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WSRL.ORG/INTERNET A very recent and well written story on the Internet demonstrates the on-going and sometimes bitter fights between the public at large and major telephone companies. The story details the actions of AT&T Corporation in the Chicago area but the story could easily represent the public's current struggles with almost any corporate telephone company anywhere in the U.S. The message of this story, in my view, is that the public needs to get involved in the actions of corporations proposing to provide services to the public using public rights-of-way. Otherwise, the public will be forced to live with the decisions of the corporation which will not likely represet the public's best interests.
WSRL.ORG/INTERNET OVERVIEW - Nov. 2006 Delta County, where I live, like most counties on the western slope, do not have large populations and therefore have little to no political influence compared to the power house counties around Denver. I'd also wager that most people on the western slope feel that what they currently have for Internet service is okay. But then they really have no way to know what the rest of the world is doing or how fast things are advancing elsewhere..
Qwest-TDS Qwest and TDS are the two main suppliers of broadband based Internet service to Delta County. Qwest's financial stability has been in question for a number of years now. When you see senior management starting to bail out in terms of their stock holdings/options, you know the end, at least in terms of any growth (capital investment), may be near. Qwest's business practices, are famous pretty much nation wide. "We won't build or supply it but we don't want you to either". The Ruby Ranch fiasco is another example here in Colorado of Qwest's business practices. I don't think Delta County or any other county on the western slope should hold their breath waiting for a major investment by Qwest. On the other hand, if western slope counties develop exclusive, high priced communities that have the right political connections, you might just luck out and get the kind of services that are becoming common in other countries. Of course, having the Utopia project next door and threatening to eat your lunch probably adds to Qwest's motivation to spend the money and do the "South Jordon" project. One of the principals put forth by the Rural Broadband Coalition is open access (like dial-up, choose your provider). If you think either TDS or Qwest supports the open access concept, you might want to check RBC's membership list.
TDS-DMEA Closer to home, the relationship between Qwest, DMEA and TDS is somewhat bizarre in my view. Recently, with the help of the Colorado Multi-use Network, broadband service was extended to Delta County schools. This resulted in the strange configuration of Qwest delivering Internet service via an optical feed to the VoTec center on Hwy. 50. DMEA then under built their electric distribution lines with self supporting fiber optic cable back to an interface point with TDS just west of the Delta Memorial Hospital. The fiber circuit(s) then extend via TDS fiber cable to schools in the North Fork area. TDS's strange version of this exercise can be found here. TDS, in classical phone company fashion, of course, makes no mention of DMEA who reportedly did a major portion of the work. The Internet is suppose to be ubiquitous. This strange configuration, in my view, can only add to taxpayer expense over time compared to a properly implemented network. What is even stranger, this work was reportedly done at taxpayer expense. The American Pubic Power Assn. reports that organizations like DMEA and the City of Delta have left millions of available dollars on the table because they were too lazy (or stupid I guess?) to fill out the paper work? After a delay of approximately eight years and not doing anything when the cost of money was essentially zero a few years back, TDS is now starting (late 2005) to offer DSL broadband service based on mid-90's technology and from somewhere in the midwest. For an explanation of their timing, you might want to check this document out . It's probably just a coincidence (Yeah - Right) that as soon as the FCC caved in to the telcos, that TDS started providing a stripped down antiquated version of DSL & Internet service. |
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December 2006
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