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November 2005 Archive

Ohio: Dayton - Then and Now

Crossbucks on telephone pole.bmp

Bill Hill, director of Dayton's information and technology services department, has launched a pilot project that offers free wireless Internet, or Wi-Fi, in the city's public space. The program started in April and gives Wi-Fi, short for Wireless Fidelity, to citizens in one square mile of downtown's streets, sidewalks and streets. As the test run comes to a close at the year's end, Hill is taking bids on a permanent project that will expand free Wi-Fi to the 55 square miles of the city. He plans for free wireless for the entire city public space by the end of 2006. City IT director talks about Wi-Fi potential

I met Bill Hill at a PTI conference where I gave a keynote back in September. He is a true municipal wireless pioneer. We talked about the correlation between municipal wireless today and the advent of wireline telephony 100 years ago. He shared with me a picture of Dayton in 1895, and while I try to keep this space free of high bandwidth picture files for those readers who don't yet have broadband, I'll make an exception here because its pretty rich.

Bill sent me this picture after we met to show me the telephone utility poles with multiple crossbucks - look closely for the multiple cross bars on the poles - they are there for the different wireline owners. This is why the US decided to regulate telephony and give ATT a monopoly - multiple providers in one town did not make sense. And this is why ATT is where it is today - by the grace of our government which granted a monopoly, and its millions of ratepayers, whose regulated rates paid for the network that CEO Ed Whitacre at the new ATT is now so proud of - and this is why there's a race afoot by municipal broadband vendors to get out and get networks deployed in towns - those networks constitute a "natural monopoly" at least for a while, and competitors are much less likely to put in a secondary overlay network if a network is already in place in a town. It pays to go first in this industry.

Posted on November 21, 2005 at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

Municipal Broadband Update - Where are we now?

There seems to be no letup when it comes to municipal broadband wireless networks. Just within the past 10 days, several cities from across the nation formally launched or announced plans to build Wi-Fi systems, capped by Cisco Systems' official entrance into the municipal wireless market Nov. 15. The company announced it has deployed mesh networks in Dayton, Ohio, and Lebanon, Ore. Municipal wireless networks continue to thrive

This article is a great quick update on current Wireless Municpal Broadband deployments in the US. For instance, deplolyments using Cisco equipment get a good write up: Dayton OH and Lebanon, OR.

Then there are the cities of Temecula, CA., and Tucson, AZ, whcih recently announced plans to deploy municipal Wi-Fi with the help of San Diego-based WFI using Tropos Networks mesh network architecture.

And in downtown Lexington, KY, SkyTel rolled out Wi-Fi service this week.

Earthlink was selected to build Philadelphia’s estimated $20 million network, expected to be operational by the end of 2006. Earthlink also won in Anaheim, CA.

And CellNet won a bid to deploy a downtown network in Madison, WI.

Finally, on Nov. 8, San Francisco city officials announced they will formally request proposals for their network later this month. The San Francisco RFI in August garnered 300 comments and 26 proposals, the most noticed one being from Google, which will partner with WFI to bid on the project. Officials plan to select a bidder early next year.

Google is getting a headstart in its hometown to prepare for San Fran, which I detailed elsewhere on this blog (see One Crystal Ball Has This Future in Mind). In Mountain View, CA., city officials accepted an offer from Google to create a municipalwide wireless Internet network at no cost to the city. The network would be operational by June 2006.

Something for everyone there - what all these projects have in common is they made announcements in the past few weeks, and they each demonstrate a great sense of initative and pioneer spirit - what this country was built on. Would that more cities would emulate these bold pioneers.

Posted on November 21, 2005 at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)

Proof positive that Wi Fi mesh is here to stay

American Biophysics, a small private company based in North Kingstown, R.I., runs a healthy business selling the "Mosquito Magnet," a system to rid American backyards of biting insects ...Simply described, the magnet emits a humanlike scent that includes carbon dioxide and moisture to attract bloodsucking insects. When the bugs flutter past, they're sucked into and suffocated by a vacuumlike device. Wi-Fi mosquito killer coming to a porch near you

OK, so what do mosquitoes have to do with muncipal broadband? At least, that's what I asked when I saw this. This article describes how innovative types are networking these devices with wireless mesh to help them contain mosquitoes in a large outdoor area - think golf course or refugee camp. Your nuisance at a picnic becomes someone else's life-or-death hassle - mosquitoes carry death-dealing viruses in the Third World and they are, in my opinion, one of the banes of outdoor living. Move over Citronella candles, here come Wi Fi mosquito magnets.

