http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/01/finland.broadband/index.html?hpt=T2
Interesting...
Finland isn't first.
http://www.comcom.admin.ch/aktuell/00429/00457/00560/index.html?lang=en&msg-id=13239
In the US, the Communications Act of 1934 brought about the creation
of the "Universal Service Fund." The idea, more or less, was that
every phone line customer contributed to the fund (you'll find it
itemized on your phone bill) and the phone companies had to charge the
same for every phone line regardless of where delivered in their
territory but when initially installing an unusually difficult
(expensive) phone line the phone company was entitled to reimburse its
cost from the fund.
In 1996 a certain inventor of the Internet decided that the universal
service fund needed to pay for PCs in rural schools (the "E-Rate"
program) instead of improving rural communications...
As someone who's always been in the "tech" field, the amount spent on
ICT in schools has always shocked and appalled me.
Bring back the Acorn Archimedes and ECONET!
M
Does anybody know how much the Big Sky Telegraph cost, and who paid for it?
Don't get me started on ICT in schools. Please.
- Matt
In the US, the Communications Act of 1934 brought about the creation
of the "Universal Service Fund." The idea, more or less, was that
every phone line customer contributed to the fund (you'll find it
itemized on your phone bill) and the phone companies had to charge the
same for every phone line regardless of where delivered in their
territory but when initially installing an unusually difficult
(expensive) phone line the phone company was entitled to reimburse its
cost from the fund.In 1996 a certain inventor of the Internet decided that the universal
service fund needed to pay for PCs in rural schools (the "E-Rate"
program) instead of improving rural communications...
Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) invented the Internet ?
Regards
Marshall
In the US, the Communications Act of 1934 brought about the creation
of the "Universal Service Fund." The idea, more or less, was that
The Universal Service Fund was created as a result of the Bell divesture in 1984; and extended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It didn't exist before then. There was the Kingsbury Agreement in 1913 (One System, One Policy, Universal Service), but universal service didn't mean the same thing. Universal service meant if you had a phone, it could call any other phone; but there wasn't a goal of a phone in every house until
the 1960s.
every phone line customer contributed to the fund (you'll find it
itemized on your phone bill) and the phone companies had to charge the
same for every phone line regardless of where delivered in their
territory but when initially installing an unusually difficult
(expensive) phone line the phone company was entitled to reimburse its
cost from the fund.
As part of the natural monopoly, there was a system of rate averaging and settlements. But there was often radically different prices based on public policy goals, for example business phone users paid more and residential phone users paid less. Long distance prices were kept high in order to keep monthly residential bills low. Its very difficult to maintain public policy price differentials in a competitive environment; but it was also difficult to maintain those prices even in a monopoly environment.
The early ARPANET/Internet indirectly benefited from some of those public
policy pricing decisions in the US.
In 1996 a certain inventor of the Internet decided that the universal
service fund needed to pay for PCs in rural schools (the "E-Rate"
program) instead of improving rural communications...
The 1996 Universal Service Fund also expanded who paid into the fund. If the Universal Service Fund is expanded again to pay for "broadband," the biggest question is how will the "contribution base" be expanded to pay
for it?
Does a "... certain inventor of the Internet ..." refer to the High
Performance and Communications Act of 1991, also known as the "Gore
Act"? The 1991 Act, based on a study by Dr. Leonard Kleinrock ("Towards
a National Research Network") created the commercial Internet that we
know and work with today.
Does a "... certain inventor of the Internet ..." refer to the High
Performance and Communications Act of 1991, also known as the "Gore
Act"? The 1991 Act, based on a study by Dr. Leonard Kleinrock ("Towards
a National Research Network") created the commercial Internet that we
know and work with today.
I don't know, but I do know that Larry Pressler was the sole sponsor of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which is where E-rate came from. This was when the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, and as far as I know Senator Gore had nothing to do with this bill; he didn't even offer any amendments.
None of this is helping me configure any routers, so I am going to shut up about this now.
Regards
Marshall
And while Gore was president of the Senate in 1996, he wasn't Senator Gore then...
--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
Around 1991 I offered (dial-up) internet to the school district
offices in Boston for $1/month/office, 10 districts, $10/month,
$120/year, shareable accounts. The person from the board of ed I was
talking to said free would be a problem as it might be seen as some
sort of graft etc. and might be complicated to "clean up".
I figured it might let them play around with it and "inject" it into
the culture and we could go from there. The person I was speaking to
knew what the internet was etc. and was appreciative of the offer. It
seemed like a start.
A couple of weeks later she calls me and says the response from her
powers that be was: If we have $120/year to waste on internet
connections ``we'' can think of other uses for that $120!!!" so thanks
but no thanks.
The Boston education budget is about $800M today, so maybe it was
$500M back then? Whatever, hundreds of millions. But they fight over
the crumbs!
-b
"If you mind the pennies, the dollars will follow."
Snopes covers urban legends
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
Phil Agre traces the story back to a source at the time
http://web.archive.org/web/20040603092645/commons.somewhere.com/rre/2000/RRE.Al.Gore.and.the.Inte1.html
While you can't configure your router with politics, politics sometimes wants to tell you how to configure your routers.