What does Telecom have to do with the Internet anyway?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: June 16, 2007 4:37:29 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: dewayne () warpspeed com, "'Lauren Weinstein'" <lauren () vortex com>
Subject: What does Telecom have to do with the Internet anyway?

Putting so much effort into issues like Network Neutrality and  
Broadband deployment diverts us from recognizing that the Internet  
has nothing to do with telecom except insofar as we let telecom  
control our connectivity. The entire telecom industry is just another  
application like the web so we do we give it so much power over us –  
we can’t get anything in return except more of what we already have  
and none of the surprises that really drive the economy and so much  
more.

In trying to write about these issues I realized that the metaphor of  
first or even last mile misses the point – that’s the way you talk  
about accessing something far away. The last mile, in particular,  
gives you the image that you are simply choosing among services  
provided. But no matter how many choices you have it’s not the same  
thing as being able to create your own solutions and discovering what  
you can’t predict.

Once we recognize that it’s really about local connectivity (and  
interconnectivity) the whole idea of telecom becomes strangely  
irrelevant. I’m trying the metaphor of the “First Square Mile” but am  
not sure whether that works – but is about connecting the  
neighborhood. Telecom tries to convince us that it’s all the roads  
that lead out of town as if we have no purpose other than consuming  
their content.

I realize many of the list readers will object to the idea that each  
neighborhood can operate its own network but it’s really no different  
from the days when no one could operate their own phones – they had  
to ring up central and ask for a number. But the phone companies  
themselves couldn’t hire enough operators so over time we got to dial  
our own phones and first place local calls and the in the 1960’s we  
got DDD and IDDD. Of course we still dial numbers – after all the  
carriers can’t go too far in devolving authority lest the make it too  
obvious that they exist just to create billable events.

In the same way, our home networking keeps improving because we have  
no reason limit it. Perhaps this is the biggest misconception driving  
policy – the assumption we need to incent people to do better. In  
reality as long as we don’t discourage it there are too many ways to  
make improvements – it’s more about removing impediments (that’s the  
point of antitrust).  Home networks are still clunky but if you  
remember back just ten years ago things have improved a lot. Putting  
a printer on your home network is now relatively easy when it used to  
be nearly impossible. Amazing what you can do when you can solve  
problems outside the network using software. It helps a lot when you  
aren’t operating at the edge of what is possible and can devote  
abundant resources to usability. This how we use all those computrons  
and how we can use capacity of a local fiber mesh. The route doesn’t  
really matter since any path will work. And then repeat to  
interconnect …

In http://www.frankston.com/?name=SATNFSM I write about how it works  
and http://www.frankston.com/?Name=FSM is more about choices vs  
having a real opportunity to discover what is possible.

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