Open Network Mania: Verizon Does a 180, AT&T Rides the Coattails

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Remember Verizon's lawsuit just a few months ago trying to get rid of the open access requirements in the 700MHz auction? Neither does Verizon, apparently. The company decided to allow anyone to bring any compatible device of their choosing to the network. The timeline? It'll be done by the end of 2008, about the time the 700MHz band opens up. Not to be outdone, AT&T decided to use the buzz over open networks to say they had open networks too. Of course, this is the way it's always been, yet a few reporters got sucked into the blatant PR move.

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Steven Titch's Latest Hackjob

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As predictable as the sun rising in the east and continued strife in the Middle East, Steven Titch is at it again. As usual, he's spouting out about iProvo without a clue as to what he's talking about. Not only was he not present at the meeting referenced in the newspaper articles he linked, but he failed to go beyond the half-story presented by the Deseret Morning News (and their accompanying editorial) to get the whole picture.

For instance, he managed to skip the benefits to city departments (faster turnaround to restore power, decreased disconnect/reconnect costs, enhanced telecommuting) while condemning the idea that city departments should, you know, actually pay for their usage. The way he framed it, however, was masterfully deceptive:

And while Mayor Lewis Billings is loath to raise taxes to support iProvo, he and interim project director Kevin Garlick have said they might raise the rates city departments pay for iProvo services. Any resulting tax increase then, while not funding iProvo directly, will fund the ability of the city to do business with iProvo.

No joke they're talking about raising the rates that the city pays. After all, when you go from nothing to something, that's an increase.

I guess you can't count on objectivity or accuracy from a guy whose paycheck was cut by Qwest for several years. 

iProvo: Does Councilman George Stewart Have a Conflict of Interest?

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It's no secret that Provo City Councilman George Stewart has been a rather outspoken opponent of iProvo. The former mayor has given Mayor Lewis Billings one heck of a fight over the system and it's financing by the city. However, an anonymous commenter on a recent story at the Deseret Morning News gives his tenacity a new dimension.

MStarInsider | 10:47 a.m. Dec. 5, 2007
It’s too bad that the Associated Press and Deseret Morning News continue to fail to report that Councilman George Stewart’s namesake and firstborn son – George Stewart Jr. is Eschelon/Integra’s Senior Account Manager for the Wasatch Front here in Utah, and Junior would have every reason to hope for the failure of both iProvo and UTOPIA.

I wonder if there is a small conflict of interest in Councilman Stewart’s continued pointed pessimistic attacks on iProvo – though he should represent the interest of the City of Provo without bias.

(source, scroll down near the bottom)

A quick search of LinkedIn, the popular business social networking site, does show a George Stewart working as a Senior Communications Specialist for Eschelon (link to public profile, login to view the full profile with company name). If the George Stewart I see on LinkedIn is the same as the Councilman's son, it would seem that some explanations are in order. At the very least, Councilman Stewart needs to fully disclose this relationship to the telecommunications industry before uttering another peep about iProvo.

UTOPIA in the Bloghive: UTA Calls Foul on Financials, Rep. Frank Draws Parallels to iProvo, Pleas to Come to Orem Condos

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Here's some more recent blog posts about UTOPIA. Some of these have aged a bit, but they're still worth reading and responding to.

  • The Utah Taxpayer's Association brings up UTOPIA's financial data and proceeds to trump up a bunch of half-truths. It's no secret that the UTA hates on municipal broadband, but excluding important parts of the story to prop up your premise? Lame. Specifically, they conveniently left out the legal actions from Qwest that kept UTOPIA from building anything for two years, then criticize them for revising their projections after the lawsuit was settled. C'mon, guys. You can do better.
  • Rep. Craig Frank (a co-chair of the Government Competition and Privatization Subcommittee, mind you) drew some parallels between iProvo and UTOPIA in regards to the Dec 3 meeting and the disclosed financial data. Like the UTA, he leaves out important parts of the story to suit his premise such as the lack of compensation to iProvo by city departments for their use of the network. He then goes on to more or less claim that the telecommunications services from Qwest and Comcast are the best the free market can offer. Except, of course, that free markets in Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Latvia, Belgium, Verizon's service area, etc. seem to have done a much better job than we have. And FYI? Our highly regulated Bell/Cable duopoly is hardly a free market.
  • Luke Marrott of Orem laments that Garden Park Condominiums can't get UTOPIA installed. The complex is surrounded by fiber rings on all sides, the money has already been freed up for UTOPIA's use and there's sufficient interest from residents to move on it. So what's the hold-up? The post doesn't name names, but it does allude to a troublesome HOA that could be holding up the show. Maybe it's time to let the FCC know about the problem? After all, they seem to take a dim view lately of obstructing construction of a competing network in an MDU since they banned those exclusive contracts not too long ago.