When I was a kid, I lived in Labrador, in remote northeastern Canada and the bugs were horrendous in the summertime. I can remember airplanes that came in the summer evenings to spray DDT over our neighborhood - no doubt those summers will shorten my life at some point - but that fog we breathed in as we rode around on our bikes kept the black flies and mosquitoes at bay. If this high tech solution that incorporates Wi Fi will help mankind in its war against mosquitoes, we should expect Wi Fi mesh to gain even more new supporters.

This is fun - I'm sure there will be more wierd applications using Wi Fi, but this one is the winner in my book so far!

Posted on November 21, 2005 at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)

Internet and Municipal Broadband Liberate Small Towns

High speed Internet access is becoming a public necessity, like water, gas, and electricity. Large and small communities are beginning to realize that they have to provide their residents with this service, either in partnership with the private sector or as a public utility. The concept is taking hold in communities from California to Michigan to Vermont. ... Increased public access is another fine benefit. By using the local networks, towns can offer their residents any number of services, including public safety, political forums, church services, and Internet radio stations. ... Many in both the public and private sectors see broadband access as an essential tool for economic growth, health care, and education for all ages. Proponents of affordable wireless broadband say access helps to keep jobs and attract new businesses. It also is an indispensable tool for telecommuting and advances in telemedicine. isen.blog

Ah, great minds think alike - pundit David Isenberg in his Isen.blog cites his hometown newspaper with this article, introducing the article with this statement: Eureka! I opened the November 8 issue to find this Editorial, by Managing Editor Janice Walford. Clearly Municipal Wireless has reached a tipping point. Keep in mind, this newspaper is not exactly the New York Times - it serves the "metropolitan" areas of Falmouth, Mashpee, Sandwich, and Bourne, all small towns in Massachusetts. Seriously folks, this is small town America and we're seeing more and more interest at this level - these are towns that can truly benefit from the Internet, as soon as they get going with a municipal broadband project.

So if we are really at a Tipping Point, as many insiders suspect, and as David Isenberg suggests, (and as I proposed in the Vision Statement on the Home Page of this website), it would be what we are all looking for: the point where deployments start to rapidly increase and the interest in municipal broadband explodes, where deployments are under serious consideration by more and more municipal leaders, in big cities and small towns alike.

There's no doubt the Internet is spreading in its influence, and such influence will transform the prospects for small town municpal broadband the more it grows. As the Internet provides small town residents much of the benefits of big-city life, but without the traffic and crime that goes with big cities, it will be embraced. Small towns have better values in real estate, for one, and we like small towns as places to raise our children in. In this New York Times article, Small-Town Shops Bulk Up on the Web, we see that small town businesses are combining Internet commerce with their brick & mortar retail shops to reach more people, both in their towns and beyond, out in the global marketplace. And the improved business is reflecting well on all the residents of the towns - when downtown businesses thrive, downtowns thrive as well. This makes the case well that Internet business expansion in small towns will be an econmomic boon.

Compare this news with the news we heard not so long ago about what would happen to small busineses and small town downtowns when WalMart came to town. It's a long and winding road, apparently. The world has room for the big discounter AND the niche businesses that provide special goods and services, it turns out. And the world has room for both retail brick & mortar, and e-commerce. These things go together well. The world has room for both incumbents and new market entrants in muncipal broadband, and the world has room for many technologies working together in the integrated systems of tomorrow. WiMAX goes with Wi Fi mesh goes with fiber goes with BPL goes with cable. The world is more complex than we give it credit for - we are prone to simplifying things into dualities, either or decisions, in order to make the world more simple. But its not. It remains complex, but that's what makes it interesting now, isn't it?

