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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> From: AppRising<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>By Geoff Daily<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><font size=1 color="#6e92bd" face=Arial><span
lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;color:#6E92BD'>August 27, 2008 11:05 AM<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:3.0pt;margin-left:0in'><b><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;color:#666666;font-weight:
bold'>Qwest Also Claims Fiber Optic Mantle - It's Time to Drop The Acronyms<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>After
lambasting cablecos yesterday for touting their fiber optic networks, I today
discovered the same practice underway from Qwest, which goes so far as to call
its service "Qwest Fiber Optic Internet Service."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>But of course,
like the cablecos, these claims are somewhat deceiving as Qwest has been vocal
in its lack of support for deploying fiber all the way to the home. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>Yet the problem
still stands that by the definition of Qwest and the cablecos, basically any
and every ISP offers fiber optic service since they all rely on fiber optics to
interconnect communities and get from the central office onto the Internet.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>In other words,
we're allowing the meaning of fiber optics to become so muddled that it's going
to become meaningless to the average consumer when someone comes to lay fiber
all the way to their home.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>I blame this in
part on the efforts to denote full fiber networks as FTTH, FTTP, FTTN, FTTx,
etc. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>I can
understand why these acronyms were created in the first place and that their
initial intent was to help distinguish different types of fiber deployment. But
as an unintended result of this I think we're affording those network operators
not deploying fiber to the front door to get away with obscuring their lesser
investments by wrapping themselves in the guise of fiber optic service.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>And there's
only one clear way to fix this: put an end to the acronyms.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>Instead, we
should be saying that only full fiber networks can claim to deliver fiber optic
service, that everyone else has to call their service copper-based, and that
anyone defying these new definitions deserves so much public scrutiny and shame
so as to force them to end these deceptive marketing practices.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>I don't know if
it's realistic to think we can make this semantic shift a reality as suppliers
don't want to upset those clients that aren't deploying full fiber networks,
obviously those clients have no interest in giving up their claims to offering
fiber optic service, and out of the entities deploying fiber only Verizon has
the national clout to push the needle on this issue, and they're probably not
overly worried given the growing strength of the FiOS brand regardless of what
their competitors claim to offer.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:9.0pt'><font size=3 color="#666666"
face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#666666'>So I may be
tilting at windmills with this rallying cry, but I do think that if we can't
find a way to insure overzealous marketers aren't destroying consumer awareness
about the value of full fiber networks, then the hill we have to climb to
achieve a full fiber nation will only get steeper.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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