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| Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 05:05:34 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Telletopia Takes on OTT Broadcast Challenge
Message-ID: <9642aefc-ecad-4587-966c-b2d3ba1ebd09@googlegroups.com>
Poster's note: I submit this article to T-D as a continuation of the
discussion about Aereo.
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable, 11/09/2015
Telletopia Foundation, a San Diego-based nonprofit, said it can deliver an
online TV station streaming service that is legal and "elegant" and has a
potential over-the-top offer broadcasters aren't going to want to refuse --
retrans payments.
The service hinges on an exemption from the compulsory license for nonprofits
and an FCC proposal to define some streaming over-the-top services as MVPDs
eligible for retrans.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/telletopia-takes-ott-broadcast-challenge/145649
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/oefnxzr
So, unlike Aereo, Telletopia {not to be confused with Tilapia) plans to
retransmit OTA broadcast signals, pay retransmission-consent fees to the
broadcasters, and dodge copyright liability because they're a non-profit
corporation. I'm not convinced, but I wish them well.
Neal McLain
|
| Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 13:20:31 -0800 (PST)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Surplus Boston trolley telephones for sale
Message-ID: <7a6dac71-bfaf-41b6-81b0-f0683ddebb40@googlegroups.com>
Boston's transit carrier, the MBTA, is selling telephone sets
from its Boeing Green-Line Light Rail Vehicles:
It is not clear if the phones are operable or their
functionality.
from their website:
"Authentic communicator (phone) removed from a Green Line LRV
(Light Rail Vehicle) built by Boeing-Vertol in the 1970s and
decommissioned and scrapped in 2011. This was used for
communication by the operator of a Green Line trolley.
Phone is 11" front to back, 8" wide and 7 1/2" at tallest point.
We have a few phones from the last Boeing LRVs that were removed
from revenue service and scrapped in 2011.
Photographs are representative of the overall condition of the
item we have. Each item has different dirt, damage and other
imperfections due to years of use on an active transit vehicle."
full information, including photos, at:
http://www.mbtagifts.com/shop.php?p=1408
***** Moderator's Note *****
Looks like the control head for a two-way radio, which would not be
usable by itself.
Bill Horne
Moderator
|
| Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 19:42:32 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Your ISP's Worst Nightmare ... Municipal Broadband Networks
Message-ID: <7b892363-e7e1-407c-a986-5bfd884ca9c9@googlegroups.com>
By Bob Rankin, The Rankin File, November 9, 2015.
The worst nightmare of Verizon, Comcast, and other commercial broadband
providers is coming true. Across the USA, their customers are voting to
establish municipally owned and operated networks. The tide is turning
overwhelmingly in favor of public alternatives to private broadband. Here's
what you need to know, if you'd like low-cost, super-fast Internet in YOUR
town...Municipal Broadband Networks.
http://askbobrankin.com/your_isps_worst_nightmare.html?awt_l=ADUqg&awt_m=JKdF
C_jjuuP6SL
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/qhy376t
Municipalities that operate their own electric power utilities are in a good
position to offer broadband service at lower retail prices than commercial
companies in part because they face lower capital and operating costs. They
don't have to negotiate for, and pay rental for, pole attachment rights and
access to ducts and manholes. They don't have to negotiate a franchise
agreement and pay franchise fees. They can fund construction projects through
low-interest revenue bonds or general obligation bonds.
Depending on the municipality they may not have to maintain a separate office
or cover the expense of such things as customer service, billing, accounting,
insurance, legal services, rent and lease expense, utilities, vehicle expense,
amortization, depreciation, interest and taxes. And of course, as non-profit
municipal corporations, they don't have to pay dividends to stockholders.
So yes, in favorable circumstances, municipalities can indeed offer broadband
services at lower retail prices than commercial companies. Chattanooga is a
well-known example; other examples include Wyandotte, Michigan and Windom,
Minnesota. Each of these cities owns its own electric power utility.
But even owning an electric utility doesn't always guarantee success. Provo's
iProvo network has not been financially successful. In 2013 it announced that
Google would acquire the network for $1.00.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IProvo
Neal McLain
|
| Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:25:41 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Your ISP's Worst Nightmare ... Municipal Broadband Networks
Message-ID: <20151110152541.GA23097@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
On Mon, Nov 09, 2015 at 07:42:32PM -0800, Neal McLain wrote:
> By Bob Rankin, The Rankin File, November 9, 2015.
>
> The worst nightmare of Verizon, Comcast, and other commercial broadband
> providers is coming true. Across the USA, their customers are voting to
> establish municipally owned and operated networks. The tide is turning
> overwhelmingly in favor of public alternatives to private broadband. Here's
> what you need to know, if you'd like low-cost, super-fast Internet in YOUR
> town...Municipal Broadband Networks.
I'm hooked up to a local cable company where I live now, and the
service has been good. I do, however, use an electrical cooperative
for power.
There are good and not-so-good aspects to either commercial or
cooperative suppliers: the way Comcast packed FCC hearings with
homeless people, and its brazen port-blocking is a great example of
the not-so-good part, but my power has been out four times since I've
moved here, once for the entire town.
For those considering a cooperative local phone company, it's all
about the details: just having rights to "most of" the poles doesn't
mean that they are all able to carry the loads of cables, or the
stress of new construction - or that licensors whom were savvy enough
to negotiate "single use" contracts will meekly hand over permission
to add new services - and that's just the start.
On the one hand, there is new and more reliable technology, such as
digital switches, which make running a "phone company" a lot easier
than the electromechanical offices of my youth. On the other, there
are byzantine rules, exotic billing procedures, and a myriad of
special cases to deal with, even for small communities.
I'm not saying "better the frying pan I know than the fire I don't" -
it's always best to have alternatives. However, it's also wise to
consider all the benefits and all the risks before changing what
has become a fundamental part of life for most people.
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
|
| Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 10:44:05 -0500
From: Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Your ISP's Worst Nightmare ... Municipal Broadband Networks
Message-ID: <barmar-BA1A00.10440510112015@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>
In article <7b892363-e7e1-407c-a986-5bfd884ca9c9@googlegroups.com>,
Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> wrote:
> The worst nightmare of Verizon, Comcast, and other commercial broadband
> providers is coming true. Across the USA, their customers are voting to
> establish municipally owned and operated networks. The tide is turning
> overwhelmingly in favor of public alternatives to private broadband. Here's
> what you need to know, if you'd like low-cost, super-fast Internet in YOUR
> town...Municipal Broadband Networks.
If this starts to become really popular, I predict that the big
broadband companies will get into the business of operating these
networks. And cities will welcome outsourcing this -- why try to operate
a complex network when there are companies with decades of experience
doing it?
It's similar to hotel WiFi/broadband. When it first started, the hotels
were doing it on their own, but eventually a handful of companies sprang
up that specialize in it, and most hotels use them.
--
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
|
| Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 23:13:22 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: U.S. judge rules against NSA in phone spying case
Message-ID: <n1uf4r$e15$1@dont-email.me>
by Dustin Volz
Reuters
A U.S. federal judge on Monday for the first time ordered the National
Security Agency to cease collecting the phone call records of a lawyer
and his firm, providing an unprecedented but narrow and largely symbolic
victory to privacy advocates.
Opponents of mass surveillance cheered the ruling by U.S. District Court
Judge Richard Leon, who granted an injunction to bar the NSA from
collecting the phone metadata of California attorney J.J. Little and his
small legal practice.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/09/usa-nsa-injunction-idUSL1N1341V020151109
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
|
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