More on: Rendell caves and signs HB30 - Verizon can prevent municipal networks statewide

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jock Gill <jg45 () mac com>
Date: December 3, 2004 10:54:13 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Hendricks Dewayne <dewayne () dandin com>, Gerry Faulhaber 
<faulhaber () law upenn edu>, Jock Gill <jg45 () mac com>
Subject: Re: [IP] More on: Rendell caves and signs HB30 - Verizon can 
prevent municipal networks statewide

Dave,

Clearly those who do not like government operated utilities, such as 
Prof. Faulhaber, point only to failures of which, of course, there are 
examples of.  Human beings are well known to be imperfect.

Those of us who see municipal services as part of the essential social 
contract between tax paying citizens and their government point to the 
many successes.  Locally in Massachusetts, for example, lucky are those 
who live in towns with municipal power plants.  They almost always pay 
less and get much better service than those of us forced to rely on the 
quasi monopolistic giants.  Belmont, MA is a prime example.

The problem is that the PA law assumes broadband access must be 
privatized on a for profit basis.   We have to reframe this argument to 
reflect the frame of broadband as part of the social contract.  We are 
more than the captive customers of the incumbents.  Clearly we living 
breathing citizens should have more rights than the legal artifices 
called corporate entities.  Our social contract is more important to 
Democracy than their market place only model with its over reliance on 
the metrics of the 90 day number and the bottom line.

As part of this reframing, we need to restore the separation of 
transport from content and bits from spectrum.  As David Weinberger has 
written, it looks pretty much as if the spectrum is like colors.  No 
one disputes that here is an infinite amount of blue.  And it appears 
to have been demonstrated  that the spectrums ability to transport bits 
actually increases with use.  We must not let the incumbents conflate 
these issues nor get away with the bogus notion that spectrum is scarce 
and like property.

The incumbents, of course, want to tightly bind carriage and content 
together as well as deny that spectrum is color.  Otherwise they will 
have to adopt new business models.

As a relevant example, Prof. Faulhaber might want to look at a few of 
these stories about the success of the Columbia REA & Columbia Energy, 
LLC - A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Columbia REA.

BTW, this system is reported to provide 700 kilobit connectivity at 65 
mph within the cloud.

From the  Google search on [Columbia REA WiFi]

... network covering 3,700 square miles is a challenging proposition, 
given the immense coverage area," said Tom Husted, chief executive 
officer of Columbia REA. ...
 www.vivato.net/press/press08232004b.html - 25k - Cached - Similar pages

Wi-Fi Brings Broadband To Rural Washington | NetStumbler.com

... Columbia REA, a nonprofit, member-owned utility, wanted to expand 
local residents' broadband options and rejected wired options because 
of the cost of laying ...
 www.netstumbler.com/2004/08/24/ 
wi_fi_brings_broadband_to_rural_washington/ - 11k -  Cached - 
Similar pages

Wi-Fi Planet Conference & Expo, San Jose, CA

... More recently, Husted and Columbia REA have received numerous press 
accolades for the development of the largest WiFi hot spot in the 
country through a ...
 www.jupiterevents.com/wifi/fall04/husted.html - 37k - Cached - 
Similar pages

Up to Speed: Rural America Joins Broadband Crowd

... and the Columbia Rural Electric Association (Columbia REA), based 
in Dayton, Wash. ... The Columbia REA needed to cover 1,500 square 
miles. ...
 www.wirelessfidelitymag.com/hotnews/49h1611238.html - 30k - Nov 30, 
2004 -  Cached - Similar pages

[PDF] Building a Community Communications System Using Wireless Wi-Fi

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Faced with this situation, and an ever-increasing need for 
high-speed communications, Columbia REA created a wholly owned 
subsidiary, Columbia Energy, LLC. ...
 www.vivato.com/cgi-bin/fileview.cgi?get&CASE_STUDIES/ 
Rural%20Wi-Fi%20Deployments%20White%20Paper.pdf -  Similar pages

