] As any independent provider of Internet service can
] attest, the Bells have spent the last seven years
] fighting implementation of this federal law and are
] making it as difficult as possible for competitors to
] access the networks. Their needlessly high wholesale
] access prices have driven most DSL competitors out of
] business or into bankruptcy and locked America's ISPs
] into a low-speed ghetto.
]
] Not surprisingly, prices jumped immediately after the
] lockout was achieved.
]
] The Internet as Americans know it today is built on
] competition, choice and low-cost access--attributes not
] usually associated with the Bell monopolies. In fact, it
] appears that the DSL debacle may have only been the first
] course and that the Bells are now moving in for the kill,
] with the Internet itself as the ultimate entree. We all
] deserve better.

Will the Bells crush Net calling?

Remember the CLECs? They were the fancy new phone companies that were going to take on the Bell incumbents. New technology, lower prices, better service, and local, long distance and data all on one bill--the Bells didn't stand a chance. The future of telecommunications services for businesses belonged to Allegiance, Time Warner Telecom, WinStar, XO and their CLEC brethren.

This is perhaps the most clued and accurate representation of what happened and what is happening. However, they miss the salient point that telecom services are a rapidly falling commodity still, and it will be difficult to find high margin customers as we move forward.

The changing tide of CLECs

] "WiFi is scaring the government not because it's a tool
] of terrorism but because it's a tool of unregulated
] political dissent. "

This article misses the giant economic impact of giving away free 802.11 access on the business models of the major carriers/service providers, some of whom have spent billions on G3 license purchases. But it's still a fun little rant.

What's behind the DoD's asinine reaction to WiFi 'Peril:?

] Originally released as a bootable CDROM called "MeshAP,"
] MeshBox is now implemented as an under-32MB system image
] which can fit within a small CompactFlash card. But
] despite its small size, MeshBox extends the basic access
] point and mesh routing functionality of the original
] MeshAP. MeshBox now provides the capabilities of a
] set-top box Internet Appliance, wireless mesh router,
] connection to remote windows terminal servers (or other
] PCs), web browsing, mp3 audio and mpeg video streaming,
] connection to multiple peer-to-peer networks, instant
] messaging network chat, and file exchange.

An introduction to the MeshBox - a Linux-powered wireless mesh repeater

"We hold that the primary cause of current telecom troubles is that Internet-based end-to-end data networking has subsumed (and will subsume) the value that was formerly embodied in other communications networks. This, in turn, is causing the immediate obsolescence of the vertically integrated, circuit-based telephony industry of 127 years vintage. "

A lot of smart people tell the FCC to let the Bells die. I'm not sure what I think of this. Some of the comments are most certainly true, but there is a self-congradulatory tone here. "Circuits are bad; everything thats not IP oriented is bad policy" is every bit as protectionist as the opposite philosophy. The Internet has serious problems, and most of the industry is so blinded by its success that they cannot turn a critical eye to it. They sound like the winners of the French Revolution chanting "off with their heads."

Telling the FCC to tell the Bells to take a long walk...