At 1:02 PM -0800 6/7/98, Suzanne wrote:
>>>Our commercial cable provider has fought this move bitterly. Yet we've
>>>heard that they've decided that, rather than pull out of this market,
>>>they'll upgrade their service and use Ashland as an experiment in learning
>>>how to prevent loss of other markets like falling dominoes. This sounds
>>>like healthy competition to me.
>
>Kathy wrote:
>>A problem that I see is this -- why should we have /two/ sets of
>>fiber=optic cables running down one street - when just outside of the city
>>limits, there are none?
>
>Naturally there are arguments pro & con flying furiously. We used to live
>just outside the city limits. Services provided by USWest there were
>dismally poor and USWest had no plans to upgrade. Plans for Ashland Fiber
>Network influenced our decision to move into Ashland.
This is the reason that cooperatives were formed earlier in the century -
power companies and telphone utilities did /not/ want to string wire "in
the boonies" -- so rural areas formed cooperatives to ensure that they were
not left in the dark, literally.
Where are the coops on this issue???? Agrrrh. Having spent a good part of
my career working with cooperatives, I could shoot them for their absence.
>At what point is the fiber-optic system a
>>"government" infrastructure expense, like sewer, roads, etc. instead of a
>>"private" enterprise (cable)?
>
>Another question that's being debated at length. The main argument I can
>make for it is that Ashland's unique approaches to finance -- its
>electrical power system and its food & restaurant ("tourist") tax -- have
>provided a quality of life here that's FAR superior to that of any town of
>comparable size (17,000) that I've ever seen.
well, it's almost like the city government has been organized like a
"cooperative" ... interesting, but doesn't surprise me up here in the NW.
>One argument made against the AFN by one of the founders of the largest
>local ISP is that it'll be out-of-date technology before installation is
>finished.
Like TCI's would be "current" when finished? Get real.
>
>One small ISP has come out strongly in favor of AFN, one against, and the
>other is staying out of the fray. The University hasn't shown much interest
>even though they're portrayed as one of the largest potential consumers of
>the AFN.
wonder why the university is silent? maybe they think if the city fails,
they'll just string their own T3s?
Please keep us up-to-date on the project, Suz.
Kathy
===============================
Kathy E. Gill, Guide - http://agriculture.miningco.com/
Publisher, eNetDigest - http://www.enetdigest.com/
WWW design � writing � training - http://www.dotparagon.com/
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Gandhi
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