WORTH READING phone tax on a wifi

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Bob Frankston" <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: May 21, 2009 12:37:15 PM EDT
To: <dave () farber net>, "'ip'" <ip () v2 listbox com>
Cc: "'Craig Partridge'" <craig () aland bbn com>
Subject: RE: [IP] phone tax on a wifi

Of course …  these sillinesses  are a reminder of how we reuse stories  
and avoid real change.

Verizon is a phone company and the phone number is the account key –  
like in the days when CompuServe used PDP-10 octal disk addresses as  
the user ID. It’s why ATT failed to make a go of the credit card  
business and why their billing engine gave us 900 numbers only usable  
for porn and psychic hotlines. I’ve already written about the Verizon  
One-Bill debacle that lacks the information necessary to diagnose  
problems.

But it’s not just the telcos – it’s the entire concept of the FCC that  
is premised on the idea that hauling bits is no different from hauling  
grain. As the FCC’s own history notes it’s modeled on the ICC  
(Interstate Commerce Commission). People have said the railroads  
should’ve run the airlines but they couldn’t – they were rolling stock  
companies and if they had planes it’s likely the ICC would’ve required  
a fireman in each cab just like they required them for diesel trains. (http://frankston.com/?name=Railroads 
). This is no different than treating Mi-Fi bits as phone calls with  
all the regulatory burden thereof. In fact the whole protocols  
underneath those bits force them into the complexities of cellular so  
that they each one can be carefully corralled into a billable channel.

This is why corporations are expendable units and you don’t have to  
take a very specialized service company and turn it into something  
entirely different even if you can find the skills and technology  
buried within the carriers.

Dan Bricklin’s new book notes that even the telcos had difficulty  
making the transition from being telegraphy companies (AT&T – American  
Telephone and Telegraph) – we still use message units! Telegraphy was  
a business service while telephony was a social phenomenon and was  
“abused” for frivolous purposes.

The question is why do we try so darn hard to resist change and force  
new ideas like the Internet’s connectivity into an old ill-fitting  
broken mold like broadband? And why we try so hard to treat bits like  
scarce consumables – as if we confused money with shiny pieces of gold  
baubles and starved the economy of both resources.

But remember that today’s Internet itself is the demo and the  
accidental properties like the IP address are just part of the demo  
and not intrinsic…

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 06:50
To: ip
Subject: [IP] phone tax on a wifi



Begin forwarded message:

From: Craig Partridge <craig () aland bbn com>
Date: May 20, 2009 1:27:58 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: phone tax on a wifi
Reply-To: Craig Partridge <craig () aland bbn com>


Hi Dave:

An amusing moment in our rapidly changing world.

I purchased a Verizon MiFi on Sunday (for those who don't know -- MiFi
is
a credit card sized portable WiFi hub that uses Verizon EVDO to connect
to the rest of the 'net -- happy to send a review of my experience
after a few weeks if folks are interested).

As part of the sale process I received a breakdown of what I should
expect
to see on my monthly bill.   It included local taxes for E911 service.
That's a tax on a device from which I cannot make a phone call (unless,
of course, I connect a VOIP device via WiFi).

In the locality's defense, the device does have a phone number. (I have
no idea what happens if someone tries to call it...).

Thanks!

Craig




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