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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 02/21/2014 10:56 AM, Rick Troth
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:53078530.2010404@casita.net" type="cite">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 02/21/2014 10:32 AM, tom wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:530771A1.6030407@gmail.com" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Wonder what the downside of reclassifying broadband as a public utility
would be? Unintended consequences?</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Amen. Thoughts on FCC intervention near the end of this note.<br>
<br>
<br>
On 02/21/2014 10:45 AM, Jeff Frontz wrote:<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAGvwsDn6en2V4AN0mkx1gSJi7XrNZZ2OqTPbmDU6=QM8qQOV=Q@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div class="gmail_extra">The only negative I can think of is
that the incentive to innovate goes away -- you're guaranteed
a rate of return regardless of how much you push the envelope.</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Government as the corporate master ... see experiment with union
of nations from Eastern Europe and parts of Northern Asia for most
of the 20th century. Experiment failed. Vestiges remain in the
form of (apparent) organized crime (or just simple corruption),
which we enjoy in our own "experiment" anyway.<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAGvwsDn6en2V4AN0mkx1gSJi7XrNZZ2OqTPbmDU6=QM8qQOV=Q@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div class="gmail_extra">Given our data rates (compared to most
third-world nations), I'm not too worried about stifling
innovation-- it seems to have died a while ago. </div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Amen! But see below for observations about Ma Bell.<br>
<br>
<br>
On 02/21/2014 10:48 AM, Angelo McComis wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:01a401cf2f1c$5577d460$00677d20$@mccomis.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">First thought that comes to mind is governance and regulatory oversight by
PUCO, (---O at least in Ohio)</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
PUC (any state) doesn't always "get it". When they do, things work
well (IMLX), certainly somewhere north of misery.<br>
<br>
When I lived in Dallas, most telephone exchanges were SWB, but
Garland's were GTE. (As things progressed, GTE got better, but in
Garland in the 70s the phone service sucked.) They could at least
make calls. My impression of the suckage was more in terms of
customer service. I don't recall any substantial outages (but
then, per IMLX, experience was limited and I was just coming to
consciousness about these things). Those were the days when it was
"illegal" to add another phone ... to the twisted pair in your own
[expletive deleted] residence. (Where was the PUC on *that*
point??)<br>
</blockquote>
LOL My father built a house in Upper Arlington in the early 50's. He
circumvented Ma Bell's extra charge for extra phones. He had the
phone company install a "ringer" while the house was under
construction so that he could remove the phone at night. He then
wired the house for multiple phones. Ma BEll could not tell that
there was more than 1 phone installed beyond the "ringer".<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:53078530.2010404@casita.net" type="cite"> <br>
With respect to electricity (another utility subservient to the
dreaded PUC), there were few-to-no outages other than storm
induced (or unintended excavation, same as for phone service).
Rates were tolerable, seemed in-line with actual costs, and yet
the power company(ies) made great profits.<br>
<br>
In both cases, innovation was not stifled. On balance, I can't say
it wasn't "subdued" because I never worked for such companies. But
I witnessed cool/interesting/exciting/profitable developments by
those who did work for them. Ma Bell still managed to do signal
processing before digital methods were available. The Electric
Company (sorry, make that plural, and lose the reference to the
PBS television show) through consortia like EPRI created amazing
things like high-current transistors. (And eventually I learned
that stereotypically bland concepts like three-phase are actually
kind of exciting.)<br>
<br>
<u>Does any of this correlate to Comcast, TWC, AT&T, or any
other digital traffic carriers of today?</u> (I leave the
question open. I don't have an answer nor much of an opinion, just
a fair amount of worry.)<br>
<br>
I'm a ham radio operator (for varying values of "operator", since
I'm rarely on the air these days). I'm sensitive to what is
allowed and what is not allowed in RF space. The electro-magnetic
ether is like a single planetary twisted pair anyone can tap into
(with substantial signal loss at the ends, by comparison).
Listening is free (and expected, so no expectation of privacy).
What you "post" is regulated (by the FCC and related international
bodies). There's real legitimacy to constraining transmission,
both in terms of content and in terms of power.<br>
<br>
In radio, originally anyone could transmit anything at any
strength. We eventually figured out to narrow our bandwidth enough
to have channels of a sort (by bands and frequencies). Then came
the FCC and a couple of world wars, but experiment was allowed and
"hams" acquiesced and became the LUG equivalent of the analog age
(hackers ... in the "good kind" sense of the word).<br>
<br>
Some hams recall (through the testimony of hams older than our
grandparents) that the government tasted control of radio (via the
FCC), liked it, and didn't intend to ever give it up.<br>
<br>
The FCC has changed, has been infected by the same lobbyist
illness the rest of Washington suffers. Though I believe some
commissioners still care about the best interest (of country,
consumer, and the technology).<br>
<br>
Not sure how much of this makes sense, but it seems like the net
was more neutral when it was all science and military. [sigh]<br>
<br>
-- R; <><<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
Sounds like dammed if you do, dammed if you don't.<br>
<br>
Tom<br>
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