Re: Provider credibility - does it matter? was Re: Inter-provider relations

[Michael Dillon <michael () memra com>]

On Fri, 25 Oct 1996, Robert E. Seastrom wrote:

>    2.  How many of seastrom's customers would notice if Europe fell off
>        the Net?
>
> Not many.

Sure sounds like xenophobia.

>    Europe heavily subsidizes the US Internet.  It's not just VBCnet: the 
>    European Internet community pays something like 90% of the costs of 
>    traffic between Europe and North America.  The same applies to the
>    rest of the world.
>
> So, what you're saying is that US Internet users should be helping to
> subsidize your socialist Government-monopoly telephone companies that
> charge you several times what a line is worth.

Yep, definitely xenophobia. It would be wise for Americans who wish to
comment upon other country's telecom systems to learn something about them
first. I'm sure that Mercury in the UK would be surprised to hear that an
American considers them to be a socialist Government-monopoly telephone
company. And I'm sure that the UK's Conservative Prime Minister John
Major, who took over from Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,
would be surprised to hear that the UK has a socialist government.

Europe may be a few years behind the USA in deregulating
telecommunications but they are definitely marching down that road.

> Have you ever considered that you might have a lot less bandwidth cost
> to the States if (as Jeremy Porter pointed out) the costs to run a
> line intra-Europe reflected the REAL COST of doing so instead of being
> government-sanctioned overcharging.

Are you so sure that the cost of telecommunications in the USA reflects
real costs? Overinflated telecom charges are just as real in the USA as
elsewhere.

> The thing that makes for the worst dialog is when you try to advance
> an untenable position.  There will always be a cost of doing business
> for your company -- if you feel that the current model is unfair, you
> can (a) lobby your government to completely privatize the telecom
> infrastructure and deregulate it opening it up to competition, (b)
> move your operation to more friendly territory, or (c) go out of
> business.  But don't give us this "Europe is subsidizing US
> infrastructure" dreck.

Typical xenophobic ranting. You should hear what xenophobic Europeans have
to say about the ugly American.

Just because a country has some dirt under its covers doesn't make it
right for you to paint all of its citizens with the same brush.

Michael Dillon                   -               ISP & Internet Consulting
Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael () memra com

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