Fwd: Fwd: Re FreePress is suing the FCC. Here's how the process works.

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Joel M Snyder <Joel.Snyder () opus1 com>
Date: Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: [IP] Re FreePress is suing the FCC. Here's how the
process works.
To: <dave () farber net>, ip <ip () listbox com>, <larrypress () gmail com>


I have to agree with Larry.  Brett is always an outspoken opponent of
regulation and acts on the assumption that consumers consider a
tri-opoly of cable/wireline/wireless as a "real market."  I'm sorry, but
that just doesn't represent MY reality, or anyone else in Tucson Arizona.

I own an ISP, older than Brett's, and our residential service was
destroyed by the duopoly of cable/wireline.  I don't hold a
grudge---cable/wireline out-competed, out-invested, and out-priced me
and they deserve the business.  But that doesn't mean that there isn't a
duopoly in our city, now.

Yes, we also have a wireless carrier (like Brett's), but neither I nor
most residential consumers consider them an equal alternative.  The
anecdotes of the few people who enjoy their wireless carrier (especially
when contrasted with the fraudulent sales and contracting processes of
most cable carriers) are nice to hear, but there is a natural monopoly
that "wired" carriers have (either incumbent LEC or cable).

Statistics from the FCC are clear: in their 2016 report, for broadband
of 25 Mbps or more, only 3% of "developed census blocks" had 3 carriers.

You can argue about whether mobile providers will begin to displace or
supplement the two wired carriers, as well as relatively simpler
switching between carriers, whether it's more important to also provide
regulation on folks like Facebook, etc., but the bottom line is that few
households have truly diverse high-quality equal-priced choice in their
ISP.

Now, whether the FCC and Title II are the "right way" to do this, I
can't say. I certainly see the merits of some of the arguments against
the FCC's regulatory approach.

But sweeping away FCC regulation in the hope that our oh-so-functional
and oh-so-capable Congress will do a better job in the undetermined
future by doing it the "right way" strikes me as absurd.  If a credible
congressman had a credible proposal on how to deal with Net Neutrality
and Internet and carriers, then there might be a more solid argument
that repealing Net Neutrality at the FCC was a wide move.

But in the absence of a replacement in the wings, I'd say "put the
pressure on" and then let the Carriers work with their purchased
Senators and Representatives to come up with a regulatory framework that
they feel is better.

jms


On 12/30/17 10:18 AM, Dave Farber wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Larry press <larrypress () gmail com <mailto:larrypress () gmail com>>
> Date: Sat, Dec 30, 2017 at 11:57 AM
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re FreePress is suing the FCC. Here's how the process
> works.
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net <mailto:dave () farber net>>
>
>
>  > Richard Bennett wrote: "It’s a lot easier - and less consequential -
> for me to switch from the Wi-Fi network back ended by Comcast to the
> Wi-Fi hotspot back ended by AT&T than to switch from Facebook to Google+".
>
>  > Brett Glass wrote: Customers "will very quickly switch, costing the
> ISP thousands of dollars, if the ISP does anything that they
> do not like".
>
> They would be correct in the case of a competitive market, but only one
> broadband provider serves my home. Some in my zip code have two choices,
> but a duopoly is not a competitive market nor is a small oligopoly.
>
> That being said, there are application and engineering-efficiency
> arguments in favor of "net partiality." Some applications require low
> latencies or fast data transfer and ISPs can improve network efficiency
> by dynamically allocating resources.
>
> There is no simple right or wrong answer.
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--
Joel M Snyder, 1404 East Lind Road, Tucson, AZ, 85719
Senior Partner, Opus One       Phone: +1 520 324 0494
jms () Opus1 COM                http://www.opus1.com/jms



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