Posted on November 20, 2005 at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)

One Crystal Ball Has This Future in Mind

Google says it wants to use the city of Mountain View as a test ground to show that giving people wireless Internet connections on a large scale is a good idea socially and financially. ``We believe that free (or very cheap) Internet access is a key to bridging the digital divide,'' Google product manager Minnie Ingersoll wrote in a letter Thursday to Mountain View city leaders. ``In our self-interest, we believe that giving more people the ability to access the Internet will drive more traffic to Google and hence more revenue to Google.'' Ingersoll continued, ``We are committed to showing the world that this technology works and we would like to learn more about the costs of operations so that we can build a well-informed business model.'' Google details Mtn. View WiFi plan

So Google is interested in deploying a wireless network in its hometown of Mt. View, CA, to check out metro-scale Wi Fi and verify the business model. This is good news, what we've all been waiting for. No, make that GREAT news! When giants decide to do something substantial, we will all be affected at some point. Google-watching is a fascinating sport.

Speaking of Google, I really enjoy the writing of Robert Cringely. In his weekly e-column on PBS.com, Cringely provides some of the best insights around. In the column below, he opines on Google and two other industry giants, Microsoft and WalMart. Many comparisons have been drawn between Microsoft and Google, given their size and influence on the technology world. But Cringely says the appropriate comparison is to WalMart, not Microsoft:

Sam Walton Taught Google More About How to Dominate the Internet Than Microsoft Ever Did
By Robert X. Cringely

Play to your strengths. That's the key to success in any industry. This is the week I promised to explain where I think Google is headed, and playing to the company's strengths is key if they are going to do what I think, which is effectively take over the Internet. Oh they won't steal it or strong-arm us. They'll seduce us into giving it to them. And I am not at all sure that's a bad thing.

Google's strengths are searching, development of Open Source Internet services, and running clusters of tens of thousands of servers. Notice on this list there is nothing about operating systems. There are many rumors about Google doing an operating system to compete with Microsoft. I'm not saying they aren't doing that (I simply don't know), but I AM saying it would not be a good idea, because it doesn't play to any of the company's traditional strengths.

The same follows for the rumor that Google, as a dark fiber buyer, will turn itself into some kind of super ISP. Won't happen. And WHY it won't happen is because ISPs are lousy businesses and building one as anything more than an experiment (as they are doing in San Francisco with wireless) would only hurt Google's earnings. Google-Mart

Cringely goes on to describe how Google is placing whole datacenters throughout the world to make data widely available at low latency to users. The focus on distribution of data mimics the focus that WalMart brought to the retail industry, only Google moves bits rather than physical goods. For ths model to really be complete, Google needs high-speed Internet ubiquity, and that's where municipal broadband comes in. I don't expect that Google is willing to wait while Verizon, ATT, Comcast, and TimeWarner push their version of broadband out to the world.

Call this Chapter One in a grand experiment that holds great promise for the municipal broadband industry. If Google puts its considerable weight behind this industry - the "Google Model" anyone? - to stimulate the Interent market and bring more and more people on line, then the pace of municipal deployments will pick up conisderably. How will it happen? Don't know, but the entry of Google into this industry will send a signal, as I say in the Vision Statement on the Home Page of this website. And that signal will say "Come on in, the water's fine!" and "Let's get Busy!" And then, the rush will be on.

Who knows, we may have to create an entirely new Google section on this website at some point. You should also check out a post I made on Google about a month ago GoogleNet? Not as Far Fetched as You Might Think.

Posted on November 20, 2005 at 07:24 PM | Comments (0)

Time for Municipal Broadband?

