[9620] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Telecommunications Competition Act of Washington State
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John [Francis] Stracke)
Fri Jan 14 11:05:46 1994
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 10:13:09 +0500
From: francis@avalle.insoft.com (John [Francis] Stracke)
To: u.washington.edu!adamfast@netcom.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com, communet@uvmvm.BITNET, nii_agenda@civicnet.org
In-Reply-To: adam fast's message of Fri, 14 Jan 1994 00:34:45 -0800 (PST) <Pine.3.89.9401140047.A13550-0100000@goren1.u.washington.edu>
>"information transport provider" means an entity that owns, rents, or leases
>network infrastructure and provides a service to the public or to a
>public agency or group of agencies, including but not limited to
>telephone companies, cable television companies, and Internet providers.
[...]
>What does the Act do?
>---------------------
>
>* Requires information transport providers to interconnect their networks
>for seamless transmission of voice, video, or data, at compensatory rates.
Gack! When would this take effect?
How many cable networks are currently set up for high-speed,
bidirectional, switched transport? That's what it would take to allow
this kind of interoperation. A cable company does not *need* a
switched network today (someday, yes, probably; but not now); forcing
them to install one will be catastrophic to some (many? all?) in the
short run. In the long run, they'll benefit--if they survive.
Moreover, what does this mean for somebody who sells only low-speed
access? Will they be required to carry video feeds? They're damn sure
not going to be able to carry them *seamlessly*; any video feed
transiting a low-speed link will be shot to hell. Meanwhile, the
low-speed network's ordinary customers will be screaming as their
stuff is shouldered aside by the torrent of video packets.
I can see "required to interconnect to any network that's compatible
and *interested*"; but forcing all nets to link together will bring
them all down to the lowest common denominator. I don't want my cable
service running over UUCP, thank you very much. :-)
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|John (Francis) Stracke | My opinions are my own. |
|InSoft, Inc. |==================================================|
|Mechanicsburg, PA | We want forty million helicopters |
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