I know I do, and I object. I said that I do not WANT to. The great people who founded this country never envisioned nor intended that the govt. would be our mommy.
> -----Original Message----- > From: Billy Bob [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 12:18 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Lars Aronsson' > Cc: 'nycwireless' > Subject: RE: [nycwireless] Municipal Broadband - Must read! > > > "I certainly don't want my tax dollars paying for so[m]eone > else's water, electricity, gas, medicine, education, > healthcare, etc." > > Where do you live? If it's the US, you already do pay for > these products and services for others in all sorts of places. > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Jim Henry > Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 11:06 AM > To: 'Lars Aronsson'; 'nycwireless' > Subject: RE: [nycwireless] Municipal Broadband - Must read! > > Lars, > I'm OK with street lights and quite a bit more, but > you've got to draw the line somewhere. I certainly don't want > my tax dollars paying for soeone else's water, electricity, > gas, medicine, education, healthcare, etc. As to the cost of > your broadband connection, I'd be willing to bet you are not > counting the taxes you and your fellow subjects pay for that > municipal fiber network as part of that $40/month. Beyond > that, I'd also bet you pay a much larger percentage of your > income in taxes than I, though mine are already far too high. > Taxation is theft and thus immoral. > > Jim > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lars > > Aronsson > > Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 7:46 AM > > To: 'nycwireless' > > Subject: RE: [nycwireless] Municipal Broadband - Must read! > > > > > > Jim Henry wrote: > > > > > Just curious, does anyone know if in these countries > where broadband > > > is cheaper and more prevalent than the U.S., is it really > cheaper or > > > is it subsidized by the government? I honestly don't know the > > > answer. I would like it to be cheaper here also and more > > > widespread, but not at the expense of free enterprise. > > > If it takes socialism to accomplish this, I don't want it. > > > > I heard that socialism has gone away now that "cialis" is caught in > > the spam filters. Seriously, though, I have yet to see > street lights > > operated on a pay-per-view commercial basis. Somebody paid > > once-and-for-all to pave and light the streets, and it could be tax > > money. Does that make it socialism? > > > > In Sweden I pay 320 SEK/mo ($40) for 10 Mbit/s. This is possible > > because I live in a coop apartment building, where every > apartment is > > wired by an ISP, and the in-house switched LAN is connected to a > > municipal fiber in the basement. This ISP (www.bredband.com) was > > founded with venture capital during the dotcom boom and got > a contract > > with the largest national association of apartment coops > (www.hsb.se). > > Through this contract, apartment coops that are members have a very > > streamlined procedure for signing up to get their apartment > buildings > > wired. > > > > This spring, the ISP is introducing a reduced price 2 > Mbit/s offering > > (still over CAT-5 twisted pair ethernet, so I guess it is really 10 > > Mbit/s but bandwidth limited) and at the same time my line > is upgraded > > to 100 Mbit/s at unchanged price. > > > > As far as I know, there is no direct government subsidy, > but a lot of > > factors work together: > > > > * Compared to the U.S., more people here live in apartments. > > People living in private homes cannot get broadband as cheap, > > simply because wiring a dozen apartments in one building is a > > lot cheaper than wiring a dozen private homes. > > > > * Coops is a very common form of apartment ownership in Sweden > > since the 1930s, and the national associations work pretty > > well. The nationwide template contract made it easier for a > > lot of small coops to sign up, who don't have the technical > > insights to do their own negotiations. > > > > * The dotcom boom provided the venture capital for this > > broadband-only ISP. You could call this "subsidized by stupid > > investors". I guess the stock price has fallen, but at least > > this company is still around. > > > > * The old national telco is not involved at all in this solution. > > > > * The ISP rents dark fiber from the municipal utility between my > > building and the ISP's facility in this town. The municipal > > water, sewer, electricity, and heating utility is operated as a > > whole-owned corporation (www.tekniskaverken.se) and I don't > > know exactly how they have financed the build-out of the > > municipal fiber network. > > > > I guess most of these conditions could also apply to New York City, > > more than to rural or suburban America. > > > > > > -- > > Lars Aronsson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se > > -- > > NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ > > Un/Subscribe: > > http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ > > Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/ > > > > > > > > -- > > No virus found in this incoming message. > > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > > Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.14.14/222 - Release > > Date: 1/5/2006 > > > > > > -- > NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ > Un/Subscribe: > http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ > Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/ > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.14.14/222 - Release > Date: 1/5/2006 > > -- NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/
