NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: How Lafayette, Louisiana built fiber, with dominant ISPs fighting them every step of the way
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Tacoma, Washington went through the same process about 10 years ago. The local cable company offered limited service and made little effort to improve the situation. Tacoma Public Power created an entity called Click!. The local cable company fought the process tooth and nail, but Click! went ahead and ran fiber and cable throughout the city. Click! doesn't offer ISP services but they partnered with three local ISP's to provide the last mile to the customer. The completed project offers several advantages. True competition now exists between the Click! and Comcast. If you don't like one, then you can switch to the other. Costs have been contained and service is excellent. Jim Driskell > Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 23:39:54 -0700 > From: lauren@vortex.com > To: nnsquad@nnsquad.org > Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: How Lafayette, Louisiana built fiber, with dominant ISPs fighting them every step of the way > > > On 05/13 02:11, Bob Frankston wrote: > > ... > > The reason Lafayette can't build infrastructure is that the legislature > > prohibits it -- that's the real battle to be fought. > > And those prohibitions aren't created by saying "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" either. > In most cases, such legislative prohibitions are the result of intense > telco/cableco lobbying, using the argument that municipal involvement > in Internet infrastructure creates an "uneven playing field." > > But once the pressure is off, somehow the dominant commercial players > often decide that they don't *really* want to do the fiber deployment > everywhere that they were talking about -- at least not right now. Or > maybe ever. But they of course demand that the prohibitions against > municipally-owned systems stay in place to protect the firms' future > interests. > > --Lauren-- > NNSquad Moderator The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started. |