Comments for Fiber Follies at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 16 out of 16 comments http://www.theind.com Sat, 25 May 2013 10:22:24 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13423 Cox called again. They said your "lobbying" checks were ready to be picked up at the front desk. - AnonTechie Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:09:02 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13265 Cox is not dumb enough to show the differences on their website. You have to look at their mailouts to customers in different areas to see the difference. I compared mine to someone I know in Lafayette. Maybe you could find out by calling them; but I doubt they would tell you. Ask Cox to prove they are not differentiating their prices. - Wow Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:54:18 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13242 Wow -- " The deals being offered in Lafayette are much better than the deals offered outside the city limits of Lafayette" Prove it! I just got two quotes on Cox.com for residential bundles. One using my in town lafayette address, the other using an address in St. Martin parish. The website quoted me the EXACT SAME price on the EXACT SAME service. Your argument doesn't hold water. " Thanks Crowley, Abbeville, St. Martinville and New Iberia" From what I can tell from cox.com, St. Martinville is actually not subsidizing lower rates in Lafayette. I think you're intentionally misrepresenting the truth to make your point. If you seriously want to have any credibility, then you should provide some evidence to support what you are saying. - ragin_cajun Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:42:49 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13239 "Dronet said Cox has donated more than $250,000 in educational broadband initiatives and about $4.1 million in-kind and cash donations to Acadiana nonprofit organizations in the past year." Prior to Lafayette's fiber initiative, Cox was making about $ZERO dollars in donations to anything. I know, I asked many times, and they said "No, we don't make such contributions." So, Lafayette's fiber program has generated over $4 million a year of local sponsorships from Cox. Why doesn't The Independent run comprehensive articles on how Cox has manipulated the Louisiana market to play these games? These "sponsorship" figures are over and above the newfound savings and special deals that Cox offers to folks in Lafayette. Where were those deals 5 years ago. Why couldn't they have offered those then? The deals being offered in Lafayette are much better than the deals offered outside the city limits of Lafayette - and much better than the deals offered in neighboring parishes. What does this mean? It means all of Cox's non-Lafayette customers are subsidizing Cox's lower rates in Lafayette. Thanks Crowley, Abbeville, St. Martinville and New Iberia - you are paying more so Cox can lower rates in the city of Lafayette. - Wow Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:15:09 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13231 written by Lafayette 1. The bottom line is that the city came to the rescue when corporations failed. 2. and a government venture that will lighten our personal tax load. ------------------------------- 1. From personal experience only, I have not seen or heard anyone telling of a great change in internet connectivity with LUS. LUS just another provider. 2. Lighten the tax load? Recent published info on the financial situation of LUS fiber appears to put this point far, far, away. - Eat Prey Kill Sun, 12 Dec 2010 10:32:27 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13210 Go Ragun_Cajun...I have to agree. When i worked in the transportation section, i routinely compared Cox to LUS fiber speeds and there was NO DIFFERENCE. These test were done on identical computers, with identical services, cpu memories, etc. while downloading, using identical files, on totally separate feeds. I verified the hops taken between routers and varied the routes thru the internet, east coast/west coast and every time the speeds were the same using file sizes of 100-200 MB. While this issue of speeds could be applicable, if someone improperly designed an architecture with something like putting 20,000 households through a bottleneck for one company and not the other, any competent engineer(s) would never do this. These misconceptions are why we need to fix education in this country, so people don't fall for stuff, such as this. For example, i remember the look on people's faces when i noted that telegraph signals propagated as fast as fiber signals with very little differences. Remember from physics, "With small variances ALL ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS TRAVEL AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT". Also another tip, the speeds anyone will experience will depend upon the slowest device in the link from beginning to end. If i have a 1 million GigaB fiber in my home sending email to sloppy joe's dial up modem guess how fast my thoughput is????? or better yet, if this is all i do, why do i even need anything, but the slowest speed. So, as a conscientious consumer, maybe i am paying for super fast speeds, but actually experiencing dial-up service????? - Gerald Bertholl Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:07:35 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13203 