
San Francisco Passes Ordinance to Protect ISP Competition - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/12/san-francisco-passes-ordinance-protect-isp-competition
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wahern
I wouldn't pat the city on the back. They've allowed NIMBYs and parochial
interests within the public utilities departments to block fiber roll-out for
years.

Sonic has been rolling out their fiber service for almost 2 years now, but
only after spending years in the regulatory gauntlet. And because San
Francisco refuses to permit micro-trenching, Sonic can only profitably deliver
fiber service where they can string fiber on utility polls.

Folks closer to downtown with underground utilities will be stuck with Comcast
for quite some time. AT&T wants to roll-out fiber-to-the-node (FTTN), but that
currently requires large ground-level cabinets that NIMBYs are fighting tooth-
and-nail, block-by-block. And in any event AT&T will surely still charge a
huge premium, not only just to cover the cost of the expensive new
infrastructure, but just because they're AT&T.

This is classic San Francisco politics to pretend to do something by placing
another mandate on landlords. I mean, the mandate makes perfect sense, don't
get me wrong, and is hardly a burden. But in the context of San Francisco
politics, being seen as sticking it to landlords will give the city enough
capital to continue ignoring the fundamental problems.

The notion there's some kind of pervasive problem with landlords hindering ISP
choice is ridiculous. Large buildings often enter exclusive contracts with
Comcast and AT&T, but the vast majority of apartments in the city are in
smaller buildings run by small-time landlords. Often you wouldn't even bother
informing the landlord; you'd simply give the technician access to the utility
room yourself. The landlord would probably be more bothered by wasting his
time trying to coordinate with him. As long as you don't break anything, why
would he care? It only improves the value of his property. Because of rent
control, most landlords are supremely passive and often have full-time jobs
doing something else.

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bsimpson
I wonder if this is specifically to address MonkeyBrains hanging antennas on
building roofs. Are there any other local ISPs that would need building
permission for subscription?

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wahern
Sonic's fiber service. They've done in two years what Comcast, AT&T, and
others refused to do for over a decade. Their footprint in the city is huge,
now.

My Sonic fiber install should happen before the year is out. I can't wait to
drop Comcast. I'll have 1GB/s fiber and still pay $20 less per month ($69 vs
$49).

I always wanted to try MonkeyBrains but they still don't cover the Outer
Richmond. And with Sonic fiber out here now they probably never will.

