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FEATURED TOPICDigital Transition -The term "Digital Transition" describes the process all organizations must go through in the 21st Century, as they leverage new technologies that provide new options for Applications, Equipment, Processes, and Networks that make them more effective. In contrast, the term "Municipal Wireless" is limiting. It puts the network technology ahead of the application and process changes that drive the business case. ORIENTATION |
The 25 Word Challenge, 2 for the Road"Be the change you seek," said Gandhi; The Internet has community on the rise - Will you accept my invitation to put 25 words of advice or wisdom into a blog post? Here's how you might go about it. 1. Look for something you see too much or too little of. It will be my challenge to a creative way to connect all of the ideas together. In a giant "25 words of wisdom" blog post, featuring what you wrote. Are you in? Surely you have 25 words to spare for this one. Posted on July 19, 2008 at 09:26 PM | Comments (0) Look How Far We've Come, Baby!From back in the archives of the very early days of Wireless ... we bring you (drum-roll) ... MR. MICROPHONE!!! Sometimes - especially in these dark times as ISPs crumble around us and withdraw from the market - we forget how far we've really come ... so much seriousness just begs for a little perspective .... Thirty years ago, pitchman Ron Popeil took some basic radio technology and produced the Mr. Microphone, only $14.88, just in time for Christmas! Mr. Pop History - Sometime around late 1978, but the TV airwaves came alive with Ronco's Mr. Microphone in 1979. Who could forget that 70's guy exclaiming "Hey good looking, we'll be back to pick you up later." Mr. Microphone was actually a low-power FM modulator, but through the magic of Ronco advertising, the device was turned into a hip tool to pick-up girls. The only problem with this commercial: you had to know what station the receiving FM radio was tuned to, so you could infiltrate their radio. Getting the frequency just right would have taken much insight and tuning time. Oh well, it's only TV. It's one of the classic commercials of the 1970's. Ask Mr. Pop History Posted on May 17, 2008 at 09:10 PM | Comments (0) Happy Birthday, MetroNetIQ! Three Years Young!
How's this for some food for thought - Birthday Cake! MetroNetIQ as a blog is 3 years old today. I published my first blogs on the website UnwireMyCity.com. on May 16, 2005. 8 months later, I redesigned the site, renamed it MetroNetIQ, and since then, collectively I've published close to 700 articles...of course, my writings tend to run a little longer than most blog posts... This is a project that has always been somewhat selfish: it's a way for me to gather my thoughts as I consult with clients and converse with friends in this very small industry, not much more than that. It's a little strange to blog, pulling thoughts from my head and sending them out onto the Internet for all to read, but I've grown quite used to it, come to enjoy it. You are my (mostly) anonymous readers and I appreciate your reading and paying attention to the blog. I get a moderate, growing amount of traffic on this site - nothing to blow the trumpets about, but I'm gratified to see the upward slope of the curve when I graph the results. MetroNetIQ is at about 4,000 unique visitors / 35,000 page views a month. By major Internet traffic'd sites, that's not much, but it represents a community of sorts, and to that extent, I'm gratified, because community development is a core driver and passion for me. Still, it never ceases to amaze me how the readership has steadily grown since my launch, with absolutely no promotion, just word of mouth. That indicates to me that interest in this topic is growing, and that readers like my writing enough to come back. I've never felt compelled to drive traffic to my site, I guess I've always been too busy to bother. I'm more interested to spend my time writing and speaking out. After all, I make my money by consulting, I only gather my thoughts here. I count on you all to spread the word, link to my site, and tell others if you read something you think is worth sharing. For a look back at where this journey began, check out these original blogs posted in the May 2005 archive. I feel like we've come a long way on this site in three short years. Back then, I began by clearing out my laptop of files I had saved when I posted those first posts...but I soon warmed to the whole idea of blogging and taking public stands on issues. It's been a fun ride for me so far, hope it has been the same for you, and that you'll keep coming back and spreading the word on the benefits of getting our society connected and mobilized. Posted on May 16, 2008 at 06:43 AM | Comments (0) Home has a Hold on MeMy last post talked about Small Towns, and the post before it about the impact of Rural Broadband. I'm getting all sappy here: as I concluded that post on small towns with an image of the Texas Hill Country, where I have a small ranch - call it a ranchette, only 20 acres but I know every inch...the images I looked at made me realize how pretty the central Texas Hill Country is, and how much I like it. Somehow, I was reminded of Gary P. Nunn, the Texas songwriter, and his song, You Ask Me What I like About Texas. Years ago, in my wild, misspent youth, I was a bartender at the Last Waterhole Saloon in Amsterdam's Red Light District It was fall of 1982, I was 25 and single, and that period only lasted from sometime in September until just after Christmas - only about 13 weeks, when you think about it... During my day shift, I bartended and checked people in to the youth hostel upstairs (the saloon was on the Warmoesstraat, just 2 blocks from the train station, just off the Damrak, the main street in downtown Amsterdam). The Last Waterhole was one of those cafes you hear about in Amsterdam, where you can get stuff to smoke...it was, quite frankly, one of the wildest places I've ever been to on the planet... Picture of a pub on the Warmoesstraat...
The Last Waterhole looked something like this, only darker, and much more sinister, more skanky, well, just considerably more scummy, if you will. Three pool tables and a stage and heroin junkies I had to kick out during the day...Needless to say, many stories ensued....it seems like another lifetime ago, indeed, it was. If my kids only knew! I used to describe the bar scene as something similar to a bar scene in the Star Wars.
