Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!telecom-request From: barefoot@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Heath Roberts) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cable TV vs Telco Connectivity Laws Message-ID: Date: 26 Mar 91 06:14:00 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: NCSU CATT Prog Lines: 47 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 242, Message 4 of 9 >>> My view is that the cable "service" should be provided to a single >>> point within any home at a standard signal level and then any further >>> distribution within the home should be left to the homeowner. Fears >>> of bad inside wiring being detrimental to other cable subscribers can >>> be alleviated by using some type of unidirectional broadband isolation >>> device as a standard cable interface (terminating module) for each >>> home. This isn't a very good argument ... telephone signals _can_ be billed as measured service. Often they're not, but the more resource- intensive calls (long distance) always are. Long distance is the service that costs the most to provide. Electrical, water, and gas are almost always billed by unit actually used, instead of a flat rate. They're easily measurable, and no one would pay a flat rate -- it's too expensive. Also doesn't provide an incentive to be efficient in energy/water use. Cable utility, on the other hand, comes from the number of hours one can watch. With one television, this is always 24 hours per day (assuming no service interruptions), whether you have a VCR or not. Even if you watch and tape shows for twelve hours a day, and then watch the shows you taped, you can only watch twenty four hours of program materials per day. Unless you have two televisions ... then you can watch more. (yes, I realize that you _could_ have a TV and VCR with cable, and a TV and VCR without, and tape shows then move to the other TV, but this is a little ridiculous.) For those who use the most system resources (premium channels), there's an extra charge. So billing per outlet is, overall, a fair way to charge for cable service. Unlike a telephone line, where you're limited to one conversation per line, no matter how many instruments, you could connect additional TV's and gain more utility were cable services connected the way telephones are. The ideal solution is to have everyone pay based on the number of hours they "consume" and the relative cost to the supplier (home shopping network is much cheaper than HBO for the cable company to provide). I suspect that this will happen once the technology becomes available cheaply enough to be practical. It will definitely be a capability of FiberWorld (NT's vision of telecommunications in the year 2000 and beyond), if that system is ever widely implemented. Heath Roberts NCSU Computer and Technologies Theme Program barefoot@catt.ncsu.edu