Comments on: City's fiber project goes to a vote

Citizens of Lafayette, La., will vote Saturday on whether to fund a citywide network to provide high-speed Net, telephony and TV.

[Remo_Williams]

Cox said they are well-served?

But... but... doesn't the CITY OF LAFAYETTE decide that? I'm stunned. I can't believe a spokesman for Cox would actually have the nerve to tell the citizens of that city what their opinion should be.

Cox deserves the metaphorical punch in the mouth.

-R

Are we well-served?

That Cox remark can be taken in more than one way. Some of us may have been served, alright, thought not exactly as Cox means.

Bellsouth cannot provide me DSL because I am -- literally -- the last house on the twisted pair. Too far. On my nickel I've tried DSL twice and twice Bellsouth cannot provide minimum bandwidth, let alone the higher-bandwidth options.

I am currently on Cox's highest tier Internet service. It's nice. I also pay a (relatively) hefty price for it, too.

From my point of view, I don't have any other reasonable choice for high-speed Internet service; it's Cox Highspeed Internet or nothing.

That's "well-served"? I don't think so.

I am voting YES for fiber.

By the way, one topic not adequately covered is the fact that the fiber service will be owned by the same group that owns the electrical power service provider in Lafayette, LA -- Lafayette Utility System -- which is owned by the citizens of Lafayette, LA.

We've had a fiber loop around the city for a couple of years now and some businesses have tapped into it. This will, literally, hook normal folks into the loop and provide that long-awaited "last mile".

I've talked to anyone who would listen and explained why they should vote YES tomorrow.

Bellsouth and Cox want this defeated for obvious, though spurious reasons. I strongly suspect this will turn out well for fiber. Joey Durel has so far done a remarkably good job leading Lafayette and I join others in standing behind him on this issue.

John LeBlanc
Lafayette, LA

[Razzl]

"Private company"?!?

Give me a break, cable tv networks are monopolies franchised by the Federal government and imposed on states and communities without their participation back in the late 70's. These companies were given the right to serve exclusive territories and their regulation, unlike the regulation of utility companies, was mostly kept out of the hands of the individual States. The result was widespread public unhappiness with the price, programming, and governance of these companies which persists to this day. The current drive by municipalities to operate their own internet services reflects public unhappiness with the current deregulated telecom scheme which The Feds have imposed on them. The people are turning to the one level of government they control to provide them with the services they want, in defiance of the plans of the big-money guys in Washington...