arstechnica.com— Qwest has told the city of Seattle don't expect fiber anytime soon. Then they cried that it's unfair competition when Seattle said no problem we'll do it ourselves.
Aug 15, 2006View in Crawl 4
And where do you think Quest gets a lot of its profits from… Tax payers. Telecom is highly subsidized by the government, which comes from Taxpayers pockets usually in the form of taxes not paid (tax breaks). There are some obvious variations and caveats here, but this is generally the case.Problem with private entities owned by share holders is that the corporation is required to do what is best for share holders. This is a perfect example for Seattle, since Quest doesn’t think they can make the mega bucks they don’t want to do it because it isn't in the shareholders best interest.In general government doesn’t have to look out for the interest of the shareholders and generally are not trying to “make” money. Not that they don’t need to recoup costs to pay back capital investment typically funded with bonds. But government is likely to be more focused on providing the service than making money for their shareholders because government’s shareholders are the people they serve.
Wow... I didn't know Seattle was that out of date. We have had fiber to the doorstep for about 5 years in the the Wenatchee WA / Lake Chelan WA area via our PUD districts. We can now get Internet, TV, and Phone from 1 fiber. Maybe the city can't roll it out but the PUD should.
With all of the anti-corporation sentiment (not unjustly) flowing these days, can somebody tell me why Co-ops aren't more of a growing trend? Surely there would be enough interest from the tech-savvy of the world to put their money toward hiring folks who's job is not to keep the share-holders happy, but to keep the customer's (who also happen to be the owners) happy.
My city didn't install fiber (with Utopia - <a class="user" href="http://www.utopianet.org/">http://www.utopianet.org/</a> ) because of a 'written statement' from Qwest saying (more or less) 'why pay to install that nice fiber, don't worry about it, we will do it for you soon!'Now, member cities of Utopia are starting to get their fiber online. 15 Mbps for $40 a month. That is residential pricing, and that is a symmetrical connection. 15 up and 15 down. Businesses can get 30 Mbps.Have we seen/heard ANYTHING about fiber? No. (let alone from Qwest)Am I pissed? YesDo I blame Qwest? A little bit. But mainly I blame my city.
I think that residents of our great state (PA) are the single biggest corporate bitches. That whole business with the restrictions of gov't wireless is a CLEAR example! No matter what the topic of discussion, if there's anything involving a corporate interest - the people can go to hell.This all goes back to things like pay raises for the legislation and judges in the dead of night and our lawmakers constantly having their hands out for any goodies they can get. I say we dump 'em all, pay our legislators nothing but mileage, and institute term limits. Some of these guys just can't help themselves when they've been in there a while. CLEAN HOUSE!
So let's see here... Telecoms got Billions in $$$ of funding from our government to bring Fiber to the household in the late 90's early 2000. Of course they didn't do it.Now, that they haven't done it and the local governments say well you didn't or won't do what you were already paid for, we're going to do it ourselves. It's a bad thing?So it was OK for the government to give them money to do something and it wasn't unfair to those companies that didn't get the money, but it's unfair when it happens to them. I get it.
How about they shut down and return the money to the shareholders? Much more efficient solution to the real problem: a company that no one needs sucking up tax dollars and resources to provide bad services no one wants. I live in Seattle and I fired Qwest years ago when I disconnected my landline. (No, I don't want your overpriced DSL either.)Add AOL to the list while you're at it.
Most everyone I know here in Seattle runs Comcast anyways 5mbs for around $30-40 a month. But I would volunteer for a fiber project! And Quest Field's team ain't looking so well probably for a couple of years either.
kashan99Aug 15, 2006
And where do you think Quest gets a lot of its profits from… Tax payers. Telecom is highly subsidized by the government, which comes from Taxpayers pockets usually in the form of taxes not paid (tax breaks). There are some obvious variations and caveats here, but this is generally the case.Problem with private entities owned by share holders is that the corporation is required to do what is best for share holders. This is a perfect example for Seattle, since Quest doesn’t think they can make the mega bucks they don’t want to do it because it isn't in the shareholders best interest.In general government doesn’t have to look out for the interest of the shareholders and generally are not trying to “make” money. Not that they don’t need to recoup costs to pay back capital investment typically funded with bonds. But government is likely to be more focused on providing the service than making money for their shareholders because government’s shareholders are the people they serve.
orangetikiAug 15, 2006
Too Bad; So Sad.
mattrixAug 15, 2006
Wow... I didn't know Seattle was that out of date. We have had fiber to the doorstep for about 5 years in the the Wenatchee WA / Lake Chelan WA area via our PUD districts. We can now get Internet, TV, and Phone from 1 fiber. Maybe the city can't roll it out but the PUD should.
dcasegrAug 15, 2006
With all of the anti-corporation sentiment (not unjustly) flowing these days, can somebody tell me why Co-ops aren't more of a growing trend? Surely there would be enough interest from the tech-savvy of the world to put their money toward hiring folks who's job is not to keep the share-holders happy, but to keep the customer's (who also happen to be the owners) happy.
Closed AccountAug 15, 2006
My city didn't install fiber (with Utopia - <a class="user" href="http://www.utopianet.org/">http://www.utopianet.org/</a> ) because of a 'written statement' from Qwest saying (more or less) 'why pay to install that nice fiber, don't worry about it, we will do it for you soon!'Now, member cities of Utopia are starting to get their fiber online. 15 Mbps for $40 a month. That is residential pricing, and that is a symmetrical connection. 15 up and 15 down. Businesses can get 30 Mbps.Have we seen/heard ANYTHING about fiber? No. (let alone from Qwest)Am I pissed? YesDo I blame Qwest? A little bit. But mainly I blame my city.
chordonblueAug 15, 2006
I think that residents of our great state (PA) are the single biggest corporate bitches. That whole business with the restrictions of gov't wireless is a CLEAR example! No matter what the topic of discussion, if there's anything involving a corporate interest - the people can go to hell.This all goes back to things like pay raises for the legislation and judges in the dead of night and our lawmakers constantly having their hands out for any goodies they can get. I say we dump 'em all, pay our legislators nothing but mileage, and institute term limits. Some of these guys just can't help themselves when they've been in there a while. CLEAN HOUSE!
grimfaireAug 15, 2006
So let's see here... Telecoms got Billions in $$$ of funding from our government to bring Fiber to the household in the late 90's early 2000. Of course they didn't do it.Now, that they haven't done it and the local governments say well you didn't or won't do what you were already paid for, we're going to do it ourselves. It's a bad thing?So it was OK for the government to give them money to do something and it wasn't unfair to those companies that didn't get the money, but it's unfair when it happens to them. I get it.
finishdlawskoolAug 15, 2006
f**k you Qwest.
khyberkitsuneAug 15, 2006
This account has been closed by the user
santeAug 15, 2006
How about they shut down and return the money to the shareholders? Much more efficient solution to the real problem: a company that no one needs sucking up tax dollars and resources to provide bad services no one wants. I live in Seattle and I fired Qwest years ago when I disconnected my landline. (No, I don't want your overpriced DSL either.)Add AOL to the list while you're at it.
jgubbeDec 3, 2008
Most everyone I know here in Seattle runs Comcast anyways 5mbs for around $30-40 a month. But I would volunteer for a fiber project! And Quest Field's team ain't looking so well probably for a couple of years either.