Wouldn't it be great

It's the absence of competition for broadband access in the U.S. that is causing all the anxiety about network neutrality.  If even one of the big telco/cable players was interested in providing unfettered, symmetric access we could all relax.

Wouldn't it be great if MSN, Yahoo!, and Google all got together and bought up spectrum for a competing wireless broadband network?

April 29, 2006 | Filed Under main page 

Comments

5 Responses to “Wouldn't it be great”

  1. Anonymous on April 29th, 2006 3:23 pm

    So the boundary between “user-funded” and “service-funded” gets pushed all the way across the net to make everything “service-funded”. A kind of “reverse-funded” network compared to the current balance. Neat idea. But won't everyone else apart from Y!/G/MS/etc free-ride on it…?
    I know what, they could help the economics of building such a network by combating free-riders through prioritising the capacity in favour of the service providers who funded the network!
    Oh, sorry. Non-neutral networks are inherently evil. I forgot…

  2. Anonymous on April 29th, 2006 6:36 pm

    Susan,
    there's an easier way. No need to buy spectrum. Since in Bulgaria end users have 100 Mbps or some even to 1000 Mbps Internet access, that should be possible here.
    Yes, the companies you mention may fund this. They just need to ask for such - or better - services.

  3. Anonymous on April 30th, 2006 10:17 am

    Martin — you're right, of course — but the (possibly naive) hope would be that G/Y/M would have a longer view than the telcos. They might not think of people using their networks as free-riders, but rather as creators of even greater value that makes their networks more attractive.
    s

  4. Anonymous on April 30th, 2006 10:18 am

    Veni — so far the “asking” hasn't worked very well. Yet another point for the superiority of Bulgaria :-) susan

  5. Anonymous on May 1st, 2006 1:04 pm

    With over 200 US cities engaged in broadband wireless projects, and with Google and others investing heavily in their fiber backbones, this “hope” may be turned into reality, especially if the Bells actually try any access/connection hijinks.
    Not to mention the increasing capacity of US academic networks such as Abilene and NRL to “wire around” potential discrimination by Bells and cableco's to serve their audience which is estimated at 20M plus nationwide.
    Thought for today: Support your local municipal wireless net!

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