...the contents of the laborer's budget, say from 1760 to 1940, did not simply grow on unchanging lines but they underwent a process of qualitative change. Similarly, the history of the productive apparatus of a typical farm, from the beginnings of the rationalization of crop rotation, plowing and fattening to the mechanized thing of today - linking up with elevators and railroads - is a history of revolutions. So is the history of the productive apparatus of the iron and steel industry from the charcoal furnace to our own type of furnace, or the history of the apparatus of power production from the overshot water wheel to the modern power plant, or the history of transportation from the mailcoach to the airplane. The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation - if I may use that biological term - that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. It is what capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern has got to live in. . . . Joseph A. Schumpeter, "Creative Destruction" from Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (New York: Harper, 1975)

For those of us who grew up in the second half of the Twentieth Century, we should be forgiven for believing in technological miracles. For each gloom and doom economic message that we have heard over the past several decades, it seems, there has been a technological advance that has changed the rules of the game. Indeed, such advances have changed the way we live and work. What innovation did in eras past, as Schumpeter describes above, technology does today. It's as if technology has assumed the role of some supernatural genie that regularly produces wonders that reshuffle the deck. From PCs, to cell phones, to the Internet, to Wireless Broadband, something has come along to provide more for less, opening up what were expensive toys of the rich and making them available to the masses. It's the pace of change that has speeded up, the process is the same.

So when I read this very well written plea for attention to our nation's broadband infrastructure, or lack thereof, The Urgent Call for Broadband in America, I had to applaud the call to arms. But I was also a little assured by the Technological Genie that things will all work out all right in the end. Call me an optimist. What we have, as the author so capably shows, is more of a political crisis than a technological one. We lack leadership in the US to acknowledge the changed landscape and stand up to the powerful politcal lobby of the incumbent industries that seeks to manage any changes to benefit their shareholders, rather than the American public.

After participating in this debate for nearly two years, I am convinced of two things. Technology will produce its required miracles to reshuffle the deck even further, and those incumbents who deny this change are on the wrong side of history. So I was reasssured again when I read this editorial last week Building a Better Boom, whcih describes a new, better economic boom underway based on the advances in technology over the past decade. So what if technology pulls the political lagards along. If that's the way it has to be, they will come along, sooner or later. They have to at some point. They are trying to rewrite the rules of capitalism, to extend their hold on markets without earning their position anew by providing more value.

So, enter WiMAX, our latest Technology Genie du Jour. In Unstrung - WiMax & 'Jet Blue Economics' we see the innovation engine in practice, as WiMAX pioneer Towerstream has crafted a clever go-to-market strategy that takes advantage of the unique qualities of WiMAX to address the particular needs we see in today's market, borrowing business practices from successful competitors outside the telecom industry.

For a more in depth treatment of WiMAX, I recommend this on-line article, Convergence - WiMax Deployment Models, which drills down on different technological aspects of WiMAX.

Hype is when the description exceeds the capabilities of reality. Those with a vested interest in incumbent technologies may dismiss WiMAX as hype, but the proponents of newer, alternate technologies like WiMAX and Wi Fi Mesh will craft market messages that solve market problems, to gain market entry. They are clever and motivated and they see great potential in municipal broadband. Cities have a need for more efficient and cost-effective telecom solutions, and the budding municipal broadband market is evidence of how new technology will find a way to partner its way into a new market. Trying to keep this new technology away from needy markets is like trying to keep teenagers away from each other after puberty hits. A lot of effort, only to delay the inevitable. No Thanks.

I choose to believe in the power of the marketplace and in the technology innovation engine, so I'll wait and watch, to see the latest miracle unfold that will liberate the masses from those who would resist change for their own interests. We've seen it too many times in the past to not believe that it will happen again. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing my $500/month budget for digital cable, local & long distance telephone, cable broadband, and cellular phone service start to come back down from the stratosphere. Come on, Genie, we're rooting for you!

Posted on November 19, 2005 at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)

Wi Fi Security Secrets

Whle focused on security for Wi Fi networks inside the home and in Hot Spots, this Complete Guide to Wi-Fi Security is a comprehensive discussion about security inside wireless networks and holds insights for those who seek to better understand the security issues associated with municpal wireless networks. I recommend it.

Posted on November 19, 2005 at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)

Texas: Houston goes pardner shopping

Following on the heels of Mayor's White's statement on election eve that Houston would go out seeking a partner to build a network, the hometown Houston Chronicle has covered the story twice in the last week. City seeking network partner for WiFi project and Steffy: Stance on competition is in what SBC does, not says.

