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How many times are you willing to let a startup tear up your yard? Or are you referring to the proposals that government should force private companies to share

How many times are you willing to let a startup tear up your yard? Or are you referring to the proposals that government should force private companies to share the critical infrastructure they created at their own expense? I can't imagine that sitting very well with libertarians or people vehemently opposed to government monopolies. The only way last mile utilities are going to be fair is if government steps in (correctly). To my mind, that means municipally laid and maintained last-mile fiber patched to the commercial provider of my choosing, but I expect that will remain a dream for a few decades, at least.

njs12345 14y ago
In the UK, that's essentially exactly what we have: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/broadband/dsl_facts/LLUbackground.htm http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/br...
quanticle 14y ago
You're not familiar with the concept of easements, are you? Generally, the first meter or two of your property is designated as an easement, for the purposes of running utility lines, telephone lines, and yes, cable lines. So yes, most people have given others the right to tear up their yard. It's just that the city then re-grants the rights to one or two utilities as opposed to having a genuinely competitive bidding process for the city's cable, telephone, or even electricity business.
- superuser2 14y ago
  >So yes, most people have given others the right to tear up their yard To one cable company, one electrical utility, one telephone company, and to the local government-run water and sewage monopolies. Not to fifty startups. A situation with a "genuinely competitive bid process" is a government-granted monopoly granted based on better criteria, and would certainly benefit consumers. It's still not a free market, which is my point: nobody actually wants a completely free market for last-mile utilities.

njs12345 14y ago

In the UK, that's essentially exactly what we have: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/broadband/dsl_facts/LLUbackground.htm http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/br...

quanticle 14y ago

You're not familiar with the concept of easements, are you? Generally, the first meter or two of your property is designated as an easement, for the purposes of running utility lines, telephone lines, and yes, cable lines. So yes, most people have given others the right to tear up their yard. It's just that the city then re-grants the rights to one or two utilities as opposed to having a genuinely competitive bidding process for the city's cable, telephone, or even electricity business.

superuser2 14y ago
>So yes, most people have given others the right to tear up their yard To one cable company, one electrical utility, one telephone company, and to the local government-run water and sewage monopolies. Not to fifty startups. A situation with a "genuinely competitive bid process" is a government-granted monopoly granted based on better criteria, and would certainly benefit consumers. It's still not a free market, which is my point: nobody actually wants a completely free market for last-mile utilities.