[HCRA] Washington Post.com: Congress Tunes In to WiFi

[Daniel Sullivan]

I am sending this because if you read it you'll notice a direct impact on 
BPL debates. If Congress decides to preserve the right of Philly to build 
and market the municiple 802.11 system they are working on with Verizon then 
perhaps that will get other cities to move that way. That means BPL 
innovation (or invasion if you will) would continue to be developed by 
municipalities and other utilities.  If the PRITA act is the winner then the 
broadband debate is stiffled and we could less development of 
non-cable/broadband company internet access. Essentially limiting broadband 
internet access nationwide and keeping prices up.

Leaving partison politics out of this....six of one half-dozen of the other 
seems to be our choices.

Here in Alexandria, VA they are playing with 802.11 up and down King St. 
which is the touristy part of Old Town with the shops and parks and such. 
That is a free service. As mentioned in the article and on ARRLWeb Philly 
has an 802.11 system in the works with Verizon which is planned to work on 
access for the whole city. I think some places in California have done that 
already.

I am not sure which is better personally: encourage diversification of the 
market or stiffle non-traditional ISPs. I guess its a mater of whether I 
want to preserve my wallet or 160m.

Dan S.
KO1D

washingtonpost.com
Congress Tunes In to WiFi

By Robert MacMillan
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Monday, June 27, 2005; 10:45 AM

Mick Jagger said it best: 'The summer's here and the time is right for 
fighting in the street, boy."

The streets run through U.S. cities and towns, where the heat is on local 
governments to provide free or low-cost Internet access.

For almost a year, the debate over whether Internet access is a paid 
privilege like telephone service and cable television burbled along in the 
press and among bloggers and activists. Many see it as necessary to attract 
new residents, tourists and businesses. Internet service providers, however, 
see a threat to their billion-dollar high-speed access business. Now that 
cities such as Philadelphia are trying to make it a reality, the issue's 
significance is cresting. There's no better way to prove that than with two 
sets of numbers: 1294 and 2726.

The first is a Senate bill introduced last Thursday by Sens. John McCain 
(R-Ariz.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). The Community Broadband Act of 2005 
says "no state can prohibit a municipality from offering broadband to its 
citizens."

The second is a bill introduced in late May in the House by Rep. Pete 
Sessions (R-Texas). The Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act of 2005 -- 
almost surely destined for shorthand treatment as "PRITA" -- says state and 
local governments can't offer Internet service if a private provider already 
does.

Shall we say, "Pistols at dawn?"

The McCain-Lautenberg bill tries to placate ISPs by saying local governments 
wouldn't try to kill competition. That's no surprise. McCain, chairman of 
the Commerce Committee, has no apparent interest in or reason to suddenly 
strike out against bedrock telecom businesses. Judging from this bill and 
nearly 10 years of covering the committee, I'd say he wants the call big 
providers' attention to the federal government's goal of making broadband 
available to all Americans, no matter where they live. That goes for rural 
areas where the cost of hooking up customers becomes tremendously expensive 
-- and subject to sweet government subsidies.

"Many of the countries outpacing the United States in the deployment of high 
speed Internet services, including Canada, Japan and South Korea, have 
successfully combined municipal systems with privately deployed networks to 
wire their countries," McCain said in a story on internetnews.com . "As a 
country, we cannot afford to cut off any successful strategy if we want to 
remain internationally competitive."

Here's another excerpt: "McCain acknowledged that the U.S. has a 'long and 
successful' history of private investment in communications infrastructure. 
However, he said, when the industry does not 'answer the call,' other 
options should be available."

While The Washington Post's Jonathan Krim last December wrote the first big 
story that I could find about this, the Wall Street Journal last week wrote 
a meaty feature story -- available here through the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 
-- that has placed the issue front and center for marquee coverage that will 
engage people interested in technology and community activism for the rest 
of the summer and much of the fall.

The Journal story used the case of Granbury, Tex., a small town near Fort 
Worth that's known as an artist's colony: "After years of waiting for a 
local phone company to roll out high-speed Internet access in this growing 
lakeside town of about 6,400 people, municipal information-technology 
director Tony Tull took matters into his own hands. The city last year 
invited a start-up telecom firm to hang wireless equipment from a water 
tower and connect the town."

The move annoyed dominant local phone provider SBC Communications Inc., 
which, though it deserves praise for offering some bargain-basement Internet 
access prices, hasn't wired the whole city: "In 2001, San Antonio-based SBC 
installed some high-speed connections, but the company still hasn't rolled 
out its network to the entire town. According to SBC, only about 20 percent 
of the town is wired with digital subscriber lines, or DSL, the technology 
SBC uses for high-speed Internet service. In Texas, lines serving 25 percent 
of SBC customers haven't been upgraded."

