Re: [WISPA] Done loving this thread
Business plans based upon credit or federal subsidy seem to be a risky proposition right now. We want nothing to do with USF funds, period. Our business model and expense/debt/overhead is prepared to weather just about anything except federal nastiness. insert witty tagline here - Original Message - From: Chuck McCown - 3 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:09 PM Subject: [WISPA] Done loving this thread True, ATT and the department of defense were best buddies. I remember HVAC systems in the TD-2 microwave systems that kept heaters and airconditioners running all year long so they could simply mix the air to get the temp they wanted. Gold plated system. But it was a good system. Part of the justification for divestiture and deregulation was that the majority of America (using ATT) had bought and paid for the system several times over so it really was a quazi public property. So they did a reverse privatization. And now we all have the system we have. I like it better than back in the old Ma Bell days. If Western Electric didn't make it, you didn't need it. So it got broke up and competition was supposed to flourish etc etc. They are still experimenting. Part of the problem is that the S in USF is still defined as POTS on copper. Our company is personally sponsoring a bill in our legislature that expands that to broadband. Look for an FCC ruling in November that may change the rules for all of us. - Original Message - From: Blake Bowers [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 12:26 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] gotta love USF I am an avid ATT long lines historian. ATT made lots of federal money. Cost plus. Thats how most of it worked. I own some of the big ATT junctions that included fall out shelters, blast doors, etc, as well as many repeater sites. Those sites were built on tarrifs, that called for their construction in that manner. Cost plus. Where ATT really made their money is buying lots of what went into those sites from their subsidiaries. Cost plus. Don't take your organs to heaven, heaven knows we need them down here! Be an organ donor, sign your donor card today. - Original Message - From: jp [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:19 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] gotta love USF I don't know about local stuff, but what I read about the history of ATT Longlines is that it must have been heavily government funded for federal defense and communications interests. Here is one example http://long-lines.net/places-routes/Lyons_NE/index.html They must have been either richer than the feds or federally funded to be able to build their infrastructure to the high standards needed to survive nuclear war. If you think someone is milking the government a little with a small community homeland security radio project, ATT had the whole milk processing plant metaphorically speaking. If the feds didn't build it, surely they rebuilt it to their standards with fat contracts to a monopoly provider. I have personally built and tested many analog phones for the federal government that sold for $1000 each in some cases; the company I was working for that had this contract had bid against ATT to get it. If the phones cost that much, I can't imagine that the services cost. Now RUS is financing Crossroads, a mostly redundant and unnecesary cellular network meant to benefit the ILECs who are not verizon. On Thu, Oct 09, 2008 at 10:11:27AM -0600, Chuck McCown wrote: The phone system was not developed by tax dollars. It was developed by guys like Art Brothers who hand built miles of open wire pole lines by himself. He later got loans from the REA (later to become the RUS) to improve his system. A program that serves as a profit center for the us government. You all should be thanking the RUS for making your income tax bill lower through money that flows from that program to the general fund. Do you really think Ma Bell was not profitable and had to be supported by taxes? When I think of blue chip stock, I think of the old ATT. How was the phone system developed by tax dollars? 120 years ago there was a boom in telecommunications with in some cases multiple LECs in the same city. Government regulation stepped in to create the monopoly and to tax it. But they did not build the bell system or any of the independents. - Original Message - From: RickG [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 10:04 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] gotta love USF Chuck, so your definition of a tax is if you are forced to pay? Keeping in mind that the phone system was developed as a public utility by tax dollars that we
Re: [WISPA] Done loving this thread
Good point. (Except, as pointed out by others, USF isn't based on credit or federal subsidy, its a program funded by Americans, mandated by the feds). Yes, business models reliant on credit clearly are models in risk in the nearby future. However, I'd argue because of that, that businesses capable of operating on credit today would be wise to utilize that credit option while its here to use. Cash is starting to be a more charished asset in short supply. Who knows how long credit lines will be in tact? I'm aware of numerous companies and individuals that have had $30-40,000 empty credit lines dropped to Zero over night, after the recent Fannie/Freddie bailout fiascos going public. It will be interesting to see how this all effects the financial market, even from just implications of the fear effect. It could go either way. It could make lenders tougher, or it could have lenders looking for more lucrative investments (wireless) other than realestate. Although, it will probably just make lending options tougher, considering the average borrower often relies on real estate to secure its borrowing. Tom DeReggi RapidDSL Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 2:44 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Done loving this thread Business plans based upon credit or federal subsidy seem to be a risky proposition right now. We want nothing to do with USF funds, period. Our business model and expense/debt/overhead is prepared to weather just about anything except federal nastiness. insert witty tagline here - Original Message - From: Chuck McCown - 3 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:09 PM Subject: [WISPA] Done loving this thread True, ATT and the department of defense were best buddies. I remember HVAC systems in the TD-2 microwave systems that kept heaters and airconditioners running all year long so they could simply mix the air to get the temp they wanted. Gold plated system. But it was a good system. Part of the justification for divestiture and deregulation was that the majority of America (using ATT) had bought and paid for the system several times over so it really was a quazi public property. So they did a reverse privatization. And now we all have the system we have. I like it better than back in the old Ma Bell days. If Western Electric didn't make it, you didn't need it. So it got broke up and competition was supposed to flourish etc etc. They are still experimenting. Part of the problem is that the S in USF is still defined as POTS on copper. Our company is personally sponsoring a bill in our legislature that expands that to broadband. Look for an FCC ruling in November that may change the rules for all of us. - Original Message - From: Blake Bowers [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 12:26 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] gotta love USF I am an avid ATT long lines historian. ATT made lots of federal money. Cost plus. Thats how most of it worked. I own some of the big ATT junctions that included fall out shelters, blast doors, etc, as well as many repeater sites. Those sites were built on tarrifs, that called for their construction in that manner. Cost plus. Where ATT really made their money is buying lots of what went into those sites from their subsidiaries. Cost plus. Don't take your organs to heaven, heaven knows we need them down here! Be an organ donor, sign your donor card today. - Original Message - From: jp [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: WISPA General List wireless@wispa.org Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:19 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] gotta love USF I don't know about local stuff, but what I read about the history of ATT Longlines is that it must have been heavily government funded for federal defense and communications interests. Here is one example http://long-lines.net/places-routes/Lyons_NE/index.html They must have been either richer than the feds or federally funded to be able to build their infrastructure to the high standards needed to survive nuclear war. If you think someone is milking the government a little with a small community homeland security radio project, ATT had the whole milk processing plant metaphorically speaking. If the feds didn't build it, surely they rebuilt it to their standards with fat contracts to a monopoly provider. I have personally built and tested many analog phones for the federal government that sold for $1000 each in some cases; the company I was working for that had this contract had bid against ATT to get it. If the phones cost that much, I can't imagine that the services cost. Now RUS is financing Crossroads, a mostly redundant
Re: [WISPA] Done loving this thread
It seems like easy math to me, pay a small usf fee for each of your subscribers, do a whole lot of accounting and paper work filing (probably mind boggling), and collect a big chunk of change, paid for by those New York City folks. Isn't that the way it works? WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