Imagine the thick smoke, young people from all over the world, partying like they were, well, on vacation ... loud rock and roll ...green Grolsch bottles and draft Heinekens in little pils glasses... One story connects Amsterdam to Texas: Gary P. Nunn was coming for a European Tour in 1983, and the Pride of Texas band had gotten back together in order to back him up on his tour. They practiced during the day, during my shifts, so I listened to the same songs, over. and over. and over. again. and again. Some nights I drove with the band to Belgium, or northern Holland, and acted as a roadie and assistant for their shows. Other days I drove with the promoter and saloon owner out to Paris, or Stockholm, to line up gigs for Gary and his tour with my friends from the Pride of Texas... It was a gas to be a cowboy in Europe. But I did miss Texas. I bring all this up to underscore the importance of home for all of us, the pull it has on our heartstrings, and the association of geography and location. I think you have to be an immigrant or an ex patriot at least once in your life to really understand what it's like to miss home - deeply. And I was only a temporary immigrant back then, hardly with an experience to match those of millions of immigrants ... but I did miss home that year I spent bumming around Europe. I think it's especially poignant when you reach a certain age and can appreciate the value of home, family, and community. And I think it's very heartfelt, this attachment to home, especially for those who live in small towns, because the "home" experience is so much more immediate in small towns. Posted on April 23, 2008 at 07:39 PM | Comments (0) Sh Boom, Sha BoomLife would be a dream ... if more people learned about metropolitan broadband by reading MetroNetIQ.com ... if you like what you read, please tell your friends! Posted on April 18, 2008 at 11:07 PM | Comments (0) Race has Nothing to do with Metropolitan BroadbandIt's a little early for Thanksgiving, but we did just observe the Easter Holiday. So one thing I'm thankful for today is that Race has absolutely nothing to do with wireless broadband. But it has everything to do with Idiocy and Stupidity. The thing is, this debate that's underway in our country, at least in some corners of informed dialogue, does produce some pretty bizarre links out on the web, and some pretty funny ones. It's been a while since I had a good belly laugh to a Richard Pryor video, or for that matter, to an Eddie Murphy video... so, just to share, here you go - these clips are courtesy of that wonderful, irreverent TV show, Saturday Night Live... I'm guessing this one is from the 1970s ... ah, I remember them well... So of course, now we'll talk about race on my blog, which has everything to do with wireless broadband, but also has a lot to do with society and how we live together and get our work done - sometimes, one needs to step up and say what needs to be said. And I think what needs to be said right now after watching that Saturday Night Live video and laughing my ass off is that Racism is Idiotic, Inane, and Stupid. To underscore the inanities of racism, we have this video, also from SNL, from the 1980s, my guess - based on Eddie Murphy's youth?? Here's a different perspective... Then, there's Chris Rock ... what would a tour through racial humor be without Chris Rock ... it's harsh, and funny, but who can argue that this subject isn't complex? ...hold on to your hat... How about Dave Chappelle? As a blind KKK white power monger? How stupid can racists be? Or something from across the pond? And for me, the classic, from Mel Brooks ..."the sheriff is a ...." and "excuse me while I whip this out." and "the next man makes a move, the n**** gets it." On a more thoughtful note, I remember these scenes from Star Trek when I was about 10, but often, I watched the show in .... black and white ...hmmmmmmm. OK, after all that, I feel a need to clean it up a bit ... so, here's the cleaner side of Chris Rock ...introducing Barack Obama... Now, here we are, in the 2000s ...all kidding aside, let's hope that some day soon we no longer need to look to Saturday Night Live, or Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle or Mel Brooks and Cleavon Little or any other comedic geniuses to tell us what we all know - racism may be hilarious and really really funny when lampooned, but at its heart, racism is stupid, and racists are morons and deserve our undying disrespect. Racism should die out, racists deserve our scorn wherever we encounter them, and the sooner racism is gone, the better...for my kids, and yours. It's a cancer in our society. We've had to look to comedians to laugh instead of crying, because our society is sick. This is sad, it's messed up ... For truth about Race in America, we need to start talking about it and forge a consensus that it is simply intolerable..I think that this speech will weather the winds of time and be seen as an historic event. Enjoy. I loved my grandfather, but he was a racist, born in Georgia in 1902 and raised in deep East Texas, dying in the 1980s. I loved my uncle, but he was a racist too. They're both long gone, but their memories linger. It was painful to watch them and hear their hateful comments growing up, and I never felt comfortable watching them express their scorn for black people. They looked ignorant as they spoke, and they were, yet I loved them. It was confusing to a young boy growing up. Racism is complex, but it is wrong. Though racism is a complex issue, that's all the more reason to address it and find our common bonds and come together as a community to celebrate our humanity together and repair our wounds. We should continue to laugh at the stupidness of racism, but we should also work together to make racism a thing of the past. Posted on March 24, 2008 at 08:53 PM | Comments (0) Is this a Great Country, Or What?2,180,731 views in three months - you'll want to watch this one twice ... More proof that a) You Tube is eating the Internet and b) We've Fallen Through the Looking Glass... OK, maybe it just seems that way when you see videos like this ... Posted on March 13, 2008 at 05:04 AM | Comments (0) The Blob Returns - YouTube is Eating the InternetThe end is in sight! By October 1, 2012, we should see ALL Internet traffic coming from YouTube videos! REPENT, ALL YOU BANDWIDTH HOGS, THE END IS NIGH!! Don't believe me? Just get out your graph paper and plot these three data points below and then extend the line to where it crosses the 100% mark... OK, so maybe my grasp of statistics and use of straight line trend extensions doesn't exactly hold water ... still, consider that ... 2% JANUARY 29, 2007 Surveys: Internet Traffic Touched by YouTube 10% JUNE 19, 2007 YouTube Comprises 10% Of All Internet Traffic | WebProNews 20% FEBRUARY 1, 2008 Alexa.com YouTube traffic statistics OK, so, I've already admitted that I'm no expert on statistics, but I do believe that this is a statistically significant growth curve, and I agree that it supports the concerns about the ultimate capacity of our dearly beloved Internet, fast becoming as critical an infrastructure as our electric grid. (See this article on the coming ExaFlood!!) Personally on my own little website, with our minuscule level of traffic, we've nevertheless seen a tremendous growth in bandwidth - from 392.67 MB in January 2007 to 1.31 GB in February 2008. Sure, we should adjust for a doubling of traffic in the last year (don't get too excited, the numbers are still fairly trivial). Nevertheless, it's easy to see that the big leap was in October last year, when I started adding YouTube videos to the site - we went from 653.8 MB to 928.1 MB in one month, from Sept to Oct. When I adjust the data for growth in visitors to my site, we see a 37% increase in bandwidth used by this site each month... Let's check back again about the time that college football season starts (September 1) - YouTube traffic should be at 30%, given the political season and the current growth trends?? Care to make any bets?? Besides being fun to track, why should this matter? Well, it does ... As more and more Internet traffic is video traffic, and as more and more subscribers start using broadband to gain access to the Internet, we will face some mixture of these consequences, to an ever growing degree. 1. Network performance degradation, most likely in the form of slower uploading and downloading Clearly, when it comes to broadband, I don't understand why we would spend so much energy and effort at trying to fit all of our traffic into an ever tighter tight box (i.e., current network capacity) and so little energy at trying to figure out a way to get a robust sustainable infrastructure built out. Folks, we're going to have to spend the capital on broadband, so let's get busy talking about the best ways to get this infrastructure built! There will be plenty of time to keep arguing about how we use it, but let's all agree that we need more broadband infrastructure NOW, not later. The time has come to get busy and start building!! Posted on March 05, 2008 at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) Can't we all just .... relax?I don't know about you all, but primary politics are exhausting me...now we have the Potomac Primaries....sheesh. Having written a pretty serious post this afternoon - on Retroactive Immunity here - I guess I feel a need to goof off a little and relax. Politics may be wacky, but let's face it, political humor is an age-old American tradition. So, here you go, some 21st Century Political Humor....these political satire videos are guaranteed to offend everyone .... let's hope! Enjoy these while you check out the real returns from the primaries this evening... Here's a classic video covering our current President's speaking style... This one is called "Obama and Your Mama" - making fun of mothers! Wheeee! And then there's "Obama on the Run" Mike Huckabee is "Taking the High Road' with some pretty low suggestions re his opponents Don Rumsfeld showing off his talents - ah, I remember those days ... those press conferences ... George Bush on "those Global Warmings that are happening" The Hillary Show (w/Howard Dean and special guest John Kerry) Attack on McCain And the last word on politics and government goes to the Masters of Satire, Monty Python Posted on February 12, 2008 at 06:51 PM | Comments (0) Super(b)!
