[PLUG] Vonage and Comcast

[David Mandel]

The sad truth is that a lot of people don't have much choice.

I personally have some choice at my home in Corvallis - and I keep
thinking about moving away from Comcast, but haven't done so yet.

By contrast, I have few and poor options at my farm - which is only a
couple miles from Corvallis city limits.  It isn't served by cable or
DSL.  We tryed a wireless company and they couldn't get a signal from
the house to any of their towers.  What a pain!  And to think that
this is just a stone's throw away from a major tech town.  Think of
the poor people in Eastern Oregon.

Speaking of which, my sister lives in Grass Valley, Oregon.  This is a
"city" of 150 people and they not only don't have cable or DSL, but
they don't have cell phone coverage - or at least it is very poor.  My
sister says that if she drives about a mile out of town to the top of
the nearest hill, she can use her Verizon cell phone.

David

On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 7:43 PM, donkyhotay <donkyhotay at verizon.net> wrote:
> why people put up with this kind of junk:
> 1. they have no choice
> 2. they don't realize they even *have* a choice
>
>
> Russell Senior wrote:
>>>>>>> "Dan" == Dan Herrington <herda05 at gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> Dan> I didn't think FIOS was up by me yet (NE Freemont and 33rd)
>>
>> Hey, not far from me.
>>
>> Don't hold your breath.  Verizon has no plans (at least not active
>> ones) to expand into Qwest territory.  The reason is because there is
>> competition.  They can't cut the copper and own you as a customer.
>>
>> Incumbent carriers are the railroad robberbarons of this century.
>> Your best bet for network freedom today is DSL and your wide choice of
>> ISP.  Your best bet for tomorrow is publicly-owned fiber
>> infrastructure (like roads) over which you reach private services.
>> Incumbent carriers are in a position to choke off competition with
>> their control of the last mile.  Why people put up with this boggles
>> my mind.
>>
>>
>
> --
> Do not be afraid to joust a giant just because some people insist on
> believing in windmills.
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