Re: How many on a T1?

From: Jean-David Beyer (jdbeyer_at_exit109.com)
Date: 02/07/05 

Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 09:54:43 -0500

Roger Blake wrote:
> On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 19:11:31 -0700, Bob van der Poel <bvdp@uniserve.com> wrote:
>
>>I'm involved in a community broadband inititive. Read all about it:
>> http://mypage.uniserve.com/~bvdp/broadband
>
>
> Interesting, but I take issue with some of your basic assertions, such as:
>
> "...broadband is something that folks 'just expect' to
> have these days."
>
> I for one and completely satisfied with dialup and do not have, or want,
> broadband.

I would not mind having broadband connection, but I am unwilling to pay
more for it than my current dial-up connection to my ISP. Furthermore, I
do not have cable (or even a television receiver) in my house, so cable is
out.

My main problem with all the broadband systems available to me is that
they require me to use the network provider's ISP services, and they are
not what I want or need. Most refuse to let me run sendmail, for example,
or any other servers for that matter. Also, my present ISP provides me far
superior service: when I need something, I just call or e-mail them and
get immediate service; when I call, a real person answers the call. My AOL
and other big ISP using friends get only an interactive voice response
system when they call, and useless form-letters from their e-mails.
>
> It also seems to me that providing broadband access is not a proper
> governmental function, but it's your country and your call on that one.
>
If you refer to the USA, it is not really our country, but the one run by
the plutocrats. Our only political function is to pay the taxes and accept
the decisions already made by the politicians and their handlers.

As far as what is a proper governmental function, there could be lots of
difference of opinion. Nominally, the government gets its authority from
The (1789) Constitution of the United States of America, whose preamble
states:

WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form
a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defense.
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain
and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United
States of America.

The tenth amendment to the Constitution states:

The powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States,
are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Promoting the general welfare can include a lot. For example, IMAO it is
quite permissible to provide universal health care for the inhabitants of
the country because lacking it, those who cannot afford it will spread
disease to others. And this part of the preamble has been used to justify
requiring monopoly electricity and telephone corporations to provide
universal service to (most of) the people wanting it (though not free).

In the telephone situation, AT&T made considerable profits on their long
distance service, and used much of those profits to subsidize local
service to those in remote locations that would otherwise be denied
service because of the cost of installing the required telephone lines.
This policy has been revoked by recent government action, however. In no
case was the electricity or telephone service provided free. Cross
subsidization was permitted so as not to cost the corporations too much.

As far as broadband, where I live (in a highly populated area), broadband
services are available, and some of my friends have cable or DSL. In
Canada, my sister's ISP connection is by satellite system, and she has a
little dish on her roof. When I was there, though, the average
transmission rates to download anything were only slightly faster than my
56.6K bits/sec dial-up connection (although peak rates were much higher).
It seems to me that either the Internet is clogged with all that spam and
downloading of video and audio stuff, or that the servers are too busy.
For me, the link to my ISP is never the limiting factor, so going
broadband for me would be a waste. 

-- 
   .~.  Jean-David Beyer          Registered Linux User 85642.
   /V\  PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A         Registered Machine   241939.
  /( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey    http://counter.li.org
  ^^-^^ 09:30:00 up 18 days, 17:45, 3 users, load average: 3.00, 3.07, 3.13

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