WOW! Superb effort for both teams in this year's Super Bowl. I'm sorry they both couldn't win. That was AWESOME! For once, the Super Bowl lives up to its name! Posted on February 03, 2008 at 09:35 PM | Comments (0) Saturday Night at the MoviesHere's a couple of good DVDs in case you're short of ideas. We get them free from the local library.... helps to lower expectations. Warning - nothing artsy-fartsy here - strict commercialism. Clue from all the way back in 1985, stays true to the board game of the same name, and it's as slapstick as they come. Lots of belly laughs and silly - man, this is silly! Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, and Martin Mull, all locked into a mansion and one of them may be a murderer?? I mean, c'mon, that's what I call Casting with a capital C for Comedy! For everyone who ever had a bad job and dreamed of an escape, this movie is for you. While it's admittedly light fare, I think that Joe Versus the Volcano is the kind of quirky romantic comedy that makes for easy viewing. Made in 1990 and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, this movie predated 1993's Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail in 1998. This is like eating marshmallows for dinner, but what the hell. I guess, if the chemistry works, you keep going back to the lab for another experiment. Hanks is so young, well, they both are I guess, and they're both cute as buttons - so cute you could just pinch their cheeks! The director, John Patrick Shanley, had just directed that classic Moonstruck in 1987, BTW. Abe Vigoda, "Fish" in Barney Miller, is the coup de grace as the native chief - reminds me of the Hollywood casting of old, where white guys always played Indians. Check it out. Posted on February 02, 2008 at 10:47 PM | Comments (0) Really Achieving Your Childhood DreamsHere is the Last Lecture of Dr. Randy Pausch, a Virtual Reality professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh - to really dig in after watching this video, check out this website ...and here's Randy's personal website, with a link also to update the status of his cancer. Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. What better time to sit down and think deep significant thoughts than on one of the first weekends of the new year? This morning, I came across this YouTube video sensation - over 6 million on-line viewings so far - and I have to tell you, this is one of the best 76 minutes and 26 seconds you can spend...unquestionably one of the most motivating, enriching, and enlivening lectures you'll ever hear/watch/attend...after reading this blog, I recommend you take the time to get comfortable and watch this video, with a cup of coffee, tea, glass of wine, beer, whatever refreshes you...you won't regret it. After you see it, I'm betting you'll want to share it. This has really cool information about virtual reality, but far more valuable life lessons - I'll be sharing this with my kids... In the end, listening to a brilliant man who knows he is soon dying is a gift that should not be passed up. Here are some of the most memorable quotes and key lessons he shares. And a running theme throughout the lecture is this:
A Short List of Memorable Quotes and Life Lessons Achieving Your Own Dreams On dreaming: "It's important to have specific dreams." On disappointment: "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." On learning: "A head fake is when we learn more important things while ostensibly learning less important things." On persistence: "The brick walls are they to stop the other people, the ones who don't want it bad enough to keep going." On personal relationships and difficult people: "Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you." Helping Others Realize Their Dreams On conflict: It's very important to know when you're in a pissing match, and it's very important to get out of it as soon as possible." On diplomacy: "How you say things is often as important, or more important, than what you say." On his Vision: "The best way to teach someone something is to have them think they're learning something else....Millions of kids having fun while learning something hard. That's pretty cool. I can deal with that as a legacy." Lessons Learned On the role of parents, mentors, and students: "Mothers are people who love you even when you pull their hair." and "If your kids want to paint their bedroom, let them." and "You're such a good salesman ... be a professor ... you might as well be selling something worthwhile, like education." and "If you present (the task) as a story telling activity, they (girls) are perfectly happy learning to program." On having fun: "I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it. You have to decide whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore." On loyalty: "Loyalty is a two-way street." Best Piece of Advice for young ladies: "When it comes to men, just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do. It's that simple." On persistence: "Never give up." On listening: "Get a feedback loop and listen to it ... when you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening. The hard part is the listening to it. Anybody can get chewed out. When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it." On suffering: "Don't complain, just work harder." And three final pearls: "Be good at something, it makes you valuable." and "Find the best in everybody. No-one is all evil." and "Be prepared, luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity." The bottom line: "This talk's not about dreams, it's about how to live your life."
Finally (this conclusion from me). The Hook, the connection to metropolitan broadband, is this: "City leaders have an opportunity to provide for dreams to be achieved for those in their cities whom they lead. Broadband infrastructure holds the key for some kids somewhere to become leaders as adults, to fulfill their own dreams. We should all work to give them that chance, to help make their futures. It's not easy, but it's worth it in the long run. This is what motivates me." Happy New Year! Posted on January 12, 2008 at 05:29 PM | Comments (0) Wii Little ExperimentAs the Consumer Electronics Show gets underway out in Las Vegas, it's good to keep in mind that all this cool new stuff ultimately gets torn apart and put to new uses by smart people goofing around... For instance, though my son has had a Nintendo Wii for nearly a year, I never knew about this... See also Unstrung's take on CES, from a Wireless perspective... And, these Wii commercials... Posted on January 09, 2008 at 05:00 AM | Comments (0) What's Next? ..." City to provide FREE 8-Track Players?"When asked, one official explained that they got the players for "a very low price," adding that 8-tracks for the free players were readily available at garage sales locally. "We all need to listen to music, and there's some good classic rock on 8-track ...you know, not everyone can afford one of those Sony Walkmans," said the anonymous city leader, who declined to give his name. In related news, Westland: City to provide free dial-up Internet service. I'm glad I don't live in Michigan... ...Meanwhile, over in Belgium, they're moving in the other direction .... Belgacom shuts down dial-up service. Such is the smell of decline. Posted on January 07, 2008 at 10:40 PM | Comments (0) I would have voted for Wide StanceRan across this one while blogging this afternoon, watching the Longhorns play St. Mary's - sadly basketball, learning to let football go... Check it out - American Dialectic Society's Word of the Year is (drum roll please .. dududududdududududu...."subprime.") The number after each nomination is the number of votes it received. Numbers separated by slash marks indicate a run-off. Voting totals are for each category might not be identical because the number of voters might have changed for each category. WORD OF THE YEAR WINNER: "subprime," an adjective used to describe a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage, or investment. 79 There are many more good words in other categories, such as "bacn," "global weirding," and "earmarxist" ... never heard of any of 'em .... worth a look.... Posted on January 05, 2008 at 05:50 PM | Comments (0) Top 10 Wireless PredictionsGovernment Technology on-line magazine has a good article - very appropriate for this time of year - Top 10 Wireless Predictions for 2008. I'd direct your attention especially to Prediction # 2, 3, 6, and 8. While this particular wireless analysis focuses on the 3G/4G cellular wireless world, there are overlap and implications for the metropolitan broadband wireless world that is the focus in this space. MNIQ and analysis and comments follow this summary below. inCode, a VeriSign Company, has again issued its Top 10 predictions for the game-changing events that will shape the wireless industry in 2008. The predictions cover major trends ranging from who will win the communication standard wars, what role Google will play in the wireless world after January's spectrum auction and whether or not consumers will finally open up to digital content and mobile advertising. The predictions, first created in 2003 by inCode, a global business and technology consultancy acquired by VeriSign in November 2006, are designed to help wireless industry players, partners and consumers better plan for the coming year. "The coming year is going to be incredibly important for the wireless industry as new business models begin to take shape," said Jorge Fuenzalida, vice president of communications consulting for inCode, a VeriSign company. "Beginning with the spectrum auction in January, to the continuing battle between fourth-generation (4G) technologies LTE and WiMAX, to what it's going to take to make converged wireless a reality, wireless will look significantly different in several critical ways one year from today." 