".. in the next two years @Home and the cable partners are going to have to jump through a lot of technological hoops to make OA
work."
There is ample precedent for this kind of hoop jumping for us to examine how it works. In cable's sister environments of long distance telephone and local exchange carrier operations, those folks have been jumping through hoops for the past thirty years, starting with the Carterfone Decision of 1968.
An interesting and relevant board message which references this decision can be found at:
[You needn't go to the site for the point of interest, I've posted it below. The thread this passage comes from is titled "past vs. future use," and it ran in 1997. Some discussions never die.]
apnic.net
From the above:
"Actually, Paul, what you guys don't like is that I get it... I get the
"geographical monopoly" stuff...
I'm reminded of Thomas (Tommy to y'all, correct?) Carter's invention of the
Carterfone, which Bell disallowed to be connected to the network before
several in or around the discussion were in grade school. I can't help but
wonder where we would all be if that use of fear and protectionism (as has
occurred in this thread) by Bell had not been overturned by the court
system y'all seem to disdain. Modems were $1/baud and memory was $1/byte
if you bought it by the megabyte.
I would like to see more constructive suggestions about how to deal with
today's Carterfone case (small multi-homed ISPs). The question is not
whether you guys know how to do it, but whether you're willing to permit
today's Carterfone or you wish to force an industry consolidation and
thereby get rid of today's Carterfone.
Those favoring the status quo, complete with continuation of the
monopolies, might want to read "Cutting the Barbed Wire: Lessons of a
Reformed Monopolist", a speech given by Robert E. Allen, Chairman and CEO
of AT&T, at the University of Texas last year.
There's a lot of other reading about the historical Carterfone decision
which might serve to help some of the writers and yes, actors in the legal
sense, on this mailing list.
Could we turn to constructive and timely suggestions on how to deal with
the small, multi-homed ISP, please? If not, the alternative is to see how
"Carterfone II" is decided. I prefer the former over the latter. Don't you?"
While the above discussion had nothing to do with last mile issues per se at the time, the same principles can be applied through some minor word substitutions.
I'd like to treat the remainder of your reply and those of others later in the day, or tomorrow. I've got some Christmas shopping to do, or, so I've been told. -smile-
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
