Thursday, February 19, 2015

Don't Pass Me By

I listen for your footsteps coming up the drive
Listen for your footsteps but they don't arrive
Waiting for your knock, dear, on my old front door
I don't hear it, does it mean you don't love me any more?

I hear the clock a ticking on the mantel shelf
See the hands are moving but I'm by myself
I wonder where you are tonight and why I'm by myself
I don't see you, does it mean you don't love me any more?

Don't pass me by, don't make me cry, don't make me blue
Cause you know darling I love only you
You'll never know it hurt me so, how I hate to see you go
Don't pass me by, don't make me cry

I'm sorry that I doubted you, I was so unfair
You were in a car crash and you lost your hair
You said that you would be late about an hour or two
I said that's alright I'm waiting here, just waiting to hear from you

Don't pass me by, don't make me cry, don't make me blue
Cause you know darling I love only you
You'll never know it hurt me so, how I hate to see you go
Don't pass me by, don't make me cry

As you are probably aware "Google-Claus" ain't coming to our town. Nearby burghs are going to wake up to find some delightful Google Fibre under their trees (and sidewalks and front yards) and we're stuck with our old lower speed lumps of coal. For those amongst us who prefer to attend that 9AM (Shanghai time) meeting via telepresence rather than Delta Google Fibre looks like a godsend. Because it is.

Or, if you believe that cable companies spend more money on Washington lobbyist than they do understanding what subscribers want and need you would be right. And they do this because it works. They will beat down net neutrality in spite of the fact that they already operate in a business and regulatory ecosystem that is indistinguishable from an out of control monopoly. They will use in-their-pocket politicians to ensure that they can continue oversubscribing services whilst avoiding infrastructure improvements necessary to actually deliver the services they sell.

On the other hand there is a surprising (and vocal) crowd suffering from Googlephobia and actually applaud being passed over claiming that we'll dance on the heads of pins whilst these other fools rush in. Perhaps something undisclosed is going on here. Perhaps when Google installs fibre they are forced to pull down all of AT&T's copper and Comcast's coax thereby making Google our sole provider. If so that has been kept a deep dark secret. Or not. Or maybe our taxes will go up--but that's low hanging fruit since the City raised our taxes this year, even without the threat of Google offering next-generation high speed data.

Some say they're mighty afeared that horizontal boring might disturb sidewalks and bike paths and lordy, lordy would that not be a crime against God and humanity? Not to play the "more Dunwoody than you" but if you were round these parts when the Olympics blew thru town you probably DO remember how disruptive horizontal boring was. But that was then and this is now. Heaven forbid anyone suggest that is the ONLY technology that has not improved in the last TWENTY years. Yeppers. Everything technology on this planet, from farming to artificial intelligence has improved dramatically, but not horizontal boring. Nope. Nada.

You may even wonder what's inside those twenty year old conduits. Dark fibre? Nope. Turns out they are empty. AT&T installed extra conduit just in case. Just in case of what? Just in case they needed fibre to the curb for a competitive advantage. But to compete you kinda need competition and if nothing else that is exactly what Google brings to the table. Some think that is a Bad Thing[TM].

Now if this were really a Smart City we would not pave another road, install another foot of sidewalk without an accompanying conduit infrastructure. Would we be built out overnight. Of course not, but over time we could reach a critical mass that would support putting resources behind a full network that could be rented out (think: franchise fees) to any number of HSD providers.

But that's not going to happen because we in daVille make lemonade not progress.