Re: net neutrality peering dispute between CenturyTel/Qwest and Cogent in Dallas

[Mark Tinka <mark.tinka () seacom mu>]

On 16/Aug/15 00:50, Harry McGregor wrote:

>  
>
> Before this happens (ie when hell freezes over), I would like to see
> new home communities deploying fiber networks as part of the building
> of the "master plan" of the community.   That way the home owners
> association can go out for bid every year or few years for a service
> provider to operate the fiber network. 

This is exactly what communities in South Africa are starting to do.

In major suburbs around Johannesburg, neighborhoods are getting their
residents together and putting out bids for service providers to build
and operate FTTH networks on their behalf. In other parts of the
country, the local city or municipal councils are also getting involved.

In other neighborhoods, new and lean service providers are, by their own
volition, pulling fibre into various neighbors and deploying GPON FTTH
access nodes in homes regardless of whether you want a service or not.
If you want the service, ring them up and someone will come set you up.
You only pay for the setup fee, as the ONU remains theirs. This is what
happened in my neighborhood, which means I'm now sitting on a 25M/25M
FTTH service for about US$70/month. Big difference from when I had a
384k/3.2M ADSL service for about the same price.

The idea is that folk are taking matters into their own hands, as while
there is a national broadband strategy, its actual implementation is a
far cry.

Mark.