2008 predictions highlights (complete predictions follow highlights): -- The WiMAX/LTE wars will end with a whimper. The long-awaited "take-off-the-gloves" battle between next-generation wireless technologies LTE, HSPA and WiMAX will not occur since they are in different stages of maturity, with HSPA already enjoying widespread adoption and a flourishing device market. -- A new wholesale carrier will emerge. The 700MHz spectrum auction presents a large opportunity for the emergence of a new wholesale carrier (i.e., no retail operations or direct customer) that focuses on being the most cost-effective player in the market and avoids the retail game. The wholesale carrier model will be driven by companies such as Google - but the question remains: How much control will Google be able to garner? -- Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology goes mainstream. Long used for pirating files, US distributors follow the UK's lead and begin to utilize next-generation, secure and DRM-protected P2P for mobile content distribution. -- For the eighth year in a row, mobile service quality will continue to deteriorate. The combination of new technology (3G), multi-band, multi-access technology, advanced and complex handsets, least-cost routing and under-investments in network coverage have made mobile services less reliable than they were before the introduction of 3G. 2008 Top 10 Predictions for the Global Wireless Market 1. RF Technology Convergence Will Finally Start to Materialize MetroNetIQ Comments after the jump. MNIQ:The opening of wholesale wireless markets will be supported by Wi Fi networks, where available... 2. A New Wholesale Carrier Will be Born MNIQ: Already, T-Mobile is advertising dual use cellular phones with Wi Fi capability. Look for more device and handset vendors to add Wi Fi as an amenity to differentiate their products. And where these devices can run on Wi Fi metropolitan networks, they will be able to carry more data-rich advertising. 3. Device Proliferation: Open Access as an Emerging Business Model MNIQ: Metropolitan broadband networks will also reflect this new media-driven trend, where P2P business models target specific audiences for custom content delivery. 6. P2P -- From Theft Model to Business Model MNIQ: In cities that have metropolitan networks, mobile carriers will become additional anchor tenants, using the citywide networks to augment their other backhaul options. Posted on January 03, 2008 at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) Top Ten Posts for 2007
So here I am, on the first day of the year, trying to watch football, cook steak, drink a 10-year old Merlot, and write this blog. Something tells me this blog post may go into tomorrow... Little did I think the Christmas letter I started a week ago would need to go out in 8 parts, but as I reviewed all the ground we covered in my business, and all the topics we posted on, there was no way to do the year justice without spending some time on review. It was an interesting ride to go through all the documents and business activity, and to go through all the blog posts for the year. I hope you readers found it so as well. Having processed all that material this far, it's just one more step to compile a Best of the Year series, so here are my favorite posts for the year, rolled into one post. I'll go ahead and try the Top Ten format, as that is so popular, and it has value because it makes me focus, something I struggle with... 1. Cities as Complex Ecosystems: Mother Nature Knows Best Frenay thinks so and makes a credible argument. I would urge anyone in the city management business to take a look at this perspective. If anything, I believe that cities are complex ecosystems and they're best managed holistically, by thinking with a nature paradigm about how all the parts work together in harmony. Change is more easily accomplished at the local level, which gives relevance to this train of thought. Thinking about the future of your city holistically, you are bound to consider a network project at some point, because any complex ecosystem needs a communication medium, and metropolitan broadband offers that medium. 2. What's Municipal Wireless Good For? The Whole Enchilada I think that telecom is an inherently complex operation, and that cities, especially smaller ones, benefit when they assume a partnership role with private players. Cities are best served leaving the risky and complex jobs to the private sector where possible, focusing on what they do well: providing for the general welfare of the citizenry, principally with better public safety, better infrastructure, better prospects for the future (eco dev), and increasingly, better protection of the natural environment. Not to say that cities can't and shouldn't still be great catalysts for change, and that is the essence of what Municipal Wireless is good for. It helps cities be better at what they are good for - taking care of their citizens. In summary, Muni Wireless provides 1. a stimulus for national debate on broadband... 3. What's in a Name? A Lot, if it Signifies an Attitude and an Approach So, imagine this paradigm shift driven by a simple name change. What if we look at a Metropolitan Broadband Network not as an IT Project led by the IT team, with backing from city government leaders, to accomplish the laudable city goals of more efficient city government? What if instead we start of thinking of the task as a Community and Economic Development Project, led by a cross-section of government, business, and community leaders, to provide not only efficient city government, but also widespread access to broadband for all citizens, as well as long-term, sustainable economic development? Now the perspective shifts, and the IT Director / CIO becomes a leader and technology adviser to a much broader project, and one member of a much larger team. MetroNetIQ is using just such a shift in focus to give a new perspective to metropolitan broadband projects. There are trade-offs that come with this shift, but they are worth it. The project will take longer and will have more up-front expenses. But it is likely to turn out better in the end and pay long-term dividends. 4. Small, Simple, Cheap, and Fast - OHMMMMMMMM That is what I believe is the bottom line on the need for different approaches to broadband provisioning: A divergence from the status quo is called for, and an opportunity presents itself to model the success of Open Source software development. This is what we will see more and more of in the coming year - more experimentation, more innovation, more change. As consumers, we should open ourselves up to new ways of doing things, exploring what we value and what we can do without. There are multiple lessons to be learned if we will set off on this path. 6. On the Cutting Edge - Citywide Broadband on Steroids FTTH can lead, if the community is ready to make the leap to a 21st Century Future-Proof Broadband Network, if community and economic development are front and center, and if more competitive broadband market rates are needed. Wireless Broadband will be important as well for mobility, and that can come initially with Hot Spots, Hot Zones, or more ubiquitous coverage. Wireless Broadband can lead, if it's mobility that's most crucial, but a fiber loop will be needed for back haul initially, and the network will need to grow into a full FTTH network over time to provide necessary capacity to meet future capacity requirements. 7. Phoenix MetroNets, Rising from the Ashes Municipal Wireless 2.0 - the Trial Stage. The bottom line from this industry stage is that these networks counted on a new private sector industry developing and taking on the risks of these projects. Big city leaders were willing to launch initiatives as long as they bore little of the risk. When that "scenario" finally began to unravel, with the withdrawal of free deals by MetroFi and EarthLink, and the sputtering of Kite, the air went out of the balloon that was Municipal Wireless, or so it seemed. The announcement of the Death of Municipal Wireless was premature, however. Municipal Wireless 3.0 - the Emergent Customization Stage. I think we're emerging into a new stage of this industry, where we'll see the adoption of a variety of new business models, call it "MuniWireless 3.0," which I've labeled the Emergent Customization Stage. Imagine a shotgun blast, where pellets emerge from the gun barrel and explode into a broader, widening pattern. That's where we are with business models - we've matured to the point that interested parties have a menu of options to consider, and they can browse (pardon the pun!) to get the right option for their particular needs - a Custom business model, if you will. As cities learn more, they are able to take a more autonomous role, and we will see several different paths emerge, because cities are widely divergent in their local situations and preferences. Long Live Freedom of Choice! 