's just me.  I won't buy service from a provider that doesn't  
own the network.  I don't need the shared infrastructure crap.

--Rich P.