The New “Pipes” Are Already Paid For!
**This is a reprint of an entry I made on my personal Blog in May, 2006. I’m re-posting it here because I, Cringely. The Pulpit has posted another, more current article making reference to what simply has to be the largest theft against humanity monetarily, in history. And nobody, especially the FTC, has done anything about it!
Oh, and did I mention that AT&T openly censored Pearl Jam recently because their “performance that didn’t meet their standard of ‘Internet freedom’ (which also means there were political references to Pres. Bush in what they censored)
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I attended a very enjoyable “open mike night” last night at Successful Blog.
During the discussion, Ad Lib (Advice Librarian) asked “Speaking of telcos - anyone have any reliable references for the $200-billion tax break they got some time ago ‘For building infrastructure?’ I’ve seen that figure a LOT of places, but I haven’t been able to find an original source for it.”
This doesn’t feel like an original source but it is informative - from Jason Lee Miller at WebProNews on May 12th. “Telcos Lay $200 Billion Goose Egg.”
Jason begins this discertation with this;
” The U.S. is ranked 12th in broadband penetration, says AT&T CEO Ed Whiteacre, and in order to bring America up to speed through fiber-to-the-premises (fttp) wiring, content providers are going to have to pony up to use his “pipes.” He doesn’t mention that the new pipes to be built have already been paid for, and they’re very late in coming.”
Already paid for? This is what Ad lib was asking about.
Well, here you go - Jason points to Bruce Kushnick’s book “$200 Billion Broadband Scandal. This book documents the largest fraud case in American history!”
“Starting in the early 1990’s, the Clinton-Gore Administration had aggressive plans to create the “National Infrastructure Initiative” to rewire ALL of America with fiber optic wiring, replacing the 100 year old copper wire. The Bell companies — SBC, Verizon, BellSouth and Qwest, claimed that they would step up to the plate and rewire homes, schools, libraries, government agencies, businesses and hospitals, etc. if they received financial incentives.”
Financial Incentives eh? Bruce Kushnick has done some analysis;
“20 Year Analysis of Revenues, Profits, Expenditures: This book is based on a 20 year analysis of Bell-supplied data, Census Data and Business Week. Since 1984::
* Revenues are up 128%.
* Employees are down 65%, Construction is down 60%.
* $92.5 billion is missing in network upgrades.
* Profits based on failed fiber plans up 188% as compared to other utilities.
Teletruth has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, (FTC) to investigate the claims presented; the book is the data for our complaint.”
This is the Book. It tells us more. Check this out!
* By 2006, 86 million households should have been rewired with a fiber optic wire, capable of 45 Mbps, in both directions. — read the promises.
* The public subsidies for infrastructure were pocketed. The phone companies collected over $200 billion in higher phone rates and tax perks, about $2000 per household.
* The World is Laughing at US. Korea and Japan have 100 Mbps services as standard, and America could have been Number One had the phone companies actually delivered. Instead, we are 16th in broadband and falling in technology dominance.
* Harm to the economy. Five trillion dollars was lost because new technologies and services that America would have developed, happened in Korea.
* Municipalities around America are waking up to the fact that the phone companies failed to deliver and are now doing Wifi and fiber-based work-arounds.-
* Fake and co-opted consumer groups, biased non-profit think tanks are now the major force in broadband regulation and policy. The book goes into groups like Consumers for Cable Choice…
* SBC’s IPTV Lies: Do the Math; SBC now claims that they will have 18 million homes wired by 2007, and yet the equipment still has problems.
* Verizon’s “FIASCO” and SBC’s’ “Dim-Speed” — Verizon and SBC are rolling out new fiber optic services but want the laws changed again. These services are crippled, closed networks. FIOS’s top speed is only 35% of the Asian standard, and yet it cost $199 vs Korea, $40 for 100 Mbps.
The Bottom Line? This tells us what we were supposed to have as a result of the monies we already paid out in taxes/incentives -
“The case is simple: Do you have a 45 Mbps, bi-directional service to your home, paying around $40? Do you have 500+ channels and can choose any competitive service? You paid an estimated $2000 for this product even though you did not receive it and it may never be available. Do you want your money back and the companies held accountable?”
Well, he** yes! That, or get real about Net Neutrality.
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WAKE UP AMERICA!!!
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Technorati Tags - Net Neutrality Broadband Scandal Telcos AT&T Lies
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3 opinions for The New “Pipes” Are Already Paid For!
University Update - Verizon - The New “Pipes” Are Already Paid For!
Aug 11, 2007 at 7:48 am
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VV
Aug 23, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Hey genius, why don’t you go look at “great success” of the municipalities doing their own builds? Simply building the capability into the network doesn’t guarentee that the U.S. will suddenly be No. 1 in technology. Comparing Korea to the U.S. is ignorant. 80% of the Korean population lives in ONE city. You want the U.S. to have great broadband? Convince everyone in the country to move to New York City.
mark
Aug 23, 2007 at 6:50 pm
VV,
Any chance you can make yourself more clear? I.E. - who are you calling a genius? Who have you directed your comment at? Do you know that character assassination is simply a way of declaring your own self-righteousness? Stuff like that eh?
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