Monday, April 9, 2007

$250 million? Horse hockey.

by alec on April 9, 2007

Overstating a position always carries a risk. The risk is that you might get called on it.

AT&T lobbyist Jim Cicconi is suggesting that Iowa RLEC's free calling schemes could cost the company a quarter billion dollars per year. Let's look at the facts.

There are a few more than 150 Iowa RLECs.
AT&T is suing exactly five of them in court.
Seven of the RLECs affected by AT&T's bully tactics have gotten together and counter-sued… for $10 million in lost revenues. That represents about 4 months of revenue.

So, what's the story Jim? Let me guess… you're playing nice with the other 140 or so companies that are really costing you over $200 million, 'cause the guys you've filed suit against sure aren't.

A lawyer would describe Jim's statements as "unsubstantiated". That's a polite way of saying "what a load of bull".

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Why no mobile Web 2.0 apps in Canada?

by alec on April 9, 2007

Really cool mobile data applications pop up all the time in Europe, the US, and Asia. Canadians never seem to use them though. Ever wonder why? I'll give you a hint… wireless data plans are outrageously expensive here.

Here's a chart, courtesy of ThomasPurves.com, which will show you just how expensive. That's right, the cost to transfer 500M of data on Rogers is $1600. The first 200 megs are $100, and then after that the price rises to a steep $5/M. By jacking the price sky high on overage, the carrier can earn fat profits from the heaviest users. Pretty nifty trick, isn't it?

Purves chart

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Five ways mobile changes the world. Forever.

April 9, 2007

In the late 1990's, at the beginning of the broadband era, Strategic News Service chief Mark Anderson coined the term Always On, Real Time Access (AORTA) to describe always connected access to the internet. Mark's vision is just now becoming real, although perhaps not the way he thought it would. Although PC's may be always on and always connected, PC's are only [...]

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AT&T: A latter day Standard Oil?

April 9, 2007

I love a good fight, especially when there's a clear bully and the bully takes a pasting. In the David and Goliath match-up of AT&T versus the Iowa rural telcos, I'm rooting for the little guys. Last week I had a chance to chat with FreeConferenceCall.com CEO Dave Erickson, and his attorney Jon Canis about how the [...]

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