8. Tangled Webs, Wicked Ways "How shall we move our country onto a more sound footing when it comes to broadband infrastructure? For it will either be by working through these large companies, or by working around them." For better or worse, our very complex communication web in this country is based on a history of government outsourcing development risks to the private sector, in most cases, to a regulated monopoly (AT&T). From the start, it's been a complicated yet incredibly successful venture, one that has evolved into a myth, starting with Alexander Graham Bell's "Watson Come Here" line and moving forward to Bell Labs series of technical discoveries in the 20th century. The measures this administration and its supporters would take cannot make us any safer, but they do offer to make us feel safer, in exchange for long-lasting political changes that serve their agenda. In response, we should be demanding hard evidence, we should demand to know: "How do massive violations of our laws to survey all data communications make us any safer?" What's the track record to date? It's been six years, after all. We're fed the impression that we're being protected, but in fact, that's not possible by such means. In fact, our civil liberties are being traded away for a pittance in an historic power grab. We're buying a temporary feeling of security, in exchange for handing over our most precious asset: the system of laws, checks, and balances that are the very foundation of our government and our stable civil society. This issue is coming to a head in the Senate, and I'm concerned. In the Senate, two competing versions of the FISA Act have passed out of Senate committees. One, passed last month by the Intelligence Committee, saw Democratic Senators Schumer and Feinstein vote with the Republicans in favor of a version that contains immunity for telecom firms that cooperated with requests from the executive branch to break laws and provide surveillance of domestic data traffic without warrants. 10. Shamalama Ding Dong - Life is a Highway We believe that the somewhat-spontaneous experiments of the open world of the Alternate Broadband universe are pushing out the envelope as fast or faster than the planned experiments and careful steps of the closed Conventional Broadband world of cable and DSL. And we also believe that there is room for both. Those large companies need the Alternate Broadband world to go out and take the risks, to experiment and come up with new broadband models. The smart ones among the Conventional Broadband players will watch advances in the Alternate Broadband space and adapt, while the overconfident ones will deny the changes until it is too late. Change is happening fast, the world is not the same as it was four years ago when I started in this space. What will the railroad operators do when the tracks no longer go where people want to go? What will they do when alternatives, like roads and cars, come along to compete with their railroad monopolies? Some will adapt, but others will go away. It's been a fun year...next, a look forward at 2008. 2008 ... that's going to take some getting used to.... Posted on January 01, 2008 at 11:11 AM | Comments (0) Sharing the Christmas Spirit
In Spanish, "milagro" means "miracle" and this season seems to call for a miracle right about now. Call this "Tequila-Blogging".....Happy Holidays from MetroNetIQ! Not to be all gloom and doom, but sometimes I feel a little down. My favorite holiday season approaches, yet I continue to read political blogs that decry the direction we're heading. Last night at the Austin Wireless Association Holiday Party (why can't we just call it a Chistmas Party???), talk was about the municipal wireless world unraveling and (some) folks were wringing their hands. And then, today's NY Times details the results of the Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball - see Say it Ain't So, Roger, and Barry, and ... - even you, Rocket??? Big sigh..... Time to step back and appreciate that this time of year, I get to see old friends at parties, I end up calling people I haven't spoken to that much all year, others come into town to visit relatives and call me, I sneak off to play golf, and generally, start to kick back and unwind, as the year we call "2007" does the same. So take a hint from me and try something different this year. When you head over to your friend's house, you'll be that much more welcome if you bring along a Bottle of Margaritas, already mixed. Picture that blue bottle above, the tequila inside transformed into a Margarita, with a red ribbon around its neck. A nice change of pace from a bottle of wine, showing up on the doorstep with this libation will make you stand out and your friends will appreciate your brilliance all the more. So, I thought I'd share one of the things I'm thankful for - as a bartender in my youth, I made millions of margaritas by hand, before the machines were all the rage. I'd free pour into the blender and let 'er rip. All I have to do is smell that stale behind the bar smell and all those memories come flooding back... As an amateur bartender these past 25 years (I long since gave up making money at that - that was part of my mispent youth), I've had the occasion to experiment, and this is the best recipe I'll wager you will find for making a margarita, and it's true to the original recipe too! Just remember "3-2-2" and "fresh" and keep chanting those two terms, as you read on. Making the "322" Margarita, to go Ingredients 1. Tequila: Start with Milagro brand 100% pure agave silver tequila. Buy three bottles and start to experiment at home, which will give you some empty bottles (you'll need these later). This tequila has my vote for the best value tequila on the market - you can get a fifth for about $25 in most liquor stores - if you take your tequila in the form of that delectable concoction known as the "Margarita," that is. No doubt you can drop a pretty penny for a finer sipping tequila, but mixing an expensive tequila with Triple Sec and lime just isn't a good use of your money. The bottle is pretty, and it is sealed with a cork, not a screw top - a touch of class. 2. Triple Sec: Others like to use Cointreau or Grand Marnier, but again, I think this is a waste of good money, as the stronger orange flavor actually thows out the balance of the finished product. It's a matter of taste, and I've done some tasting. As far as I'm concerned, simple cheap Triple Sec does fine for this cocktail. 3. Lime Juice: Here's where a simple change of pace can make a big difference. Don't settle for premade juices, or juices mixed with sugar. Take your time and squeeze your own. The freshness matters. Get a hand squeezer at Williams Sonoma, or better yet, one of those models that sits on the counter, to make the task easier. And we've found that key limes, those little tiny limes, are the best value and actually provide more juice, and the juice is a little bit sweeter. Making the Drink 1. Start with the lime juice, because this is the most variable. If you buy plenty of limes, you'll have some flexibility in the recipe. So we usually get 40-80 key limes. Squeeze away, and measure out the juice in 8 oz containers. We often have a juicing party with the kids, they get fresh lime ade afterwards, and we freeze 2-3 containers pre-measured to 8 oz. 2. Pour the 8 oz of fresh squeezed lime juice into an empty Milagro bottle. 3. Measure out 8 oz. of Triple Sec and add to the Milagro bottle. 4. Measure out 12 oz. of Milagro Tequila and add to the Milagro bottle. 5. Pop in the cork top and shake it around. 6. Pour over plenty of ice and drink it slowly, savoring the different tastes. Any odd amounts of lime juice can always be matched with Triple Sec and Tequila using the 3-2-2 ratio - you don't have to follow the 12/8/8 ratio above, that just works for us to make a bottle and keep it in the refrigerator or take it to a friend's house. This drink actually comes across much stronger than the Margaritas you're used to, so treat it like a Martini, sipping in moderation. But once you get used to this smooth drink, you'll have a hard time going back to the sweet frozen varieties at the Mexican food restaurants that are more typical. In the past, we've added this recipe onto a blank business card decorated with Christmas symbols and tied it to a full bottle of margaritas with a red ribbon for a unique gift. Share the spirit, and have a great Christmas Holiday and a Wonderful New Year! Finally, I heard this song on the radio the other day ... helps me keep things in perspective to laugh a little at all the folly of the holly, this time of year. Posted on December 14, 2007 at 08:11 AM | Comments (0) From Analog to Digital - A Long, Strange TripI enjoyed writing this post this morning (see Digital Adolescents Stuck in Digital Puberty). It began a discussion on what I think is a seismic shift in our society, one that gets scant coverage considering the enormity of its implications. Technology acts on society: it wins over some converts, but others fight the change and seek to preserve the status quo. Technology drags us all into the 21st century, changing society along the way, but its pull has greater impact on "early adopters" than on "laggards." There are those who resist, but also those who are left out because of economics or education. When those who wish to participate are left out, we call it a Digital Divide. A staggered rate of technology adoption leads to a society out of balance. And the less attention is paid to the Digital Divide, the wider the gap gets. In the US, Europe and elsewhere around the globe, efforts to address such inequalities get labeled as Digital Inclusion or e-Inclusion, or eclusion, take your pick. Why does it matter? Digital Inclusion and Technology