[37193] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: HR 1542
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Sobol)
Sun May 6 15:05:01 2001
Message-ID: <3AF59FD0.2582B0F6@NorthShoreTechnologies.net>
Date: Sun, 06 May 2001 15:02:40 -0400
From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Jeff Mcadams <jeffm@iglou.com>
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
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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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