CAN WI-FI TAKE US TO THE LAST MILE?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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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>


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