Acidus wrote:
Undoubtedly, you see where I’ve been going with all this. Broadband in 2009 is electricity in 1900. We may think we know all the means to which high-speed Internet access may be put, but we clearly do not: YouTube and Twitter prove that new things are constantly on the way and will emerge as bandwidth and access continues to increase.

I've been making this comparison for quite some time now. I will stick my tongue firmly in my cheek to say that YouTube and Twitter are good examples of quality of life and economic output. I would argue that they are the very reason why broadband does not get serious attention as a standard piece of infrastructure for all citizens. Add to that list the ridiculous fear of kiddie porn and child predators online.

But you absolutely can make this statement when you're talking about mobile health, telemedicine, lowering health care and educational costs, promoting economic development (both hyper locally and versus the world market), and many many other legitimate purposes. YouTube and Twitter just prove that when you get a large community of users with access, ANYTHING is possible. We need to make sure that all citizens get affordable and ubiquitous access across the continent for all of the other reasons.

But it got me thinking about all the hubbub last week about capping smartphone users who download a lot. In Marietta Georgia, where I grew up, there is a Coke bottling plant that bottles Dasani water. Dasani bottled water is just Cobb County municipal water. They are the 2nd biggest water consumer in Cobb County behind Water White Water Park. Do they get capped? Do they pay a premium? Nope. They they pay the same flat water rate as my parents do.

Hmm... probably because the expectations of shareholders for the municipal water supply vendor are much much lower than AT&T. Ironically, shareholders of the local water utility have been pleasantly surprised by the upside surge in profitability and volume due to growth in bottled water sales, whereas the stock performance of AT&T has sucked, despite having the more visible "hot market".

RE: The utility of The Utilities