Adoption deserve your attention for two reasons. First, a healthy society requires that its members all have access to the tools necessary for success, whether its health care, education, jobs, or broadband and digital technology - if there are differences, they should be minimal. Different segments of society should at least be on the same planet when it comes to technology - even better if they are on the same page. The pace of change is such that those who get left behind technologically these days, out of choice or lack of access, are really, really left behind. Second, telecommunication networks increase in value the more nodes (phones, computers, etc.) are connected (aka Metcalfe's Law). It's corollary, Reed's Law, states that the value of social networks increases exponentially the more members are in the network, because of the value of sub-networks. In any society, people naturally organize themselves in networks. Just look at MySpace and FaceBook to better understand the value that society imputes to social networks. The Bottom Line: Networks organize and drive today's economy and society. If you're not on the network, increasingly, that means that you're irrelevant. Our leadership underestimates the impacts that digital networks have and resists changes to our society, often to our collective detriment. Our political leaders today grew up in a different world. The average age of members in the US Senate is 62, and with leadership based on seniority, many committee chairmen are over 70. A person who is 70 years old this year would have graduated high school in 1955, which was a big year in the history of computers: 1955 Steve Jobs is born February 24, 1955 The old men of computing, inventors of the Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Office, and the World Wide Web, were all born in 1955, when our political leadership was graduating from high school, slide rules in hand. When they graduated: * Computers ran mostly on vacuum tubes - very expensive large mainframes that required highly skilled operators - there was no such thing as a PC or Mac, much less a laptop or a tablet PC This list could go on and on - the point is that life was simpler then, in many ways ... the world has changed immeasurably in the past 50 years, and in big chunks, decade by decade. The really big digital impacts didn't even begin until 25 years ago, when our leaders were well into their 40s. Many of those who resist change and deny its significance either don't understand it fully, underestimate its impacts, or simply resent the pace of change. We won't go back to the way things used to be, there is no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. The world of the last century is gone forever, but many who vote continue to elect leadership that looks backward instead of to the future. Only when young people begin to outvote the old, when the voices of Progress outvote the voices of Conservatism, when those who value technology stand up in the political process to demand technological sophistication from their leaders - only then will we see informed lawmaking in Washington, DC. Until then, we'll have to look to local government, where younger people have a louder voice, for political leadership. Be sure to see TechPresident to track the twin issues of technology and the presidential race, if this posting hits home. Posted on December 10, 2007 at 10:32 PM | Comments (0) Digital Adolescents Stuck in Digital PubertyIt occurred to me that our current situation, culturally speaking, is not unlike that of an adolescent, whose body is beset by hormonal invasion that turns quotidian events into internal tempests that rock their worlds from hour to hour. With an 11-year old and a 13-year old living under my roof with my wife and me, I'm slowly coming to grips with the fact that we have a new house guest, not altogether welcome - Puberty. Too bad there's no Hormonal Channel, like the Weather Channel, to warn me of the next hurricane approaching. I'm constantly hit with these unexpected blasts of anger and anxiety, left wondering how long our new guest will be staying. No doubt longer than we'd like. So, if this is the situation I'm in, I better learn how to live in it, hadn't I? As a society, I'm convinced we're in a similar position, faced with a similar dilemma. We need to learn to live in a new mode, but for now, we're stuck in Digital Adolescence, between the analog childhood that we had grown so accustomed to - predictable, relatively slow, high touch - and the digital adulthood that is now a fact of life and that we know deep down is our destiny - forever changing, fast-paced, hard technology-based. When did this happen to us? It's hard to pin down, but I'd argue that we had a long, slow run up with the Rise of Computers from the 1960s through the 1980s, then we crossed the Rubicon sometime around 1995. (Some argue that we're still in this Information Age, but I think the Internet marked a significant disruptive transition from the Information Age to the Network Age, meaning that being connected is distinctly different than being dependent on information, but that's a topic for another post - still, do take time to read that link on the Information Age, which is loaded with good information and insights). Since the Rise of the Internet a little over 10 years ago, we've been alternating through many different attitudes, but mostly we've been collectively in denial as the Internet matures and grinds away at our institutions. For many, if not most in society, these changes lie under the surface, unrecognized, subliminal. But they affect us all, nevertheless, and we see more and more evidence of change, and the need to adjust, if we just open our eyes. Once you've had this realization, it's hard not to notice the evidence all around. In fact, getting us all to recognize the significant changes associated with transitioning from Analog to Digital, from stand-alone to connected, from fixed to mobile, is the principal goal of this website. Adjusting to change has to be one of the hardest things to do in life, yet we all have to do it as we age, so it's one of the most universal of themes. As societies go, healthy societies adjust well to change, less healthy ones don't. The least healthy societies get stuck and close themselves off from any outside influence in order to stay the same: just think of Cuba and North Korea. Recognizing this state of Digital Puberty that we've entered is not unlike going through the five stages of grief in the Kubler-Ross model , because such significant change involves a death and a rebirth. In the end, allowing yourself to be reborn, to reemerge from the process of change, involves accepting the death of the previous state. Until then, you're stuck. The stages are: 1. Denial: The initial stage: "It can't be happening." Kubler-Ross originally applied these stages to any form of catastrophic personal loss (job, income, freedom). This also includes the death of a loved one and divorce. Kubler-Ross also claimed these steps do not necessarily come in order, nor are they all experienced by all patients, though she stated a person will always experience at least two. Others have noticed that any significant personal change can elicit these stages. For example, experienced criminal defense attorneys are aware that defendants who are facing stiff sentences, yet have no defenses or mitigating factors to lessen their sentences, often experience the stages. Accordingly, they must get to the acceptance stage before they are prepared to plead guilty. Additionally, the change in circumstances does not always have to be a negative one, just significant enough to cause a grief response to the loss (Scire, 2007). Accepting a new work position, for example, causes one to lose their routine, workplace friendships, familiar drive to work, even customary lunch sources. At first, we deny that the change is all that significant, many even don't know what you're talking about. But then years pass, companies rise and fall, and society changes. Who can argue that we are not significantly different than we were 10 years ago, a blink of an eye when it comes to history? A mere decade ago, who had even heard of broadband, of Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, etc., etc., etc.? Recognizing these changes and doing something about them is not easy. We have all kinds of terms for those who fail to grow up, from the Peter Pan Syndrome to the recent Failure to Launch. My personal favorite in this genre is the 1986 Rob Reiner film classic, Stand by Me, which chronicles that awkward point in our lives when some of our gang have moved on to be interested in more mature matters, while others lag behind. And for comedic effect, Arrested Development is hard to beat at capturing the inanity of growing up, or failing to do so. Part of the challenge comes from the lack of leadership. When we have leaders who look back instead of looking forward, as a society we're hamstrung. We're stuck in distracting and unproductive debates that stall our progress, diverting our energies from adjusting to change to preserving the status quo. As I write this post, I'm streaming audio from NPR, which just reported on Al Gore's acceptance of the Nobel Prize for his work in getting the world to accept the very real and significant fact that the world is heating up, which may very well threaten life on the planet. Now there's a hard reality to accept, especially since dealing with it involves dealing with the death of our very modern, relatively