[9533] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
re: Constitution of NII AC
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Larry Walker)
Sat Jan 8 12:33:00 1994
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 94 11:31:43 CST
To: com-priv@psi.com
From: walkerl@med.ge.com (Larry Walker)
The future Ross Stapleton-Gray <STAPLETON@bpa.arizona.edu> wrote:
>To note in passing, the NII won't just be the Internet writ large...
>it's to embrace all of the communications and computational means,
>practices and policies. I wouldn't insist that all of the AC
>members get a cellular phone, a pager, cable and use an ATM
>frequently, but all of those other technologies will roll into
>the equation.
On the contrary, I _would_ insist that anyone who had the presumption (note
1) to ask to be on the NII Advisory Committee be a frequent user of all
these technologies. As the saying goes, "the devil's in the details", and
just talking about the technologies and going to public hearings is NO
substitute for _actually using_ them. I'd go so far as to require that they
must personally seek out a provider, sign up for service, and receive/pay
the monthly bills themselves, not delegating this to an administrative
assistant!
Example:
After years of disdain for those who thought their time so important they
needed to weave all over the road and block the left lane while making
phone calls (not fair, I know, I know), I finally decided to give it a try
and see just what the attraction is. (My reasons were a mix: an hour-long
commute through the frozen wastes of rural Wisconsin being the major one).
It has been a REAL revelation to discover that I cannot obtain from my
provider (Cellular One) a written definition of when a call is a toll-call
and when it is not. My local wireline provider prints this in the phone
book and sends me a mailing when the rules change. Cellular One says "Oh,
it's based on volume of calls to a given area and lots of other things.
Just call Customer Assitance if you have a question." Right: "Let's see, I
want to call Bob in Cross Plains, so first I have to call Cell One and ask
what it'll cost."
I suggested to the Cell One sales rep that the analogy would be that I go
in to buy a car and they tell me there's 2 gas stations in most towns and I
can probably fill up at either one and gas will cost me between $1 and $5 a
gallon and I'll find out how much it really was when I get my credit card
bill next month. Or I can pull into a station and go call an 800 number and
ask what gas costs at this station. He basically looked puzzled and said
that "well, it's still a pretty new technology." And we won't even talk
about roaming!
My point is that you don't learn this from reading the Wall Street
Journal's articles about the explosive growth of cellular and how many
billions the carriers are making. You only learn it by signing up and
trying to decipher your monthly bill. (Oh, you want details about where all
those airtime minutes went? That's $5/mo extra!).
(note 1) I think "presumption to ask to be on the NII Advisory Committee"
is the right description: I inquired about how one applied for this via my
senator's office. An aide got back to me saying that Commerce just laughed
when he asked: They had HUNDREDS of serious applicants and more coming in
every day. It bothers me to see that the bulk of the members are people
with vested interests in making Billions off the NII, and a small minority
represent actual live users. But that's water over the dam: We need to work
through these folks to press our best vision of how this should all work
out, and I'd like to be able to use email to do so...
[Speaking only for myself, not for GE...]
Larry Walker
System Architect email: walkerl@med.ge.com
GE Medical Systems phone: 414.785.8262
P.O. Box 414 / NB-902 fax: 414.785.4331
Milwaukee, WI 53201 dialcomm: 8*322-8262
