Great points!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 20, 2012 at 2:51 PM, Dave Burstein <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:daveb@dslprime.com" target="_blank">daveb@dslprime.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<font face="verdana, sans-serif">On the NY ISOC list, Thomas writes </font><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">"Here's the vision thing. What would have happened if I'd have said</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">something like,</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"> * ISOC-NY advocates for universal access to a quality Net experience</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"> for every New Yorker. We believe every resident should have Internet</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"> access with enough speed that it enables them to fully participate</span><br style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:12.800000190734863px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"> in deciding upon and receiving government services."</span></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br>
</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">I just spent two weeks in Dubai where ISOC had strong opinions on how poor countries should bring down costs. I wanted to cry out "Physician heal thyself" because the increases in U.S. costs lately have been unconscionable. Verizon's fees start at $55 as far as I can tell (only 1 megabit!)and for most in NYC (FiOS territory) the minimum is over $78. The standard service at Time Warner cable is $58. I just doublechecked those prices with the companies.</font></div>
<div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"> That's much higher than the $20-45 that was a common fee in years past. Verizon by most measures is up 50-100%, Time Warner 20%. All this at a time the cost to deliver the service is going down. (Routers, modems, capex of the companies, even support, as I've reported elsewhere).</font></div>
<div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"> Before that, I was at ECTA Brussels where speaker after speaker pointed out European prices are often half what the Americans charge for similar. That's slightly exaggerated but the gap is clear. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"> It's time to start working - hard - to make sure the Internet is affordable to Americans. Otherwise, our advice to the Africans is hollow. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"> How do we turn around ISOC to start doing something about prices going up in America.</span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div>
<span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">db</span></div></font></span><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">p.s. I cc'd this directly to Paul, North American ISOC rep. As a former Verizon employee, he knows they are looking to maximize profits so of course take advantage of weak competition. He and Sally have done a great job bringing the chapters and members into the ISOC discussion. They also have been doing a great job getting the telcos involved in ISOC. It's particularly difficult for ISOS to get involved in bringing affordability to the U.S., but that's what we need to do.</span></div>
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