Conan the Deployer

Jeff Taylor | November 2, 2006

Some 17 points up in his re-election race, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has uncorked an executive order to speed up the deployment of broadband across California. Or so the order claims.

There is nothing obviously offensive in the order itself, just some rather obvious bandwagon hopping by the Golden State's terminator-in-chief mixed with some vague streamlining of rights-of-way management. This could actually amount to something good, however, as questions about rights-of-way -- who owns them, what they might cost -- routinely tie-up physical plant upgrades nationwide.

However, the very notion that California needs a "broadband policy" seems ripe for all kinds of abuse, if not by Arnold, then perhaps some T-1000 follow-on unit.

Comments

|11.2.06 @ 6:45PM|#

Are you trying to imply that the Governor of California was in the Terminator movies?

|11.2.06 @ 6:50PM|#

I think that post exceeded the Terminator reference quota by about 300%.

|11.2.06 @ 7:01PM|#

Hey, hey -- I had to make up for the title, which dug me a -200% hole.

Keep it up and you'll get a Red State Sonja post in the bargain........

|11.2.06 @ 8:22PM|#

I wouldn't mind the federal government pulling a stunt like this. However, due to the pressures put on the feds by the established telcos, it's better to do this state by state.

Maybe that above paragraph really said nothing, but it just sticks in my craw that broadband access in South Korea is faster and cheaper than it is here. I can't believe I have to pay my cable company $45 a month for broadband access. And DSL is not an option.

|11.2.06 @ 8:29PM|#

I pay $49.95 a month for wireless, does that seem high?

|11.2.06 @ 10:55PM|#

It seems like a paradox, but sometimes full-on government control of an industry is better for customers than moderate goverment control. That being said, I think history proves that no government control is better than either.

|11.2.06 @ 11:03PM|#

I was driving through Bakersfield ... late one afternoon about a two months ago. And let me tell ya now, the WiFi was always by my side. So if yer down right disgusted and your WiFi's not worth a damn. Go to Bakersfield and run twenty red lights in its honor.

The Wine Commonsewer|11.3.06 @ 12:18AM|#

Buck, I pay 49.95 for wireless that sucks.

Wild Blue is 10.00 more for less. But it might be more dependable. Don't know. Wish I did.

My buddy Mark has fiber optic in a tract eighborhood that is virtually the price of dial up and it smokes. Something like 2.5 minimimum.

|11.3.06 @ 1:50AM|#

TWC:

The Wild Blue web site is kinda interesting, but probable bogus. The problem with satellite broadband has always been, and i think still is, that even though you could get downloads just fine, there was no way to upload effectively. Most of these services required a dial-up link for uploading.

I am very suspicious about Wild Blue, they offer zilch when it comes to technical information.

|11.3.06 @ 10:27AM|#

A friend of mine moved to San Francisco in 2000 and was amazed that there was no broadband available, at all, at the house in the Sunset he moved into. The situation has since been rectified, of course, but has left me with skepticism that California and broadband go together as well as 'everyone assumes.'

Jon|11.3.06 @ 1:39PM|#

I'm begging, as a loyal H&R reader, for a moratorium on Governator quips. For God's sake - this is The Kindergarten Cop we're talking about here!