On Dec 20, 2010, at 11:37 AM, George Bonser wrote: > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Jeff Wheeler [mailto:j...@inconcepts.biz] >> Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 3:55 AM >> To: nanog@nanog.org >> Subject: Re: Some truth about Comcast - WikiLeaks style >> >> On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 8:48 PM, Richard A Steenbergen <r...@e- >> gerbil.net> wrote: >>> Running a wire to everyone's house is a natural monopoly. It just >>> doesn't make sense, financially or technically, to try and manage 50 >>> different companies all trying to install 50 different wires into >> every >>> house just to have competition at the IP layer. It also wouldn't > make >> >> What no one has mentioned thus far is that CLECs really are able to >> install their own facilities to homes and businesses if they decide >> that is a good way to invest their finite resources. This is why we >> see several options for local loops in the "business district" of >> every sizable city, as well as in many newly-developed areas such as >> industrial parks. These infrastructure builds are expensive, the >> CLECs had limited logistical capabilities and could only manage so >> many projects at once, and obviously, they focused their efforts on >> the parts of town where return-on-investment was likely to be highest. >> Businesses often do have several good choices for voice, data, >> Internet, and so on. Cogent is an example of an essentially >> Internet-only service having some degree of success at this without >> even offering voice, or initially even transport, products. > > Also, there are two ways in to most urban and suburban home. There is > the telco and there is the "cable" company. There is no reason those > two paths should not compete for the same services, and they do across > an increasing area of the US. The rural areas, though, are a completely > different story. > > In the vast majority of cases, these are not equal competitors.
The vast majority of residences are more than 5,000 and a good majority are more than 10,000 cable feet from the CO. This means that average DSL speeds are sub-T1. Most cable systems can deliver at least 10mbps/3mbps. That's not competition unless your internet needs are extremely modest and you are willing to accept some rather severe limitations. I remember when I was on top of the world because I had T1 service to my home and I used an average of 200kbps. Those days are long gone. Today I get more than 200kbps in SPAM traffic. Owen
