Nickname: harrisen

Review: Freedom of speech absolutely implies freedom of equal access. If equality of access is not entrenched in law, civil rights will be sold to the highest bidder. Freedom of speech absolutely implies freedom of equal access. All civil rights depend on equal access absolutely.

Date reviewed: May 9, 2006 5:42 AM

Nickname: City Money

Review: These are extremely important points and should not be lost in the melee of telecommunications reform that is striking both federal and state governments. However, in our vigorous support for competition, we must not lose sight of ensuring that all customers -- not just those most able to pay -- get that opportunity. Therefore, in the push for a national or state franchise agreement, we cannot lose sight of the requirement to "buildout" an entire community or state is critical to assuring fair and equal access to all customers/locations at the same competitive price and robust bandwidth. We must strive to prevent redlining and/or unequal access to this most important "utility."

Date reviewed: Mar 8, 2006 6:42 PM

Nickname: Alexandre

Review: The creation of such a rate would bring new money into the development of new technologies, such as compression software and cheaper satellite connections, which will expand even more the broadband width available, turning the access fee and its benefits worthless. It may affect innovation and new garage-based comanies for a while, but not for long.

Date reviewed: Mar 7, 2006 9:41 PM

Nickname: Sambuca

Review: Good for Boucher. I support your stance. There are plenty of opportunities for broadband providers to generate revenue, so ensuring that the Internet remains the resource that it is is important to all interests. Providers depend on innovation to increase their own profits.

Date reviewed: Mar 7, 2006 8:37 PM

Nickname: Copyrider

Review: Kudos to Representative Boucher for his pro-competitive stance on this issue. It's reassuring to know that there is leadership in government on this vital point. Let's hope his voice isn't drowned out by the heavy drumbeat of big business interest.

Date reviewed: Mar 7, 2006 5:17 PM

Nickname: ksmooth

Review: That's all fine and dandy, but who is paying for all of the broadband expansion that is needed by these Internet companies? And when some Internet companies are bandwidth hogs, why shouldn't they pay more to deliver their content faster? Telephone companies are stock owned and it is we stockpayers who ultimately finance their broadband expansion. It's an investment and we should be allowed to recoup it based on the risk we have taken to provide a costly undertaking.

Date reviewed: Mar 7, 2006 4:06 PM

Nickname: Nemesis

Review: This is a matter of extreme import. What can we do to help?

Date reviewed: Mar 7, 2006 6:16 AM