I have been reading articles all morning on "open access", and I still do not see how this is going to be in the interest of the net infrastructer. Now we have all been saying that cable is the future because of its capabilities, and we have also established with the help of Ahhaha that competition is vital to the development of this technology. Though I feel that open access is eventually needed, I would argue that the timing is not correct. The competition that will push the development of the internet is not competition between AOL,PRGY,ATHM,MSPG, etc. The competition must come from the RBOC's, MSO's, Wireless/Satelite. Here is the big problem that I see with this. Technologies such as DSL and Wireless have not had there chance to compete as of yet. Now here comes open access to the cable lines. Within one year AOL is offering customer their choice for the service. Slow dial up for $21.00 per month + extra phone lines, Highspeed DSL for $85 per month, highspeed Wireless for $100 per month, or Highspeed cable for $40. What do you think will happen with all of the AOL customers that have cable in their areas. The same thing will happen with all of the other ISP's. With all of the consolidation taking place in the cable arena, several companies will control the whole net, T being one of them. Meanwhile, other technologies get squashed, cable becomes slow because it is overloaded and the cable companies will not be forced to upgrade as promptly.
Like I said before, EVENTUALLY open access could be a good thing, but not within the next 5 years. I don't think that this is just a negative for ATHM like some articles suggest. I think this is a negative for the net industry as a whole.
Ron Dior |
