Tiny Louisiana Community (Finally) Gets Telephone Service

Yes, the GOVERNMENT mandates all kinds of anti-profit actions on the part of utilities. Unfortunately, the government, Constitutionally required to promote the public welfare, sometimes expects certain things in exchange for free easements and lucrative monopolies. Many businesses are forced to install costly sprinkler systems, to maintain public sidewalks, and to do other things that just don't turn a profit for them, but are in the public interest.

This is a right & proper exercise of government authority. Those to whom much has been given, much is expected. Selfishness & greed are not virtues in & of themselves. We are, indeed, all in this together.

On another note, it's important to recognize that, for a community in the middle of a national forest, solutions involving wireless or microwave towers may not be available due to site restrictions and line of sight limitations. Further, for a system intended to be used for a very long time, it is always preferable to pay a higher fixed cost in exchange for lower operating cost.

Wireless solutions tend to have higher ongoing costs, though they may be less expensive to install. Even so, site analysis, engineering, permitting, and construction costs for a single cell site can run to over a million dillars.

This doesn't even consider the cost of either a microwave station and a couple of repeater sites, all in uninhabited (and unpowered) areas, or of a satellite earth station.

Also, any radio-based solution would rely, to some extent, on external power, while hardwired telephones provide power through the phone lines.

Steve B
steveb_ohio@yahoo.com
+1 937 304 7051

BellSouth Corp. has spent $700,000 - or about $47,000 per phone - to extend about 30 miles of cable through thick forests to Mink, about 100 miles south of Shreveport. All phone customers in the state will cover the cost through a small monthly charge on their bills.
Hmm,sounds like communism there. Oh, wait, my state does the same thing...

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.