Re: Customers slow to tune into AT&T's and Verizon's TV over fiber and through retro RG-6

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Andrew C Burnette <acb () acb net>
Date: May 15, 2007 4:41:01 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Customers slow to tune into AT&T's and  
Verizon's TV over fiber and through retro RG-6

Dave,

Having FIOS tv, I have to say the quality of the TV product is excellent
(high S/N ratio, good channel selections, etc).

As for the router, I've already published (to this list) instructions on
how to bypass it (turn it into a bridge, use your own router, and
eliminate the unusual bottleneck), alternatively, one can purchase a
MoCa (F connector to ethernet bridge) in the $50-$100 range.  FIOS
used to install these 'in reverse' when installing the older DLINK
routers provided with the service (which had no F connector MoCa
connection).

Either way it's a $100 plus or minus solution (old 400Mhz PC with two  
nics, or the MoCa converter), and you get a far better solution than  
anything you can purchase at your local electronics big box store for  
2/3 that price (although again, these small appliance type boxes will  
work, performance may vary).

So yes, you can use FIOS without being glued to their box, or at least
you can easily make their box a no-op. (for the average web surfer,
the actiontec box really is just fine out of the box; the performance  
limitation being 1024 NAT state table entries with the *odd* behavior  
of holding entries upon overflow rather than a simple FIFO operation).

Cheers,
andy
p.s. in the neighborhoods where you see lots of satellite dishes, uptake
rates are gonna be lousy, and verizon is slow to deploy (they'll be the
last if ever deployed). My 'hood, 5 months into availability, there's
been a good 20-30+% take rate on the product.  Lots of folks  
"dislike" the cable company more than the telco....pick the lesser of  
two evils perhaps?


David Farber wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
> From: Bob Frankston <bob37-2 () bobf frankston com>
> Date: May 13, 2007 1:51:02 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
> Cc: "'Lauren Weinstein'" <lauren () vortex com>
> Subject: RE: [IP] Re: Customers slow to tune into AT&T's and  
> Verizon's TV over fiber and through retro RG-6
> As I pointed out in http://www.frankston.com/?Name=SATNVZCustomers  
> (and more
> in writings I have yet to edit sufficiently for posting) is that  
> it's worse
> than this. In order to use FiOSTV you must use their NAT/router. It  
> is a
> good NAT/router except if you don't use the Internet in their  
> particular way
> and then you discover we've returned to days when TPC (The Telephone
> Company) owned the wires in your house and when you had to have TV  
> wires for
> analog TV signals (RG-6).
> The real danger is that the CableCos will try to be just as smart  
> and turn
> their Cable Modems into NAT/routers that fail if you operate them  
> outside of
> spec and, of course, the entire Internet is based on the assumption  
> that
> there are no specs -- just suggestions. The CableCos can still win  
> but as
> long as we limit ourselves to the idea of the traditional telecom  
> model of
> specification-limited broadband it doesn't matter which provider  
> wins -- we
> all lose. http://www.frankston.com/?Name=OurCFR.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
> Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 04:46
> To: ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: [IP] Re: Customers slow to tune into AT&T's and Verizon's  
> TV over
> fiber
> Begin forwarded message:
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Date: May 12, 2007 8:51:48 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: lauren () vortex com
> Subject: Re: [IP] Customers slow to tune into AT&T's and Verizon's TV
> over fiber
> Dave,
> I've been watching the AT&T deployment here in my location (suburban
> L.A.) over a number of months.  First, they were out at least six
> days a week pulling fiber through manholes off the usual giant reels,
> all over the place.  Then crews came by with portable test gear
> apparently for an initial check.  Next, contractors started digging
> up the sidewalk near existing junction "B"-boxes, and crews moved
> in and installed a similar looking green box next to the originals,
> so double the eyesore, in that respect.  And double the target I
> suppose, like the time not so long ago when a driver sheared off the
> B-box serving me, with predictable nasty results (I heard the
> thud, too).  Photo on request.
> My hunch is that the cable companies are going to win out in this
> aspect of a very expensive battle.  The physics of their already
> in-place very broadband physical plant are with them.  Running new
> fiber to the home like Verizon is doing is extremely expensive, even
> in non-underground-utility areas.  Underground is even more
> expensive.  AT&T's fiber to the terminal technique means that every
> channel being watched in a home needs a data stream over relatively
> limited copper bandwidth, and in underground situations adding more
> pairs can also be very expensive.
> It's hard to see how the cable co's can lose on this one, unless
> they do something really stupid in terms of pricing or the like,
> which given their track history is admittedly not impossible.
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Co-Founder, PFIR
>     - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, IOIC
>     - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
> Founder, CIFIP
>     - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http:// 
> www.cifip.org
> Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
>   - - -
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
> > Date: May 10, 2007 1:34:35 AM EDT
> > To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
> > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Customers slow to tune into AT&T's and
> > Verizon's TV over fiber
> >
> > Customers slow to tune into AT&T's and Verizon's TV over fiber
> > Information Week
> > By. W. David Gardner
> >
> > Both AT&T and Verizon have been utilizing fiber optic cabling to
> > bring TV to customers' home and to compete with cable companies.
> >
> > AT&T is getting some bad news on its U-verse TV system: Not only is
> > it costing $1.4 billion more than anticipated to install, but the
> > company's decision to use copper for the final leg into customers'
> > homes is being called into question.
> >
> > AT&T said it will spend as much as $6.5 billion to deploy the TV
> > service by 2008, and the company also cut the number of homes the
> > service will initially serve by 1 million, according to a report in
> > Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.
> >
> > <http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?
> > articleID=199400174>
> >
> >
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