Tim Karr:

We have Big Media to thank for saving Americans from themselves. Just as the notion of affordable broadband for all was beginning to take hold in towns and cities across the country, the patriots at Verizon, Qwest, Comcast, Bell South and SBC Communications have created legislation that will stop the ?red menace? of community internet before it invades our homes.
And to think that Americans might want to receive high-speed access at costs below the monopoly rates set by these few Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Slashdot discussion

Esme Vos:

Philadelphia has officially released the business plan for “Wireless Philadelphia”, the citywide wireless broadband network, and the RFP. They are using the Cooperative Wholesale model (similar to the model used by UTOPIA in Utah). You can also go to www.phila.gov/wireless to view these documents. There will be a web conference today at 15:00 Eastern time – details for joining the conference are here.

via wifi net news

The DenverChannel writes that the Colorado senate is voting on a bill that would support local municipal wifi…. (still no wifi at the Madison airport…)

Alex Goldman:

“My initial job was getting IP on everything,” Cerf said. That’s been done by now. IP is on every device from the smallest handheld to the largest supercomputer.
“Now we need IP under everything,” he added. By this he meant that now that the computers are all connected, we need to make sure that every device can use and access any service or product available to any one device.

802.11 News:

an Antonio considers municipal broadband network: A non-profit is working on a plan to offer low-cost Internet access to poorer residents of San Antonio and wants to work with the city to offer free wireless hotspots. The Texas house bill that prohibits municipal networks would disallow this kind of cooperation.

via isen.com

Under the [three bills pending before the Florida Legislature], if the phone or cable companies don’t offer a proposal, the cities can go ahead with their own, but only after doing a feasibility study and asking residents to vote on the project at least once ? twice if bonds would be used to finance it.
That would take anywhere from two to four years, one group says.
“No city would look at that process and say, ‘Yeah! We’re going to go down that road,’ ” said Barry Moline, executive director of the Florida Municipal Electric Association, which represents cities that own utilities

Kevin Werbach muses on a recent anti-consumer broadband FCC decision that will prolong our slow broadband service….

The FCC reached a decision this week that could effectively end broadband service as we know it. The order hasn’t officially come out yet, but the result was leaked.
The FCC granted a petition by BellSouth to pre-empt state regulators from requiring “naked DSL.” The procedural aspects are convoluted, so the effect of that action may not be clear. Here’s what the FCC is saying. The local phone companies (and, although the ruling doesn’t specifically cover them, cable companies) are free to force customers to buy pay for phone service in order to get broadband. Whether or not you use the phone company’s voice service is immaterial — you have to pay for it. Although there are a few telcos willing to sell DSL as a stand-alone service (notably Qwest), one wonders if they will continue to do so.

Springfield’s system cost 70K to setup, according to Glenn Fleishman. Meanwhile, fighting municipal broadband on the one hand, SBC and Alltel are seeking government subsidies with the other.