I hear ya brother! We were at the same seminar and left when it was clear that we didn't want any part of this. We decided to just keep doing what we're doing and they can stay out of it. We're doing just fine without them.
Bob- -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kurt Fankhauser Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 8:52 AM To: 'WISPA General List' Subject: [WISPA] just attended broadband stimulus seminar and WOW..... Yesterday there was a broadband stimulus seminar in Columbus, OH featuring Senator Sherrod Brown, ConnectOhio.org, USDA Rural Development. I went with an open mind and left not wanting anything to do with this "free money" to be had. The government is trying to get as much control out of the ISP's that take this money as they possibly can. The reporting requirements for ISP's that take this money is a huge burden. This makes FCC Form 477 look like a walk in the park compared to what they want to know. There are about 30-50 things that they want you to report on and some of it is just crazy. I can't list it all but they basically want to know what brand of toilet paper and how much of it you use per customer.. And this will apply to your entire existing infrastructure that was in place before you took the money. They can come in and look at all your confidential records anytime they want. They can even change the rules years down the road and possibly tell you what to charge your customer per month to what they think is fair. They can also tell you how to do your QoS and what you can and can not block. This sounds like the same deal with the bank bailouts from last year that once they took the money and found out what role the government wanted to do with them that they wanted to give it all back but wasn't allowed. The majority of the attendees once we got into the workshops and started talking among each other was that they don't want anything to do with this money at all either once they found out all the hidden strings attached to it. They are encouraging few larger projects than many smaller ones. I asked them what about the area that already has 2-3 fixed wireless ISP's and if they give the money to a very large outfit that comes into the area and undercuts the smaller guys by $5/month and runs them out of business if that could happen and they said it probably would. I said well you just killed 3 small businesses to create a larger one what the heck did you just accomplish that for and they just gave me a blank stare like I was crazy. This is not about getting broadband internet to un-served/underserved area's, this entire stimulus is about the government trying to gain as much control as they possibly can into the ISP business.. I'm going to start running ads saying "go with us, we refused to take the stimulus money." Kurt Fankhauser WAVELINC P.O. Box 126 Bucyrus, OH 44820 419-562-6405 www.wavelinc.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
