more on "unused" portion of their DSL lines to broadcast video signals.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Damien V. Del Porto" <damien () delporto org>
Date: June 11, 2005 3:01:51 PM EDT
To: Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Cc: dave () farber net, 'Ip ip' <ip () v2 listbox com>, Brad Templeton  
<4brad () templetons com>, "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Subject: Re: [IP] "unused" portion of their DSL lines to broadcast  
video signals.


The use of the word "subsidize" was my own... Most people's use of  
the Internet today, at least in the U.S. and Spain, probably doesn't  
require much more than the 512k downstream.  Using the remaining  
Mbits seems like a smart way to add some dollars for minimal effort.   
And yes I *am* overpaying for my DSL, though in my mind that's less  
so as they keep doubling my speed for no money on my part (I started  
with them at 256/96!).  Telefonica is only doubling because their  
competition is doing so, I have a friend that went in 6 months from  
512 to 1mb to 2mb to 4mb.  And they through in all national telephone  
calls as part of the fixed rate.  The beauty of competition.  It took  
all of my self control not to take pot shots at Telefonica in my  
original post, they act like you would expect a former monopoly to.   
It took over three months to get the TV-side of the service to work  
because of a computer-billing error.

If it makes you feel any better, I have problems using the Renfe site  
and I live here.  What you see today is a site that was launched  
under a year ago.  Like you say, transitioning to a market-oriented  
economy is not easy.  That should never be an excuse, however.  There  
are sectors of the economy (and, surprisingly, of government) that  
are way ahead of the curve.  I don't know that I can pinpoint one  
difference, but I think its a human resources issue.  The city of  
Madrid, for instance, has launched programs that use advanced  
technology.  While I don't support the party in control of local  
government here, I have to give them credit for being on the ball  
about these types of things.  I get surveys in the mail about public  
transportation where you help the city identify your use of the  
different means of transport, which you return to them by mail, phone  
or the internet.  You can get warnings via SMS to your cell phone  
when there's a dangerously high temperature forecast for the day.   
You can "vote" via your cell phone on what you think their priorities  
should be (public parks, help for the elderly, etc.).  All you need  
to make these things happen is the right person in the right job it  
seems.

Cheers,
Damien

Bob Frankston wrote:


> This is why DSL was created in the 1980's -- interactive TV. It's  
> not the unused portion -- it is DSL itself. It's the Internet  
> connectivity that uses that "unused" portion left vacant when the  
> US carriers failed to pursue TV route.
>
> The use of the word "subsidize" is interesting -- exactly what does  
> it mean in terms of the business structure? Either you're  
> overpaying for DSL or the video service isn't economically viable  
> in its own right.
>
> In the US I think the carriers who passed on using DSL for its  
> original purpose have decided to put all their money into a brand  
> new fiber deployment that seems to repeat the original design point  
> of DSL -- aiming at TV again rather than creating a more general  
> purpose infrastructure usable for symmetric data transport with  
> video being just one form of "content".
>
> Note also that there are technologies available to increase the  
> capacity of DSL-- check out http://www.dslreports.com
>
> I’m going to be in Zaragoza this week and will see if I can learn  
> more about this. As an aside, I find it interesting (and annoying)  
> that according to Renfe one must be inside the country to buy a  
> railroad ticket and their web site appears to only be available  
> during business hours. Transitioning to a real marketplace is not  
> easy.
>
> As a different aside -- responding to another letter about the need  
> to switch to DTV for ATSC -- it reminds me of the WAP/WML/HDML  
> debacle. Cell phones "required" a special protocol rather than  
> HTML. It was a convenient fiction that helped maintain their walled  
> garden. It seems irresponsible to require a special infrastructure  
> just for ATSC. It's like building a new version of the PSTN just as  
> the whole idea of a special phone network is becoming economically  
> untenable.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On  
> Behalf Of David Farber
> Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 08:25
> To: Ip ip
> Subject: [IP] "unused" portion of their DSL lines to broadcast  
> video signals.
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Damien V. Del Porto" <damien () delporto org>
> Date: June 11, 2005 7:07:41 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] more on The Digital TV Fiasco
>
>
> This is slightly off-topic but relevant I think.
>
> For the last few months, Spain's former telephone monopoly has  
> been  using the "unused" portion of their DSL lines to broadcast  
> video  signals. There are some 40 channels (there are only 5-7  
> channels  available over the air and w/o satellite). The DSL line  
> charges,  which are between 30 and 40 €, subsidize this service,  
> which is 12 €  per month. I mention this because, while we dont  
> have HDTV here, the  quality is quite good. The service also  
> includes an on-demand  videoclub (with a horrible selection of  
> movies...unless you're into  adult-themed movies) and PPV soccer  
> games. From what I understand,  the service is using 4 Mbits or so  
> of the total 6-8 available. The  base subscriber package is 512/128  
> (which will be doubled for free  next month to 1M/320), and can  
> scale up to 2.
>
> Is anyone in the US trying this approach? Does anyone know whether  
> an  HDTV signal could fit into the DSL bandwidth? -d
>
> Link: http://www.telefonicaonline.es/imagenio/
>
> David Farber wrote:
>
>
>
>
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: Chris Beck <cbeck () pacanukeha net>
> > Date: June 10, 2005 6:55:13 PM EDT
> > To: dave () farber net, Tim Onosko <onosko () gmail com>
> > Subject: Re: [IP] more on The Digital TV Fiasco
> >
> >
> > Rumour has it Tim Onosko, on or about 10/06/2005 2:32:51 PM EDT,   
> > whispered:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > Brad Templeton is absolutely right on this, but he doesn't  
> > > mention  the
> > > very real reason why digital TV must move from MPEG2 to MPEG4
> > > (specifically the new H.264 or "AVC" codec): Picture quality.
> > >
> > > Anyone who has watched digital cable or satellite signals can  
> > > tell  you
> > > that the quality is TERRIBLE.
> > As someone who suffers under the iron heel of Videotron cable in   
> > Montreal,
> > Quebec I can second that argument. They are shoving internet,   
> > digital TV and
> > regular cable and compressing the heck out of my digital  
> > channels.  This is
> > especially visible for some reason in ocean documentaries, the   
> > banding in the
> > water is atrocious. I have not even bothered investing in an HDTV   
> > because of a
> > complete lack of confidence in their ability to actually deliver   
> > any watchable
> > high def content.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Chris
> >
> > --
> > Chris Beck - http://pacanukeha.blogspot.com
> > He needs a lang shanket spoon that sups kail wi' the de'il
> >
> >
> >
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