[Chapter-delegates] Why is ISOC is doing almost nothing to bring affordable Internet to America

[Thomas Lowenhaupt]

Dave,

"The Internet is for everyone" is the Internet Society's vision 
<http://www.internetsociety.org/who-we-are/mission>. And bullet 7 of its 
Mission explains that to achieve this vision the Society,

  * Serves as a focal point for cooperative efforts to promote the
    Internet as a positive tool to benefit all people throughout the world.

So what's the plan to achieve this here in the U.S.?

Best,

Tom Lowenhaupt


On 12/20/2012 2:51 PM, Dave Burstein wrote:
> On the NY ISOC list, Thomas writes
>
> "Here's the vision thing. What would have happened if I'd have said
> something like,
>
> * ISOC-NY advocates for universal access to a quality Net experience
>   for every New Yorker. We believe every resident should have Internet
>   access with enough speed that it enables them to fully participate
>   in deciding upon and receiving government services."
>
> 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.
>
>     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).
>
>    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.
>
>    It's time to start working - hard - to make sure the Internet is 
> affordable to Americans. Otherwise, our advice to the Africans is hollow.
>
>    How do we turn around ISOC to start doing something about prices 
> going up in America.
>
> db
>
> 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.
>
>
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