cable companies – Page 3

WiFi Turbulence at Logan could be trouble for WISPs, CWNS and Munis.

Harold August 4, 2005 February 24, 2013General, Tales of the Sausage Factory

Sadly, the latest fuss about wifi and airports doesn’t come from an Apple update. As some of you may have read, Logan airport wants to stop Continetal from running its own wifi network. Instead, it wants Continental to pay to use Logan’s wifi network. While this might look like just a local fight, it has big implications for wireless ISPs, community wireless networks, and municipal wireless networks.

The FCC has put out a public notice on the matter. So it looks like I have a new set of comments to file when I get back from vacation (sigh).

Lafayette we are here!

Harold July 18, 2005 February 24, 2013General, Tales of the Sausage Factory

The city of Lafayette, LA approved a $125 million municipal bond referendum to build out a municipal network by a hefty 62% to 38% margin. Contrast this with the ease with which state franchising is moving through the TX legislature now that SBC has dropped the anti-muni provision. There’s a lesson here, folks . . .

Tales of the Sausage Factory: UTX, OTARD, UH-OH!

Harold September 9, 2004 March 19, 2013Spectrum, Tales of the Sausage Factory

As readers of Slashdot may have seen, The University of Texas at Dallas has prohibitted students in certain dorms from setting up wireless access points. If you read the policy, you will find out that the University is not simply amending its acceptable use policy (AUP), it prohibits setting up access points using residential DSL or cable.

Rather than break into the raging debate in the comments on how this policy meshes (as it were) with the FCC’s recent ruling prohibiting landlords from mandating such things, I’ll use Wetmachine to say what I want (but feel free to refer anyone from Slashdot over here to our humble corner of the internet if they would like to hear from a lawyer who dabbles in such things).

Ted Turner rails against FCC and big media

John July 24, 2004 February 24, 2013General, My Thoughts Exactly

John here, pretending he’s Harold, with a link to a story about the FCC and big media. It’s by Ted Turner of CNN fame, & published in

The Washington Monthly.

His line of reasoning will be familar to loyal readers of Harold’s Tales of the Sausage Factory but it is refreshing to see it coming from the pen of a wildly successful media mogul.

Some tidbits:

Unless we have a climate that will allow more independent media companies to survive, a dangerously high percentage of what we see–and what we don’t see–will be shaped by the profit motives and political interests of large, publicly traded conglomerates. The economy will suffer, and so will the quality of our public life.

Big media today wants to own the faucet, pipeline, water, and the reservoir. The rain clouds come next.

I’ve included one more teaser in the extended section, but you’ll have more fun if you skip that and just follow the link to the article. It’s well written with Turner’s trademark directness, and it’s scary stuff from somebody who knows what he’s talking about.

Tales of the Sausage Factory: MAP Summer Fun Kit

Harold July 14, 2004 February 24, 2013General, Tales of the Sausage Factory

Whose up for a summer of social activism on media and telecom policy? A show of hands please? What if I told you it would only take about 15 minutes using the equipment you are using to read this webpage?

I’ve pegged four FCC proceedings that will benefit enormously from an injection of real world information. My pitch letter for why you should care, along with links to summaries of the proceedings and instructions on how to file, given below.

Stay tuned . . .

Tales of the Sausage Factory: Of Open Access, Kicking Butt, and Why Arbs Don't Know Jack

Harold April 1, 2004 February 24, 2013General, Tales of the Sausage Factory

The Ninth Circuit has given us another win in the fight to make cable plants open their facilities to independent ISPs (aka “open access” ). Winning feels good, especially when you predicted it over the odds given by the “experts”. The experts here are the industry analysts and arbitrageurs (or “arbs” ). What does it mean, and why are the experts so often wrong? See my opinions below.