[TriLUG] OT: URGENT: H.129 to be heard in Thursday's Finance Committee!

[Mark Turner]

On 03/15/2011 11:44 AM, Chris Merrill wrote:

> Think about the big infrastructures you mentioned - roads, water, gas, electric.
> They are mature technologies whose requirements have not changed substantially
> for decades (centuries in some cases).  Put in a water line and you can safely
> assume it won't need to be upgraded for 50-100 years.

Chris, in the cases of Wilson and Salisbury, the networks that were 
built are 100% fiber optic. For all practical purposes, the capacity of 
fiber optics is unlimited. These systems could easily serve citizens for 
over 100 years. They will certainly outlast the roads they're next to.

Copper, on the other hand, is reaching a saturation point. More 
frequencies can be added to a degree, but at some point the 
characteristics of the signal (such as at extremely high frequencies) 
make adding more capacity impractical. This is the best that TWC and 
AT&T can do for now (or at least as much as they're WILLING to do).

In a very real way, cities are NOT competing with the private providers: 
cities are actually eclipsing them!

Cheers,
Mark