With the success of the wireless network project in Corpus Christi, a couple of hundred miles down the coast, it's a wonder we don't see more coastal cities installing wireless networks. Maybe it's just a matter of time, and I think 2006 will see a lot of activity along our coasts. The flat lands found along the Gulf Coast make for good RF propagation (for insight on the impact of topography on a wireless mesh network, see also the UnwireMyCity Guide highlighted in Mesh Secrets Revealed: How Many Nodes Make a Network? elsewhere on this site). And the seasonal risk of hurricanes make a wireless network a valuable tool for coastal cities.

Expect a lot more coverage on this story, because this network will be big news. This project is a great fit for Houston, and Houston is a major city. Can Dallas, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley be far behind? How about New Orleans, Bloxi, Tampa, Mami, Ft. Lauderdale, Daytona Beach, and on and on, up the Atlantic coast?

Posted on November 19, 2005 at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)

For Believers, BPL Siren Song Beckons

News from PC Magazine: The Net Over Power Lines By increments, BPL proponents continue to claim progress with this alternative last-mile Internet access technology. Check it out.

Posted on November 19, 2005 at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

Survey Says: US needs Wireless Networks

Well, I'm still learning how to do on-line polls, and I should have changed this one out earlier. My last survey resulted in a rather predictable result to the question of "What is the most important role that Wi Fi networks could play in the next hurricane?", producing an overwhelming response that proved in fact, to be rather underwhelming in meaning. The way I wrote the poll, it was a predictable result that faced with the choices below, my very intelligent readers chose the best answer, "YES, we'll take all of that, thank you very much." First responder communication stood out among alternative responses, leaving the seven dwarfs polling about the same.

*All of the Above 64%
*Helping first responders communicate 18%
*Providing security video to stop looting
*Helping power companies get power turned back on
*Connecting survivors with their loved ones
*Providing survivors with Internet Access
*Providing alternative telecommunications via VOIP
*Putting businesses back to work with Internet connectivity
*Coordination of evacuees

What does this mean? In writing that poll, I intended to highlight all the value that wireless municipal networks would provide an area hit by a disaster, man-made or natural. But choosing among the alternatives is silly because such a general purpose network makes ALL of these solutions available. That's one aspect that makes wireless broadband networks so valuable and timely - a city is not forced to choose between several valid alternatives - the city can have it all with an affordable, modular, scalable general purpose network.

Caught up in the trauma in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina (visceral images of flooding and devastation on TV) and Rita (empty grocery store shelves in Austin, my hometown), I blogged considerably in September and into October on the value of these networks to help our response to such disasters. I was not alone.

Consider Reed Hundt, former FCC Chairman and now outspoken proponent of a national broadband network, who wrote one month ago in the San Jose Mercury News on our exposed position Limits on wireless leave U.S. at risk

Seriously folks, would you put the safety of your home and family - all your eggs - into the incumbent basket and risk a repeat of the New Orleans debacle? Consider this evidence before you answer. Investigate the priorities of the incumbents v. the priorities of the cities. I wrote about former monopolies a couple of weeks ago UnwireMyCity.com: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks? and then there was this commentary that echoed my thoughts Is Voice Just Another App?

Does the service provider in the article have your town's best interests at heart, or the nation's, for that matter? Or (no slam intended here, just fact) does a large investor-owned corporation put its focus on providing benefits back to its investors - the all-important ROI? (As a stockholder, I personally believe that such focus is appropriate, but that some attention must also be paid to the role a corporation plays as a good citizen - we need balance). So let ATT (the new name is now in effect!) be ATT, and let the 21st Century alternatives have their day as well. I trust the maket will let the system find its own harmonic balance of benefits for corporations, government, and the body public, IF Congress does its job right.

Big if..while Congress deliberates, I encourage cities and towns to get busy and take control of their own destinies. Get ready. Be prepared. How's that saying go "In God We Trust, all others pay cash."

