Cable Open Access in Canada.
Answers from Roger's access negotiator (links are my own)
Resale vs. Access.
Access: The CRTC has mandated open access. This is currently not possible for 2 reasons. 1. Field trials are still going on in Montreal with Videotron and UUNet, testing the architecture designed by the CCTA (Cable Assc) and CAIP (Can. Assc. Of Internet Providers). The POI for these tests is at the cable primary hub. 2. The CRTC is still examining the cable co's proper pricing.
Resale: Until access can become a reality, the cable cos must allow resale of their service. In this case, the cable co supplies full end to end service to the end user. The ISP does the billing, marketing, support, etc. The ISP receives a 25% discount.
crtc.gc.ca
DOCSIS vs Multiple ISP.
According to Rogers, the CCTA/CAIP model supports multiple ISP, but were quick to point out for resale there is no interconnection. They did not answer my question about limiting the number of ISPs and decreased quality of service.
ATHM's Proprietary Network
The multiple ISP's will be using the network, however, any fees are between the cable co and @Home and have yet to be determined what they will be, or if there will be any.
My thoughts:
The cable cos are not being very friendly. One company in Manitoba (MTS) asked to sign up for the resale of Shaw's service in Oct/99. Shaw has not yet replied, however they recently took out a full page add in both of Canada's national newspapers that said "When the President and C.O.O. of Manitoba Telephone Systems (sic) looks for high speed Internet access" he calls Shaw for the connection". Nothing like embarrassing your resellers across Canada.
The ISP's are pissed, and whining. In 1999 they petitioned the CRTC to stop the Cable Cos from marketing @HOME untill 3rd party access was available. The cited the fact the the cable co's were agressively marketing it while DSL sales were 10% of cable sales. Guess who the major supporter of that was... MTS.
From the CAIP paper to the CRTC:
(d) Regional Cablesystems is using "off-the-shelf" commercially available equipment to conduct the trial. Included amongst the equipment being used is a Cisco 7223 uBR Router and Cable Modem Termination System ("CMTS").
(e) The system operates utilizing "policy based" routing.
(f) The system is scalable, meaning it can be expanded to serve more subscribers and an increased number of ISPs. The system, as presently configured, would "comfortably and technically" be expanded to accommodate 10 to 15 ISPs. As well, the Timmins configuration can easily be transferred to a much larger market, for example Sudbury, Ontario, where Regional Cablesystems presently serves approximately 50,000 subscribers.
For the full paper: (warning, it quotes steve case)
crtc.gc.ca
Click on "REPLYA.DOC - 117KB"
More on Part 2 |
