Telcos Lay 200 Billion Goose Egg

We want our bandwidth.

Here's the charming nuggets, summarized:

1. The U.S. is ranked 12th in broadband penetration worldwide.

2. Content Providers are going to have to pony up the cash to get big bandwidth into the house (fiber), according to the telco's (Gone, baby Gone, network neutrality)

3. The new pipes to be built have already been paid for by government incentives in the 90's during the Clinton/Gore years.

4. The government was promised 86 million households with fiber wiring delivering bi-directional 45 Mbps speeds, capable of handling 500 channels by 2006

5. Average households cost the Telco's $1 per month for bandwidth to provide at the current usage patterns (They of course have to pay for overhead and that wonderful tech support they offer, of course...). They charge $40/mo average for dsl/cable.

6. "Customers paid for a fiber optic wire and got DSL over the old copper wiring - it's like ordering a Ferrari and getting a bicycle," - quote from TeleTruth's Bruce Kushnick

7. And they need more money by eliminating Network Neutrality and charging the content providers?

-- SILLY CONSPIRACY THEORY --
Maybe the telco's can't monitor 45MB from the households and send the government the juicy parts... Questioning this may not be allowed, it's a national security secret.
--END SILLY CONSPIRACY THEORY--