Report: iProvo Strategic Summit, December 3 2007

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The event on Monday turned out to be a public meeting to discuss where iProvo is going and what it plans to do to shore up operations. The scuttlebutt (that every single paper missed) is that Mayor Billings setup the meeting to try and sway the city council in general and Councilman George Stewart in particular to give more iProvo money, either as subsidies or loans. Given the intent, the goal was to show what iProvo has learned and what it's currently doing to try and turn this one around financially.

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Telecom Summit in Provo on Monday December 3

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Details are sketchy, but I've been made aware that there's some kind of telecom summit this Monday where iProvo will be one of the items discussed. It's going to be from 3PM to 6PM at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo. I understand that Provo City Councilman George Stewart will be in attendance. Thought I'd pass this along just in case it turns out to be something interesting.

As a side note (and totally unrelated), there's an election underway for the new Bloghive Advisory Board and I got nominated. If you know some of the other bloggers on the list and want to cast a ballot, I'd encourage you to do so (and, hey, vote for me while you're at it).

Sticker Shock: Prices Rise on Cable TV, Cell Phones, Even Dial-Up

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As further evidence that we don't have a truly competitive marketplace comes a round of price increases on all kinds of telecommunications services. Verizon has decided to jack up rates a whopping 12% on FIOS TV before the dust has even settled on installations in most states. Cablevision, though they have no shiny new fiber optic network to pay off, has decided to send through an increase of 4.7% in 2008. Both providers say that the cost of providing programming is to blame. My response? Stop forcing us to buy so many damned channels you greedy bastards.

Cell phones are getting more expensive too and for the same reason: we're paying a lot of money for services we don't use. When was the last time you sent a video or picture message? Or sent more than 1000 text messages in a month? Or grabbed a few new ringtones from the online store? Apparently only about 34% of you care for such things. Fat lot of good competition is doing.

Even dial-up can't catch a break. In a move designed to force people onto DSL or U-Verse, AT&T has raised the price on every single one of their dial-up offerings to make them all more expensive than DSL. What if you can't qualify for DSL? Tough noogies from everyone's (least) favorite phone company.

Now would be the time to put on your negotiating hat and talk tough with your providers. Both AT&T and Embarq offer super-secret "naked" DSL if you know how to ask for it. You might also be able to wring a "new customer only" deal out of Verizon on DSL service. You can also do a bit of legwork and threaten to cancel service to get a cable company to hook you up with a promo rate. I did this with Comcast and saved over $200 during the course of the 6-month retention offer.

FCC Chairman Martin to Cable Industry: Watch Your Back

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FCC Chairman Kevin Martin seems to not be in the business of making friends lately. Despite talking tough on "a la carte" stations and cable conglomerates, he's failed to make much headway with fellow members of the commission or members of Congress. His goal? To treat cable operators like phone companies by giving them "common carrier" status. It doesn't seem to far-fetched given how they do a lot more than pipe in HBO and Food Network these days.

There is, however, a bit of cynicism floating around. Some have openly wondered if Martin is playing to the telco's advantage. Given that they've been rescinding open access for competitors and removing the caps on fees they can be charged, those accusations seem to stick. Sounds like the balance of power is indeed swinging. Not from huge telco giants to consumers, but from cablecos to telcos.

Switching E-mail Update Services

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Since launching the website, I've been using the Subscribe2 plugin to manage sending updates via e-mail to those of you not so big on RSS. Unfortunately, the plugin has been getting a bit buggy lately. For instance, yesterday it sent out three copies of the e-mail. (I get them too, so I share your annoyance.) I've also gotten at least one report that it won't properly process unsubscribe requests and AOL seems to think that any message coming from here is junk mail.

Given these problems and the great results I've gotten with my feeds, I've decided to switch to using FeedBurner's e-mail notification service. The old notification service is still in place and will remain there for about a week to give everyone a chance to make the switch. Make sure you remove yourself from the Subscribe2 list before adding yourself to the new FeedBurner list to avoid duplicate messages. Use the form below to manage your subscription.