Posted on November 19, 2005 at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

Wireless a go-go

Researchers at the University of New South Wales are developing an intelligent wireless protocol for public transport networks, which will give passengers cheaper online access and lower power consumption. Called OCEAN (On-board Communication Entertainment and Information), the protocol can be embedded in chips and placed on board buses and trains, allowing the vehicles to create a communication network. Wireless on the railways

The relentless march to put systems in place to provide mobile applications continues, with a "mesh" approach moving to the fleets of vehicles out there in our public transportation systems. Soon we will be seeing mobile laptops, PDAs, and wireless Game Boys opened on laps in lieu of the newspapers, magazines, and books that have been so commonplace for commuters since the Age of Commuting began.

And it's not just for our public transportaton. Consider this item from the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas last month.

Ford Motor Co. says it will soon offer wireless mobile offices in its F-series pickups, an option aimed at building contractors and others who do business on the road. Ford's Office in a Pickup

For those road warriors who seem to live in their vehicles, this is good news - having moved from radios, to in-dash 8-tracks and casette players, to in dash or in trunk CD players, we've moved on to DVD players and back-seat entertainment systems (no, not that kind of entertainment). As we see such conveniences become more and more common inside cars, it's apparent there's no end in sight. Cup holders proliferate, plug-in car refrigerators/food heaters at Sam's Club, i've heard of microwave ovens in the glove compartment, integrated cell phone systems keep our hands on the wheel, On-Star satellite service and in-dash map systems using GPS bring help from above, the "cigarette lighter' has morphed into the "power source," and AC/DC power inverters let us plug in whatever we want. I guess this move to an integrated mobile office is more or less to be expected as car makers find new reasons for us to buy new vehicles.

Just imagine when the vehicle's on-board systems become integrated with the municipal wireless broadband network. That will complete the network system and we will have the world of the Internet and a local LAN accessible behind the wheel.

Let's hope there's some attention left over for driving in traffic...Oh, not to worry, wireless technologies also have a solution for that. Well, one of these days, but at least it's on the drawing board.

General Motors demonstrated a vehicle-to-vehicle, or V2V, wireless communication system that alerts you when a collision is imminent. The automaker equipped regular Cadillac STS sedans with wireless and Global Positioning System antennae and computer chips that allow the cars to communicate with other vehicles with similar equipment. Wireless: The new backseat driver?

CNET News.com does a good job of describing the potential of such new technology to better manage traffic flow and prevent accidents. But it cautions that we are a long way away from such a system: because the system would need all the vehicles (or a signficant majority) to be so equipped for the full benefits to be manifest. For instance, automobile insurance, in place for decades, generally works for our protection, but there is always that uninsured driver out there to be wary of. But as traffic snarls continue to impact worker productivity and pollute the air, we can expect more and more attention paid to keeping the traffic flowing and preventing car crashes, which can be seen as a failure of a traffic management system.

Stay tuned, we love our cars and our mobility, we love to stay connected, and we love to stay busy (well, some of us). Look for rapid progress in this area.

Posted on November 19, 2005 at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

More Good Glossary

Some leading CTOs spoke both in panels and interviews with Light Reading here at Telecom '05. For the technologically impaired, here I hope to spell out what some of these technologies are being promoted to do, what some service providers think of them, and what they will likely become.

Light Reading - Networking the Telecom Industry Now that phrase - "for the technologically impaired" caught my eye - this mostly refers to me, and not to my readers. I like this approach that compares Hype with Reality. Revealing format and good info.

Posted on November 08, 2005 at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)

New Wireless Terms for the Glossary

Several technologies are making leaps of speed on the ground and in the air. Some are here today; others are still on the horizon. Here is a quick snapshot of these different broadband access technologies, the capabilities they purport to provide, and the timelines in which they should appear

Communications Engineering Design: October, 2005 - Speed-Ground, Air Good content here on wireless terms!

Posted on November 08, 2005 at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)

Houston, We Have a Solution


Mayor White wants Internet bubble for Houston
02:24 PM CST on Monday, November 7, 2005
By Doug Miller / 11 News
Mayor Bill White stated Monday that if he wins re-election, one of the first things he'll do is push forward a plan to make the entire city of Houston Wi-Fi accessible. He claimed that he would call for bids within the first three months of his next term and plans to place the necessary equipment atop utility poles throughout the city.

