The Red Brick Times

Broadband internet connectivity is almost taken for granted these days. A big downside to broadband is that, unlike the days of dialup when there were lots of ISP choices, you're limited to two providers, cable or DSL (and DSL depends on the proximity of a switching center so cable may be your only option). Because they can control what flows through their pipelines and how fast it moves these providers are in a very powerful position. To them this is a revenue opportunity. Why only charge the end users (us)? Why not charge the sites we visit as well? Sound like extortion to you? It does to me, but they're testing the waters. BellSouth: Cyberextortion Pays Off - Google: We Won't Pay Broadband Cyberextortion. Here's another take from The Washington Post.

Posted 5:10 AM by whatley (4) comments

       Comments:

Hmm. Thinking outside the box, for a moment, how can we jump the track and bypass cable and phone company (DSL)? How about a pirate internet station, like offshore pirate radio? Only this will be a pirate satellite. Outside the boundaries of all countries, broadband (the download part) is just an antenna away. The uplink is another matter. However, if we all contribute spare change, it won't be long before the millions needed for a space-net bird are in hand. I hear that Russia has reasonable launch prices these days. What the heck? Ham radio has many private amateur radio satellites in orbit now. We can do this!

# posted by  Andy : January 21, 2006 12:51 AM
 
Since posting this I've been thinking about alternatives and y'know, in a way people are already finding alternatives for themselves (I'm thinking of "sharemywifi" a couple of posts ago). Satellites work for download but for both up and down you've always needed a hard connection, copper for DSL or coax for cable for example, and bringing that connection to each house is where the big bucks come in. But now there's WiFi. Citys are finding it within their budgetary reach to WiFi themselves for benefit of their citizens. The fact that existing providers are using lobbyists to fight this tooth and nail makes the idea seem all the more feasible. I think this could be done by a private company as well. You could start out relatively small, say one neighborhood affluent enough to have a good computer/household ratio. Hmm.... that may mean they all already have cable. More thinking needed. But it's doable.

# posted by  whatley : January 21, 2006 5:04 AM
 
OK. Maybe it is time to build the "apace elevator" wherein a diamond-carbon fiber cable anchors from earth to geosynchornous orbit. Three of those and we have the earth blanketed for hard-wired coverage. You can use my back yard as an anchor site. The Tower of Babel is within our grasp.

# posted by  Andy : January 22, 2006 12:28 PM
 
I mean, "space elevator".

# posted by  Andy : January 22, 2006 12:29 PM
 
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