[KLUG Advocacy] Re: Advocacy digest, Vol 1 #146 - 1 msg

[Adam Tauno Williams]

>>Now if GW had the foresight to impose a tax on all new computers sold in
>>order to fund public broadband infrastructure I'd be all for that.
>Naw, Congress would find a way to screw it up and overcharge for something
>that we have already paid for so that they could get "new" taxes. Then we'd
>be worse off than before.

I disagree, this is something the government is very effective with.  Take the
universal service fee for instance.  It costs the same for my parent to have a
phone where there is about one line every four square miles as it does for me to
have a phone in my dense residential area (probably about one line every 100 sq.
feet.)  Such equalization is fundamental to a strong infrastructure and the
resulting dynamic economy.

>BTW, does anybody know when SBC is getting DSL through Kalamazoo/Portage
>area?

I wouldn't hold my breath.  I've seen a couple article that claim the installed
broadband cable system has slowed the deployment of DSL as the Bells have then
lost a good % of the people willing to pay $50+ for access.  And in alot of
markets the number of people willing to pay broadband fees isn't that high.  Now
if they had some other financial incentive...