It's worth noting, incidentally, that Sessions isn't just a concerned 
congressman from the Lone Star State. He is a 16-year veteran of SBC and his 
wife still works there, several news sources said.

The Kansas City Star weighed in as well: "In a letter to Congress, Consumers 
Union said it was important to 'reinforce the right of all communities to 
offer their residents affordable high-speed Internet access.' Consumer 
groups say that if allowed to set up their own wireless Internet services, 
including Internet voice transmission, cities and counties could provide 
greater access to Americans who don't have Internet service now and do it 
much cheaper than commercial companies."

That's how Philadelphia justifies its move. City officials, mindful of the 
distressing poverty throughout much of town that is not Center City, Society 
Hill, Olde City and the like, know they would score major points to say they 
are doing what they can for citizens of all incomes. And as I reported last 
week, Andrew Rasiej (D), a challenger to current New York City Democratic 
City Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, wants to bring service to the five boroughs.

The Journal story noted that the telecom industry is relying on 
old-fashioned "lobbying muscle" to oppose municipal access. Nebraska joined 
Pennsylvania and a dozen other states making moves in this area, but some 
tech companies are taking the other side, as the Journal wrote: "For 
companies like Dell, Intel and Texas Instruments, the spread of broadband is 
crucial. Dallas-based Texas Instruments, for example, makes chips for cable 
and DSL modems and for WiFi routers. ... And Intel, of Santa Clara, Calif., 
has made WiFi a centerpiece of its strategy, bundling WiFi and other chips 
as part of its Centrino technology, which has been heavily advertised during 
the past two years. Intel has provided funding for several cities to help 
set up neighborhood-wide wireless networks."

One thing's for sure: this is one topic that will consume plenty of 
bandwidth before it's settled. While there's no way to predict how it will 
turn out, there's no reason why this shouldn't turn into tomorrow's 
headline-grabbing Supreme Court challenge. Want to bet? Share your thoughts 
and let's sit back and enjoy the show.

Paradise by the Wireless Light

I'm ready to switch jobs with Laurie Goering. The Chicago Tribune 
correspondent found a way to get her paper to wrap a trip to Mauritius -- an 
Indian Ocean resort island off the east coast of Africa -- in the technology 
beat.

Goering reported that Mauritius wants to be the first all-WiFi island: "Like 
many African nations, this modest country has struggled economically as the 
industries that underlie its economy -- particularly sugar production and 
textile manufacturing -- have run into tough global competition and 
declining prices. Looking for alternatives, the government has settled on a 
new and ambitious vision: Turning sleepy Mauritius with its endless sugar 
cane fields and tourist beaches into a high-tech computer and 
telecommunications center. 'It is our vision to transform Mauritius into a 
cyber-island,' said Deelchand Jeeha, the country's minister of information 
technology and telecommunications, in a speech last year. The nation, he 
said, 'is confident in the potential of [the industry] as an engine of 
growth which can generate jobs and wealth creation.'"

The City of Brotherly Love might have a noble goal in mind with citywide 
wireless access, but as photos like this one (and this one ) ought to make 
clear, Mauritius boasts a lifestyle that doesn't resemble Philadelphia in 
the least . If you're looking for me, I'll be on the beach.

Late Payments Will Result in Extra Fees

Miami Herald reporter Shannon Pease wrote that more companies are allowing 
customers to pay bills by phone. It's a faster, more convenient option, 
especially for people worried that they'll get hit with a late fee. Problem 
is, Pease reported, paying by phone can cost more than sending a late 
payment: "Some charge $2 a transaction, while others charge more than $14." 
The story said many companies recommend online payments.

On the other hand, doing it that way can be lethal. The Herald also ran this 
story : "An 86-year-old man with emphysema died minutes after Lakeland 
Electric cut off electricity to his son's home, shutting down his oxygen 
machine. One day after Richard Howerton brought his terminally ill father 
John home from a nursing home, Lakeland Electric cut off the power to his 
home in Kathleen because he was late paying his bill." Howerton's wife Joyce 
told WTSP's 10 News Now that she paid the bill online on Sunday, June 12: 
"She says an online prompt told her the payment would be posted in two days, 
but it actually took four. Her father-in-law died two days after submitting 
the payment, on June 14."
© 2005 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive