Jeff Mcadams wrote:
Look at the history of computing and computer networking...the more open solution wins, almost without fail. Open up the telco networks, and the cable networks will loose out and will cease to be relevent.
The RBOCs seem to think, however, that two wrongs make a right. The prevailing thought being something like, "Sure, openness is good, but if the cablecos aren't going to be open, then its bad for us to be open."
Uh...huh?
You've got it wrong. It's "They don't have to do it; why should we?"
So, in summary, I agree with you that cable networks should be open as well. The bad news is that its a fight that we (independent ISPs) won't win because we don't have legal and regulatory leverage.
But it's a fight that others can fight too. Big guys. AOL probably won't (AOL==Time Warner, remember), but Earthlink and MSN might. EarthlinkMindspringOneMainSprint of BORG *is* aligned with Sprint, but Sprint isn't an ILEC in the vast majority of towns across the USA. Everyone should be fighting for this, IMHO. Little ISPs, big-name nationwide retail providers, and backbones that aren't associated with an ILEC. That means UUNet and Intermedia, for example. MCI isn't an ILEC in most places that I know of, either. So why aren't we fighting?
The good news is that we *can* win the fight for real open access on telco networks if we organize and fight.
Yup!
And I don't understand why every single ISP (regardless of size) isn't doing more to stand up for open access. Ultimately, it will become an issue of survival.
Check out http://war.iglou.com
Join or start your state ISP Association or one of the national ones like The American ISP Association (http://www.aispa.org).
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