[Tfug] Dilemma: Qwest or Comcast?

[Harry McGregor]

Matt Jacob wrote:
> euvitudo wrote:
>> Thanks for the reasonable explanation Harry.
>
> Yeah, Harry, thanks for the info. I think I get it now.

:)
> So, with cable, be it Cox or Comcast, you still have an ISP and a 
> carrier; it's just that both services are provided by the same 
> company... right?
Sorta.  In most of the US cable companies are not required to offer 
either unbundled service, or act as a utility of sorts.

Thus the layer 1, 2, and 3 services (ie TCP/IP) are all done by the same 
company.
>
> Harry, do you know if the separate ISP/line issue of DSL is related to 
> the telco deregulation stuff?
>
It more has to do with regulation rather than deregulation.

Personally, I feel that line services should be a highly regulated 
monopoly, as fiber optic, coax, and twisted pair buildout is very expensive.

The only place where you get anything close to real competition is 
business settings with >$3000/month in billing.

I am helping a friend with a project that he has coming up (maybe), that 
involves a 10Mbit PtP, a PtP T1, a PRI, and 2 or 6 mbit of internet 
bandwidth.

TWTC is bidding on it, and has a good chance, as they already have fiber 
in two of the three locations (or have started a buildout already), and 
the third location only needs a T1.  Cox was bidding on it, but decided 
even at >$3K/month it would not be worth the fiber buildout costs with a 
3 year contract.  Qwest is bidding on it, and Verizon Business might 
call us back sometime.

If you had a single highly regulated monopoly that provided fiber 
backbone service with Coax or Twisted pair feeders off it when need, 
with the ability for almost any company to provide services on the 
network, it would work quite well.  You could by IPTV service from 
company X, Voice from company Y, and IP Data services from company Z, 
and it would all be transported over the same fiberoptic network.

In a way, this sharing of costs/resources is already rather common in 
long haul, where many companies will buy or rent spare strands in an 
already existing fiberoptic cable instead of running their own.


                        Harry
> M
>
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