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CAN WI-FI TAKE US TO THE LAST MILE?
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:29:23 -0400
------ Forwarded Message From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> CAN WI-FI TAKE US TO THE LAST MILE? [Commentary] Cory Doctorow, co-editor of the boingboing.net blog and outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, laments the FCC's recent decision to abandon rules requiring Baby Bell telephone companies to accommodate broadband services competition. Doctorow says the decision will impact the growth of local wireless Internet access, since the Baby Bells forbid their customers from setting up free wi-fi access through their broadband connections. "The feds have thrown the rate-pricing question back to the states, saying, in effect, You figure it out," he writes. "That means that in some states we might get vibrant markets, while in others -- places where the phone company is in bed with the local government -- we'll get no competition." Doctorow says there's still hope, though, as nonprofit groups like the Bay Area Wireless Users Group establish their own community wireless ISPs, or WISPs. So unless the Baby Bells begin to treat their users like customers rather than "passive consumers," Doctorow says, "entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts may be the only ways to make broadband service ubiquitous and competitive." [SOURCE: Busines 2.0, AUTHOR: Cory Doctorow] <http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,47997,00.html> Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net> Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com> ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- CAN WI-FI TAKE US TO THE LAST MILE? Dave Farber (Apr 18)