The issue from a NN viewpoint is not shaping traffic just to allow video and voice to go more cleanly. NN is about not allowing companies to purchase priorities and lock out the competition.

You can do anything you want on your own network, and that’s fine. If you choose to have your VOIP traffic inside your Fortune 500 company — say you’re running CISCO Unity onto Exchange 2007 SP1 riding on top of Windows 2003 SP3, with 50,000 seats in a WAN in five states, 10,000 people per state. NN says nothing about you taking your leased OC48 lines between sites and shaping them however the hell you want. It’s your network; do what you want.

However, if all you have is an OC12 to the Internet and you’re running VPNs between the sites, NN says you get ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENT PRIORITY than anyone else for your traffic between your border router at Site A and your border router at Site B. Everything between is the Internet, baby, and your traffic flows subject to the whim of your ISPs. Obviously you’re going to have multiple ISPs, so BGP is your friend. None the less, it isn’t under your control. That’s the point. Its the PUBLIC Internet. If you want a private network, pay for it.

Ain’t no one saying you can’t buy up all the dark fiber you want. Hell, you can lay it down yourself if your budget can afford it. Or go after old Microwave towers. You can even launch satellites if you wish. But what you can’t do is have any increased priority within the same public internet over anyone else. Not for one type of traffic over another, not for anything. Everyone is equal.

I just want to be clear we’re not arguing technical conversations about IPv4 v IPv6. We’re comparing apples to apples. *smiles*

Leaving aside for a moment that most of the bugs have been worked out of running IP over the grid, what I’m saying is, in order to have a smart electrical grid, part of any such venture will be wiring up people’s homes such that they can see at every instant how they are contributing to the grid, how the power they are generating at their home is adding back into the electrical grid and how it is taking away.

While the grid is one thing and while high-speed Internet is another, we’re going to need both for either to work. It won’t be enough to simply have a grid which can both send power to homes and accept power from homes. We need to have very sophisticated ability for people sitting at home, at work, flying in an airplane, to connect to their home and to the appliances in their homes, the televisions, ovens, and so on, to turn them on and off, up and down. All that requires a level of interconnection and high-speed abilities which right now we don’t have.

We’re going to need fiber to the home. And we’re going to need a new smart electrical grid. We won’t get one without the other.

I didn’t think so.

Yeah, sure, some people do. But almost everyone is still on IP4. And will be for some time to come.

This is a confucion of two ideas “electric grid” and “fiber to the home”

electric grid = electricity.
fiber to the home = tv on demand, and internet.

umm…no. With IPv4 yes. With IPv6 or a ATM backbone, no. Class of Service applies, The technical intent is to give video and voice prooroty over data.

With some guys from Cicero dressed in black suits, black shirts, white ties and black fedoras sprinkled around the room to maintain “unity.” *g*

The only recent statements I’ve read about Obamas position on internet infrastructure.. seem to include all schools and libraries. I’m wondering if there is a chance at all for real public works for high speed net service to every American home?

Thanks for this post, Jessie.