Mayor White, with popularity polls scraping the ceiling, squeezed one more promise in before election day today. On Channel 11 last night, he was seen promising rapid action on a city-wide network. When the leader of the nation's 4th largest city takes the bull by the horns like this, you know that this movement has legs and that it is going to be one heck of a ride in the next year.

Strap on your seatbelts, folks, and hold on to your saddles!



Posted on November 08, 2005 at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks?

Asked about Internet firms such as Google, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and online phone service Vonage, Whitacre told Business Week that those companies were dependent on SBC's lines -- or "pipes" -- for their success in reaching consumers.

"Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there's going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they're using," he said, according to Business Week Online's edited excerpts of the interview.

"Why should they be allowed to use my pipes? The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment and for a Google or Yahoo or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes free is nuts," he said.

SBC CEO Ed Whitacre - a Man in Full after gaining approval of the acquisition of ATT

SBC spokesman Michael Balmoris said Whitacre was not talking about charging companies for letting customers access their Web sites. Rather, he said, Whitacre was referring to access Internet companies may want to the "managed and secure" portions of the fiber-optic network SBC is building largely to deliver video to customer homes.

"SBC has not and will not block or limit access to lawful content or applications on the Internet," he said. "Mr. Whitacre's comments are being misinterpreted. They were not made in the context of the Internet, but rather SBC's $4 billion investment in its new fiber network to provide Internet-based video services," Balmoris said. The spokesman said SBC might strike commercial agreements with companies such as Google, Yahoo and Vonage to give them access to that part of its network.

Hmmmmmmmmmm ... that dog won't hunt in my house...

SBC Head Ignites Access Debate When is a monopoly not a monopoly? Can a former monopoly act like a competitive company, even as it turns back into an even larger company and takes back its old name? Can former monopoly executives stick to their new scripts? Stay Tuned!

Watch for more Freudian slips as cable companies and telecom companies learn how to compete in this newly deregulating world - in this particular clip you'll find an amusing series of events as PR types try to spin SBC CEO Ed Whitacre's comments that applications coming over "his pipes" would have to pay a toll charge, saying to let those applications flow unimpeded would be "nuts." Has Ed W ever surfed the Internet?

Content providers like Yahoo, Google, and most especially, Vonage, are not altogether reassured that their content will proceed unimpeded over "SBC's pipes" - what would be the appropriate analogy here? How about: Ford having roads that Ford cars can use for free, but Chevrolets will have to pay a toll? Something is fishy about this reasoning.

Add this item to your file of why the company that owns the infrastructure should not be the same company as the company that provides the content.

So,if this is ridiculous behavior on the Internet, how can it be tolerated over other networks? Well, it can, I guess, if its a cable network, which wrote the book on monopoly content...check this this item I ran across the other day in Forbes at the doctor's office.Playing Hardball is about Comcast's buying the exclusive broadcast rights to pro sports games, leaving viewers on competing infrastructure networks without the content.

As the Philadelphia Phillies struggle for a wild-card spot, fans are glued to Comcast's SportsNet. Except fans who happen to have DirecTV or EchoStar satellite service. A quirk in the 1992 Cable Act known as the "terrestrial loophole" allows Comcast (and any other broadcaster) to withhold programming if it is transmitted from a stadium to cable boxes entirely over wires as opposed to satellite. Comcast takes advantage of the loophole to keep games in Philadelphia away from DirecTV and EchoStar.

And you wonder why Philadelphia wants its own network? Seems that if you have satellite TV and live in a town where Comcast has purchased the rights to the hometown team, then you are SOL.

This could get even more ugly as we proceed down this path, and viewers will lose out even more. Will infrastructure owners compete to lock up exclusive content, instead of competing on offering the best service?

This is the road that monopolies would like to go down, leveraging their size or market power to gain further monopoly control over content and using it to hurt their competitors, users be damned. Sheeeeeesh.

Posted on November 07, 2005 at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)