My apologies if this has been diaried before - I have searched, but maybe I did not enter the proper search terms. I will delete if any kossack points out the prior story or diary.
I was struck by a story I saw recently - it happened in October 2009, in Senator Franken's state.
Just for some fun, let me tell this as a fable, with the facts below the fold.
The Tale of the Two Windmills
by Hans Crispy Slanderson
Once upon a time, there was a company called Grande Pharmacia that made all the windmills - they had been made the same way for centuries, and they worked, and so people kept using the same windmills, even though one person, Publicius Optionius, had heard of a better way to build windmills.
So he went to the windmill company and asked them to start making the better windmills, since other parts of the world were using the better windmills, and he wanted to be competitive with them.
"Silly man, these so-called better windmills cost more money, and we have only had a smattering of requests for the better kind, so the answer is no, and will always be no."
"Nobody can build a better windmill! Not nobody, not nohow! Now GO AWAY!"
So Publicius went to the town council. He showed them the plans for the better windmill, and the town council voted unanimously to build the better windmills, and sent notice to Grande Pharmacia of their intention to do so.
Publicius was happy that he had a part in this, and went to bed that night a happy man.
The next morning, he was awakened by a loud knock on his door.
He opened it to find the very man who had told him to go away the other day.
"Ahem, let me just say that we are proud to announce that we will begin building the better windmill as of today, and will be happy to supply your town with these better windmills as soon as possible."
Publicius was more than a little confused, and asked the man what had changed the minds of Grande Pharmacia?
"Why, good business, just good business!" Good day to you sir!" With that, he turned away and left.
The Moral of the story? Competition is good for everybody!
The facts.....
From Arstechnica.com
Regional telco TDS Telecommunications last week issued a press release announcing a major milestone for the company: 50Mbps service over fiber optic cable to residents of Monticello, Minnesota. The Minneapolis suburb became one of the few non-FiOS communities in the country to experience full fiber-to-the-home deployment, and subscribers will all receive a free upgrade from 25Mbps service to the new 50Mbps tier.
Wow. To this techie guy, sounds like this is a great company! Makes me want to move to Senator Franken's state just to get speeds above the piddling 15 Mbps service from my provider. But, are they really that great?
The reason that Monticello received a fiber network was the town's decision to install a municipal-owned fiber network to every home in town… spawning a set of TDS lawsuits that went all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the town.
We spoke to TDS about the situation last year, and its director of legislative and public relations told us that TDS didn't act earlier because it didn't actually know that people really, really wanted fiber; once the referendum was a success, the company moved quickly to give people what it now knew they wanted.
Sound familiar? Things that make you go hmmmm?
While the analogy to Health care reform is a bit strained, and the PO is finished except for the shouting, I really wish there would be a little more shouting in the future to get Publicius Optionius his better windmill.