ARNnet | Wi-fi turns business on

... Based on Vivato's "smart antenna" technology, Columbia REA's access 
points - or base stations as Vivato calls them - have a range between 
two square miles to ...
 www.arn.idg.com.au/index.php/ id;1829470890;fp;1024;fpid;319049444 -  
Similar pages

wireless.itworld.com - Wi-Fi brings broadband to rural Washington

... The service is available now, with Columbia REA already up and 
running as a customer, Husted said. ... Hotspot WiFi Service, $21.95 a 
Month. ...
 wireless.itworld.com/4265/ 040824wifiwashington/page_1.html - 43k - 
Cached - Similar pages

HeraldNet: Rural Walla Walla area gets Wi-Fi

... This, the energy service of the future, is on the verge of opening 
in Walla Walla now, said Columbia REA Chief Executive Officer Tom 
Husted. ...
 www.heraldnet.com/stories/ 04/11/22/bus_wallawalla001.cfm - 39k - 
Cached - Similar pages

[PDF] Columbia REA Wins First Annual Catalyst Award

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... the work Columbia Enegy is doing to build the largest WiFi hot spot 
in ... wireless Broadband network synonymous with the orginal mission 
of Columbia REA, to build ...
 www.columbiarea.com/news/pressroom/ 
Columbia%20REA%20Wins%20Catalyst%20Award.pdf -  Similar pages

Muniwireless: Terrific sessions planned at Wi-Fi Planet Conference ...

... Speakers: *Thomas Husted, Chief Executive Officer, Columbia REA & 
Columbia Energy, LLC - A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Columbia REA 
*Willem Poterman, CEO and Co ...
 www.muniwireless.com/archives/000471.html - 21k - Cached - 
Similar pages

Regards,

Jock



Jock Gill
Meme Intelligence
http://public.xdi.org/=Jock

On Dec 2, 2004, at 2:53 PM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Gerry Faulhaber <faulhaber () law upenn edu>
> Date: December 2, 2004 11:08:42 AM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] More on: Rendell caves and signs HB30 - Verizon can 
> prevent municipal networks statewide
>
> > I consider this to be a very very important topic and will continue 
> to
> > send relevant mailings on it
> >
> > Dave
> >
> > ps I am looking for someone who can defend the law
>
> I really hesitate to "defend" a law which I don't like very much.  But 
> there
> is one point that is lost in all this.  Municipalities have shown 
> themselves
> to be very eager to tax the living bejesus out of any private telecom
> service to peoples' homes, imposing very high fees for digging up the
> streets plus ongoing taxes on revenues for the service.  To cities,
> broadband in its various forms is a honeypot, to be milked for every 
> last
> tax penny (sorry for mixing metaphors).  For example, several years 
> ago the
> state of Michigan passed legislation forbidding municipalities from 
> levying
> "unreasonable" right of way fees and revenue taxes on such services, 
> because
> they feared this would chill broadband development.  Cable and 
> telephone
> firms have struggled to avoid these ruinous taxes.
>
> So how would having a municipal WiFi (or other) network impact this?  
> Think
> how much more vigorously a municipality would tax a private-sector 
> service
> offering competitive with its own service!  In essence, you can write 
> off
> any private deployment of broadband (that is not already there) in a
> muncipality with its own network; they will be taxed out of existence 
> and we
> will be left with a public monopoly.  Now this may be just great if the
> municipality runs the network the way "we" think they "should."  But
> honestly, how many public monopolies can you think of that are even 
> decent,
> much less optimal?  For Philadelphia residents, how would you like a
> broadband monopoly run like SEPTA?  Makes you think twice, doesn't 
> it?  If
> you think this network will be managed like the streets, perhaps you 
> should
> take a drive on Philadelphia streets some day and tell me if you think 
> this
> is a good idea.  And once it's a monopoly, how long do you think it 
> will
> take for City Council to start ramping up the fees, in order to meet 
> the
> next fiscal crisis?
>
> Prof. Gerry Faulhaber
> Wharton School, Univ of Pennsylvania
> currently on leave, Penn Law School
> Philadelphia, PA 19104
>  
>
> Prof. Gerald R. Faulhaber
>
> currently on leave @ Penn Law School S-135
>
> University of Pennsylvania
>
> Philadelphia, PA 19104
>  
>
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