Hi, I work for Cox. As we are on the topic of Cox' involvement in the community I thought you should know... http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/111502369.html?showAll=y&c=y This is a story about Cox' donation this week of free Dell laptops and free Internet service for a year to hundreds of students from the LPSB school system. Here's an excerpt. "Dronet said Cox has donated more than $250,000 in educational broadband initiatives and about $4.1 million in-kind and cash donations to Acadiana nonprofit organizations in the past year." Cox does this all over Acadiana as well as Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas. It’s part of our culture. The founder of the company, James Cox, was originally a school teacher, 2 time governor of Ohio, pioneer in the newspaper business, pioneer in the cable industry and really believed that business had a responsibility to give back to the community. Cox Louisiana follows that tradition. As leaders in broadband service in Acadiana, we want to be active participants in the growth of technology as well as the people of Acadiana. Neal Breakfield - Neal Breakfield Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:08:16 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13195 To the user who calls herself "Lafayette" but does not really represent Lafayette: Facts you want? Facts you'll get. I see that 2 other users have already addressed part of what you were claiming and I corroborate what they say. Business class services are available from about a dozen different providers up to 10 Gigabit service level. But back to facts... I have a few questions for you first. 1. If I give you facts that present a very different picture from what you claim, are you prepared to recant and admit, not that I am right (I think that would be asking too much), but that there is at least an alternate and very valid way of looking at this? 2. Did you ever take economics in college? Because you make claims about what the market did and did not do, so we will need to discuss some economics. 3. Do you have experience in telecom? Answer those and I will get back with you with MANY facts. C4L - Concerned4LFT Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:33:29 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13175 " 5mbps max upload speed, regardless of which package you choose." If you choose from residential packages, that may be correct. I haven't checked in Lafayette, but I'm pretty sure that Cox has higher speed services for businesses and carriers. I KNOW AT&T does. And if you buy a big enough circuit from AT&T, they will deliver the circuit to your building via -- wait on it -- FIBER! That's right, been doing it for years, too. "companies that deal with heavy data loads" can't order LUS OR Cox residential service. They must order a business package. It is more expensive, and normally not capped or metered in any way. A circuit like that is more expensive than you realize, even if you order through LUS. So you're trying to compare apples and oranges. "100mbps intranet comes with ALL lus fiber internet packages" You're right, that IS really nice for gamers. However, I can tell you that PS3 games work perfectly well on 1 Mbps links because they are actually latency and jitter sensitive, not bandwidth so much. Kinda like voice traffic. "Having 100mbps service is a HUGE benefit to businesses that many cities can't offer" Completely untrue. Patently false. Go look up Metro Ethernet. Metro Area Networking. It's all over the US. Baton Rouge has fiber connectivity all over available from Cox, Level3, Eatel, etc. Exspedius in Lake Charles. Cameron Communications. 100 Mbps connectivity in the city is not too big a deal anymore--unless you're a slobbering LUS zealot in Lafayette. Please don't go outta town and start bragging about fiber and 100 Mbps in other parts of the country, or even this state--they'll give you the "so what" stare...it's not that special. So there, I've countered your points. - ragin_cajun Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:18:11 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13171 Lafayette said - "The bottom line is that the city came to the rescue when corporations failed. The result is fiber throughout the city, new business coming to Lafayette because of it. and a government venture that will lighten our personal tax load." Bottom line is no one needed to be rescued. They built a pie in the sky dream, with a bill they could not afford, and now cannot pay. Private business was smart enough not to do this. - Came to rescue - what? Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:18:31 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13162 So you attack my post, and say it has no basis in fact, yet you are unable to actually counter any of my points. I'm sorry, but who is the zombie drinking the coolaid? The bottom line is that the city came to the rescue when corporations failed. The result is fiber throughout the city, new business coming to Lafayette because of it. and a government venture that will lighten our personal tax load. Regarding the speed- First of all Cox has a 5mbps max upload speed, regardless of which package you choose. If all you do is watch youtube and netflix then that's fine, but companies that deal with heavy data loads need more bandwidth than that. The LUS 100mbps service is not the same thing as the peer to peer