[Hidden-tech] Charter... it is as bad as you all said
Robert Heller
heller at deepsoft.com
Thu Nov 4 20:38:06 EDT 2010
At Thu, 4 Nov 2010 18:16:01 -0400 jason at sampw.com wrote:
>
> MIME-Version: 1.0
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> ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>
>
>
>
> ---Executing: recode
> I second Tom's sentiment. Thank you, Mayor. And thanks Davyn for
> sending him my concerns. I understand better how this all works and
> that there's no real economic incentive for Comcast or others to expand
> service to Easthampton. The lack of competition among cable providers
> puzzles me. While there is competition among different types of
> internet access, I don't think DSL is competitive with Cable, and some
> of the other options I looked into (T1, etc.) are out of reach for a
> home office (at least mine). I don't know if this is just a Mass
> problem or if other states have these arrangements with cable companies
> that leads to de facto monopolies town-to-town. Maybe we need a
> Tennessee Valley Authority-type entity to help expand internet service.
WiredWest is basicly following much the same model as the "Tennessee
Valley Authority" -- a regional cooperative that is owned by the towns.
The various broadband committees in a number of unserved and undererved
'hill towns' have actually been working on this for more than a decade.
The 'de facto monopolies town-to-town' is pretty much the standard
nationwide, starting with the POTS system.
>
> Mayor, have you looked into WiredWest (http://www.wired-west.net) as
> a possibility for Easthampton? Again, I was really impressed with the
> vision laid out in the Easthampton master plan. Reading it, I could
> tell a lot of people's time and care went into it. That and the bond
> approval for the new high school sealed the deal with Easthampton for
> my wife and me. We hope our son - due any day now - will be able to
> take advantage of the new high school in about 14 years.
>
> Also, thanks to everyone else who responded. I plan to take advantage
> of your suggestions.
>
>
> Best,
> Jason
>
>
> On Nov 4, 2010, at 5:21 PM, Tom Adams- Reelife Productions wrote:
>
> > I gotta tell ya, regardless of the subject matter, it is very very refreshing to see a post from a MAYOR on hidden-tech. sorry for the tangent.. but, really... this is just fantastic to see this type of communication going in here. roger-wilco!
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Tom Adams
> > from iPhone (413) 575-9707
> > Director/Owner
> > www.ReelifeProductions.com
> > www.Folktographybytom.com
> > web.me.com/ReelifeProductions
> >
> > On Nov 4, 2010, at 10:56 AM, Davyn McGuire <davyn at davyn.com> wrote:
> >
> >> ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> >> ** If you did, we all thank you.
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi Jason - I sent this question along to Mayor Mike - Here was his response:
> >>
> >> Hi Davyn,
> >>
> >> Thanks for the information. I'm the contact for the television license and
> >> for any company that would like to provide cable television service in
> >> Easthampton. Here's a concise reply if you wish to post it back to the
> >> group;
> >>
> >> Federal law provides for open competition among cable television service
> >> providers. That means that if any cable television service provider wishes
> >> to provide television service in any community, anywhere in the nation, they
> >> are free to do so by simply applying for a license. The provision of
> >> broadband service is not regulated and any internet service provider may do
> >> business in any community (including Easthampton) without applying for a
> >> license from that community. Comcast (or any other provider) would be
> >> welcome in Easthampton if they wanted to do business here. The real problem
> >> is, in my opinion, that Comcast and other providers don't want to compete
> >> for the limited business they may get because it's not profitable enough for
> >> them to do so. There is a significant amount of dark fiber running through
> >> Easthampton (Route 10 & 141) right now and access is available to any ISP
> >> who wants to do business. In addition, the Massachusetts Broadband
> >> Initiative will provide even more dark fiber capacity in the 413 area over
> >> the next 18 to 24 months. There are no governmental barriers for real
> >> competition, only private businesses that don't want to, or can not
> >> effectively, compete in the marketplace.
> >>
> >> Mike
> >> miket at mayormike.net
> >>
> >>
> >> On 11/3/10 9:46 AM, "Jason Miranda" <jason at sampw.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> >>> ** If you did, we all thank you.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Hi all,
> >>>
> >>> Wanted to check in with anyone here in the Easthampton area who has Charter
> >>> Business Internet. We've been experiencing sporadic outages over the last 48
> >>> hours. Can't get any answers from Charter other than they are aware of a
> >>> problem with a node in our area, are working on it, but cannot give an ETA.
> >>>
> >>> I've had Charter Business for about 3 mos. I thought paying for the
> >>> business-quality rather than residential would get me better service, but the
> >>> quality of the service and the customer service has been very low. To the
> >>> point that my opinion is that Charter's regard for its business customers is
> >>> as low as the quality of its service.
> >>>
> >>> We connect to another business network via VPN here and we've experienced
> >>> brief outages or hiccups during a typical business day that the VPN connection
> >>> breaks about 5-10 times.
> >>>
> >>> I'm wondering if Easthampton would consider allowing Comcast to offer service
> >>> in the area. Is there a committee through City Hall that deals with these
> >>> negotiates these relationships? I read Easthampton's masterplan for the city
> >>> when we were going through the home buying process. I was impressed with the
> >>> vision, but It seems like if they want to fulfill the goals outlined there
> >>> they need to be an attractive place to live and work for telecommuters and
> >>> people working from home offices. Based on the terrible service I've
> >>> experienced with Charter, it doesn't seem to methat they are is the partner to
> >>> help Easthampton achieve its long-term goals.
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> Jason
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Jason Miranda
> >>> Spoke & Wheel | www.sampw.com
> >>> publishing and media services
> >>> (ph) 413.203.1123
> >>> (fax) 617.206.9516
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
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