carefree lifestyles of consumerism and blissful ignorance of its consequences. I'd argue that we persist in acting like rebellious teenagers, holding on to our childish ways in the face of change, denying the need to accept our progress into an adult world of hard decisions and consequences. Consider then this list of societal issues that have been neglected over the past decade, look at them through the lens of Functional/Dysfunctional Change discussed in this post, and consider to what degree the problems we face stem from our clinging to the status quo in denial of the need for change. And while you're at it, add Broadband Infrastructure to the list. Climate Change We need to get busy, because the longer we stay stuck in the Five Stages of Grief, the longer we fail to deal with these issues and the worse they become. Posted on December 10, 2007 at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) Can I See the Rest of the Mail Bag?What a great country where we actually have this kind of informed debate in a national newspaper! In response to a provocative NY Times OpEd piece a few days ago, Taking Science on Faith, readers shared their own opinions in these Letters to the Editor, Scientific Method: Evidence, Not Faith. I was left thinking what a fun job this must have been for the Letters Editor staff, to wade through what must have been hundreds of letters to pick the Lucky Seven that made it onto the page...what the Times hasn't yet realized is that they could have put ALL the letters they recieved up on their website. Limiting the responses to seven is a hold-over from the print days, when there was a real cost to publishing, and they had to winnow the list down to the most essential. I say, "Thanks for the summary, but I want more! Can I see the rest of the letters?" Check out the list if you want a little jolt to your brain...deep thoughts, but good ones. I'd echo their comments, because I lean on both traditions very heavily. There's a place for faith in my life, which feeds a hole in my soul, giving me hope and keeping me going. There's also a deep reliance on science, which methodically explains things. Having to choose between the two would be like having to choose between bread and water - I need both. This argument highlights the false choices we are presented with on a daily basis. To simplify arguments, the press often boil things down into two opposing arguments, but life is immeasurably more complicated than that. Such simplicity presents a false choice. We can use the dualistic approach - "This or That?" - to get the conversation started, but never to finish the argument, because more often than not, the answer lies in the middle - "A little bit of This, a little bit of That." The beginning of Wisdom is abandoning the choice between Black and White, and embracing the fact that the world is a Canvas of Graytones. Getting to the nub of complex issues, and they abound in today's society, takes patience, understanding, compassion, and no small dose of hard work. And, we could all use more training day in and day out in developing that side of our intellect and heart that lets us tolerate ambiguity. Many issues we deal with are quite simply insoluble and subjective. Sometimes, the best we can get from a good argument is to gain respect for the opposing viewpoint, expand our horizons, and better understand why we hold the beliefs that we do, yet still tolerate the views of other intelligent people, who see the world differently than we do. Posted on November 29, 2007 at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) I was hoping for at least Community College Reading Level
Posted on November 18, 2007 at 02:23 PM | Comments (0) The Eternal, Infernal Disharmony in Being Half-PregnantI've been thinking about the challenge the FCC commissioners face doing their jobs. Maintaining their current regulatory posture over telecom and broadband companies must be an effort. You can hear the frustration in the comments made by the commissioners in the minority Democratic party, Commissioners Copps and Adelstein. (see my previous blog with their comments, here). I don't envy those guys their jobs. If they approach their jobs with any honesty, they must realize that as a nation, we're not exactly kicking butt when it comes to creating a thriving broadband marketplace, much less fulfilling the public interest. After all, don't they read the same articles I do that show our nation slipping in the global rankings on broadband penetration? It's almost as bad as the UT Longhorns slide in the AP and USA Today polls. I know how that makes me feel. Yechhh. And nobody is pointing at the Federal Telecom Act of 1996 as a raging success in bringing competition to the telecom market, that is nobody except the last-standing RBOCs, all three of them. SBC even bought up its old parent and took their name back - the new AT&T. Take that, Judge Green! When the Congress stipulated a "move to a competitive market," I guess the RBOCs heard a "move to a deregulated market." If you haven't noticed, they're not the same thing. So when they're kicking back having a Scotch in the FCC VIP Lounge after a hard day's regulatin' (indulge my fantasy), don't you think they acknowledge to each other that what we have is not a really robust, completive market for either of these services? I can just hear them. "Man, this regulatin' sucks." "No shit, Copps." "Hi guys!" "Kevin, yo." "Ah, what a great day, time for a scotch....say, who do you like in the playoffs? How about that Tribe." The FCC doesn't regulate either the telecom or the broadband market enough to dictate market outcomes, but they also can't let go of either market completely - they're stuck in an eternally disharmonious state - half pregnant. They continue to give the private companies they oversee just about all that they ask for, more or less, wanting to believe them when they say that their market description is a precondition to get them to invest the billions in new infrastructure. Please, even I see through that one. They like using their existing copper. It's their desire to hold on to their markets that gets them to invest, just like any other business. Note to the FCC - "Dudes, they're bluffin'!" And when the FCC doesn't get the market results they'd expected, well, that's got to get old. Doooohhh! But the fact is, if anybody is in charge of this situation, the FCC commissioners are. They took the appointment, after all. And they've allowed a situation to endure where they're all half-pregnant. Neither fish nor fowl. When the only parties that benefit from this situation are those currently making lots of money in privileged market positions that don't ever change - the incumbents, that is - then any reasonable person has to at least wonder why the situation continues. Whatever their stated intentions, it's their policies that keep the barriers to entry high and allow providers to charge what they want for services, within reason. It's a sweet deal for the sellers, as long as they can ride it out. I can't help but make the comparison to the disaster that was the partially deregulated electricity market created by the California PUC and the California Legislature. I guess the FCC looks good by comparison to that fiasco. We all know how well that experiment went. Yikes! It blew up when Enron and other energy traders gamed the system and stole billions from California citizens and businesses. Because they could. That's what happens when government creates these situations. Maybe that's what inhibits the FCC? Nahhh. Having a market sit for any length of time right in between a clearly competitive market (lots of buyer choices, little power for sellers to gouge on prices, low barriers to entry for competitors) and a clearly regulated market (regulatory commission sets prices and monitors customer satisfaction) is quite simply, as far as I'm concerned, a recipe for long-term disharmony and dissatisfaction among the public. And if you're not careful, some serious price gouging, even criminal behavior by the sellers, may result. Because for sellers left in that state over time, the power goes to their heads and it gets to be irresistible to abuse their position. It leads to corruption over the long haul. It's just not a healthy way to regulate. Being Half-Pregnant is not where you would choose to be, if you were a regulator or policy maker and you had the choice and you took your job seriously. It makes for unhappy buyers, for obvious reasons, and for unhappy sellers, at least on the outside. Sellers will always complain that they're over-regulated, and they will always ask for more relief - what have you done for me lately? It's how lobbyists get a raise, seeing how far they can push the system. So what's an unhappy regulator in a Half-Pregnant market to do then? If they go back to the basics in search of answers, they'll consult their job description and see that they're charged with guarding the public airwaves, ensuring the public good / looking out for the public benefit. That would be the public - as in you and me, the buyers. So, I'd start with thinking about creating a situation that would provide long-term Buyer Happiness. For that to happen, there needs to be stability between buyers and sellers and a sustained fair market. I think the situation that provides the most benefit for the buyer over the long haul is sustained market harmony, not an attempt to tell us that what we currently have IS fair. When a regulator takes on the job of managing a market, even overseeing a