intranet connection. The 100mbps intranet comes with ALL lus fiber internet packages. (Which is like a huge LAN party for you in town gamers) Having 100mbps service is a HUGE benefit to businesses that many cities can't offer. Probably because Cox and Company say they are not worth the investment. This attracts the kind of businesses that are positioned to be productive in the 21st century. I pay for the 30mbps and my speeds are regularly that or faster. I don't know what the problem that you ran into was Ragin Cajun but I never had speeds that low on LUS. - Lafayette Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:25:49 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13145 To the user who calls him or her self "Lafayette", The Socialist Party of the US called, they want their rhetoric back. You obviously do not understand the free market. Nothing of what you said has any basis in fact, and not a whole lot of basis in anything other than... well, I just can't think of anything. Fear? Hatred maybe? Spite perhaps? All emotion, no facts and no intelligent thought. You have consumed the fruit flavored sugar water and you want others to imbue the same. C4L P.S. I am a life long citizen of Lafayette and you DEFINITELY do not represent me. - Concerned4LFT Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:49:56 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13139 Re: Fiber Fete': “That was by invitation only,” Dronet says of FiberFête. “We would have been interested in participating, but we weren’t invited to participate.” Hi Julie, We invited you (Cox) and Bell South to participate in bringing "Fiber" to Lafayette long ago. You both told us we were not worth the investment. The funny part is how the Chamber of Commerce, too busy kissing the ass of big business, has been sidelined by what amounts to a government entity. The farce that CoC calls the free market totally failed to service the city of Lafayette and the city of Lafayette said, "Fine, we will build it ourself!". Now the poor little monopolies have not been invited to the party and so they are telling their friends that they better not go either! The monopolies are going to have their OWN party and they are going to bring lots of MONEY! Because you know they saved all that MONEY not investing in fiber to lafayette. They may be sad now, but one day, when our fiber investment pays for itself and begins generating tax offsets for the city of Lafayette instead of profits for their stockholders, yes one day they will be really really sad. For once we win out against The United Corporation of America. Enjoy your victory Lafayette, I doubt it will be long lived. - Lafayette Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:08:57 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13138 " I am sending this message on my LUS Fiber Network at 100MB. " You posted this message to a website that is hosted at rackspace.com, not LUS. LUS didn't sell you a 100MB connection, nor did they sell you a 100 Mbps Internet connection, they sold you a 10 Mbps Internet connection that really gets about 7 Mbps when I tested it at their store on Pinhook. The 100 Mbps speeds are only for communication between hosts that are BOTH on the LUS network. So unless theind.com has a separate web presence inside of LUS' network, which is possible but unlikely, I don't think you sent your message at 100MB, or at 100 Mbps. Maybe Walter could confirm this for us? "The Fiber Fete is for companies and individuals supporting fiber." The owners and organizers are saying something a bit different. What they are saying, according to the Independent is ---- "Daily says that he views the event mainly as a showcase for any broadband-related innovations occurring in Lafayette." That would be broader than LUS Fiber. For example, when ATT delivers Triple Play over DSL, that would actually be a "broadband-related innovation" for Lafayette--though not for Baton Rouge or Kaplan or Cameron Parish--they've all been at this for YEARS, now. Also keep in mind, that Cox and ATT both use fiber all over the place in their networks, too. They both can provide Internet connection apeeds well in excess of 10 Mbps, 45 Mbps, and even higher. Cox provides Triple play just like LUS. ATT probably will soon, too. So I'm still not clear on what's so unique about LUS Fiber...PONS instead of DOCSIS or DSL -- public instead of private funding--that's about all I can come up with. - ragin_cajun Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:05:22 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13120 While Cox and LUS should both attend Fiber Fete for the sake of advanced telecommunications for Lafayette, should Cox really attend? The Fiber Fete is for companies and individuals supporting fiber. I recall Cox being 100% opposed to fiber and I don't recall them supporting it in the community. We can't dilute Fiber Fete by allowing companies that are 100% opposed to fiber the ability to attend. There are other ways Cox can help the community. Because of Cox I have had to remove my LUS Fiber sign in my yard. Now you are saying let them support fiber? I don't think so. I am sending this message on my LUS Fiber Network at 100MB. Thanks LUS. - Fiber One Thu, 09 Dec 2010 03:38:33 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/9-indnews/7425-fiber-follies-#comment-13101 Cox sux! - Rinkelstein Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:08:26 +0100