market to ensure fair competition, they have to give some thought to what constitutes a Win for a buyer. They need to have some empathy with the buyers. What makes for happiness? Is it when they get a good deal? What makes a good deal then? When the seller is very considerate? When the buyer was really looking forward to what they were buying? As we look at broadband as a market, an assumption we tend to make is that unless there's substantial choice, the buyers are not doing as well as they could. Sometimes we accept lack of choice as just something we have to learn to live with. Other times it leads to customer dissatisfaction. Every day we buy things and often we don't give a lot of thought to this equation, but I think it is central to the broadband economy and worth exploring a little further. I just finished a real estate refinancing last week, and I had a very unsatisfactory experience working with the mortgage broker and the title company. It was pretty miserable, and I got to pay thousands of dollars in "service" fees for the pleasure. I think one thing that bothered me was the tremendous lack of concern about customer satisfaction, sloppy process, missed deadlines, missed documents, etc - a factor that I would say is directly correlated with the nature of that market, since this is an infrequent transaction where I have low familiarity with the purchase and little recourse if things go wrong. But I'm assured all those fees are there "because of the Legislature." So, I think that having a good buying experience is about a lot more than getting a good price. It's about a sense of fair play as well. From the seller's perspective, I assume a sale with substantial margin is a Win. That could mean getting a high market price, or selling a product that has a low cost, which contributes to a high price. It could also mean lining up an account that will produce a long-term revenue stream. Or, landing a customer that will become a good strategic reference to lead to further business development. I think one has a functioning market in place when there is some balance between buyers and sellers. When you think about it, isn't a successful market transaction the very definition of a Win/Win? A happy buyer and a happy seller should be the goal of every market transaction. And thinking about the longer term, I think that the overall goal should be not just market harmony, but sustainable market harmony, which implies a complex system in balance. So backing up, going up to 50,000 feet, a long-term sustainable market can be had with competition or with no competition (but regulation), but rarely if ever with very little competition. Market Harmony in a Market with Competition When competition is present, competing firms work a number of angles in order to win business. They can compete on price, which is the natural way to compete if their product or service is widely available, making it hard to differentiate, even making it a commodity. They can compete on value or service, seeking a higher margin, if they have a product that is different or unique in some way. The best case for a seller is to have a product or service that has few or no substitutes, or that is difficult to switch from, so that the seller can charge a price with some flexibility, either seeking higher margins (premium pricing) or seeking larger market share (competitive pricing). So back to what makes a happy buyer in a competitive market - that is, one with healthy competition? I'd call that a market where a substitute is readily available and where the cost to switch providers is not altogether onerous. I'd focus on two things: value and customer service experience. a) Value. A happy buyer is one who receives fair value - that's a subjective assessment, because value has to do not only with the buyer's perception of price, but also with their perception of product or service quality. And satisfaction presumes that the purchase comes with a modicum of shopping, so that the buyer is aware of market conditions. The buyer needs to determine that they received a price that is about the same or lower than they could have received had they bought elsewhere. If the search cost is too high, often a buyer will be more satisfied even with a fairly wide margin in pricing - it just wasn't worth it to hunt for a bargain, so they opted to buy without much or any comparison shopping. In contrast, an unhappy buyer is one who finds out after the sale that they made a bad deal, either by paying too much or by getting less than what they had expected for their money. Fear of this outcome can paralyze a buyer, or put them in the unhappy role of perpetual shopper, always looking for a better deal. b) Customer Service Experience. A happy buyer is treated as if they were special - as if the seller really cares about their experience and wants them to return as a customer. A happy buyer should want to brag about their purchase and their seller. Conversely, an unhappy buyer gets treated like shit. They know it when the seller doesn't care about them, and they don't like it. Market Harmony in a Market with No Competition As long as it's managed and regulated well, a non-competitive market can still result in customer satisfaction despite the lack of choice, especially if other factors are present. A good example of such long-term stability and sustained market harmony is found with a public utility. In the absence of competition, a regulator serves to ensure that each side, both buyer and seller, receives a fair price and fair value. So, the price should be high enough so that the seller recovers its costs and makes a rate of return sufficient to be able to raise capital to finance its operations and long-term capital expenses. And the price should be low enough so that any buyer that wishes to buy can. That is the description of the regulatory compact that electric utilities entered under in order to be granted monopoly status. And it's the system in place that enabled most of the nation's electric grid to be built. (I still don't know why that can't be a model to build a broadband infrastructure, but when I suggested it recently, I was assured that "times have changed.") What makes a happy buyer in a regulated, non-competitive market? In a word, good, reliable service. Pleasant interaction with the seller. Personality makes a much bigger difference when the customer has no way to leave the seller, when the option is limited to either buy or not buy the product. That's why I was so dissatisfied in my real estate close. That's why I'm generally upset with my cellular carrier, because I'm locked into a two-year contract and they treat me poorly with some regularity. Market Harmony in a Market with Very Little Competition So, back to our Half-Pregnant scenario. I'd argue that it's difficult to achieve market harmony under circumstances of very little competition, because there's a lack of balance between the buy and sell side. The seller holds most of the cards in such a market and can charge a price set just high enough to keep the market sizable. In an untampered free market, such an inharmonious, out-of-balance market is generally a temporary situation, because the higher prices charged by sellers and the lack of harmony invites new market entrants to come in, so in the seller's view, the good times don't last too long. And while low customer satisfaction need not be inevitable in this market scenario, it's not uncommon for sellers that enjoy such a circumstance to lower product quality to increase margins - again, it's natural and can become almost irresistible. You can just hear the argument in the board room - "why are we still spending so much on product quality when we don't even have any real competition?" - "we could be making even more margin in this market, are we nuts?!!?" "We owe it to our share holders (us) to trim costs and increase margins." And they can be less attentive to customer service as well, if they believe the customers are stuck with them. What's worse, cost cutting in that area will hurt service when reps become over stressed. Of course, this market condition describes any number of broadband markets in the United States, and it's arguable that it also describes many telecom, cable, and cellular markets, especially in rural areas. Even in local markets where there are as many as three providers, which the FCC would deem "competitive," all have a strong incentive to keep their prices at about the same level and to avoid a price war. So, the prices stay high, the choices stay low, and that condition can persist over a long period of time. Customers feel disempowered under these conditions and rightly so - they have little control over what they buy - for instance, I'm on my third cellular company in about five years, and I think they all provide pretty poor, pretty expensive service. Problem is, they are all about the same, I've come to realize. I try not to think about it. I find a coping strategy, and go to my happy place. But there will come a time when there's real competition, and I will drop them like a rock. Executive management at incumbent firms in Half Pregnant markets know that customers like me feel this way, and that there are lots more like me on their roles. In their quiet moments, some of them toast each other and enjoy the good times while they last. But the smart ones are worried about their futures, because they know that however well they have things now, this condition is not sustainable over the very long term. And yet, another year g | ||||
