Head in the Clouds

Google’s PR machine is running full tilt to try and keep pace with the public response to their net neutrality position. They debunk what they call “myths” about their recent agreement with Verizon. Let me debunk their debunking.

Google says:

the wireless market is more competitive than the wireline market, given that consumers typically have more than just two providers to choose from.

FALSE. Two year contracts, incompatible technologies, and fees for services in which carriers had no part in are symptoms of a closed and uncompetitive market where consumers pick based on availability of devices or service.

Google:

Second, because wireless networks employ airwaves, rather than wires, and share constrained capacity among many users, these carriers need to manage their networks more actively.

FAIL. Okay so you share capacity. I pay $60 a month to get voice and data on my phone. It is metered. If I use more data (capacity) I get charged for it. The job of the service provider is to take some of that money they collect from me and put it into equipment that allows them to meet the capacity for which people are paying.

side-note: Forbes buys into Google’s new position with arguments like the extreme (and false) ”it would be illegal to prioritize [pacemaker] traffic over a video of a squirrel on waterskis” as well as, “wireless data traffic has grown about 120% a year over the last two years while revenue per subscriber has stayed flat.” I’m sure that only a small percentage of that revenue went into improving the network while a larger portion went into investors pockets. The idea of actually having to work for their profits scares the telecoms into convulsions, but it’s not like anyone else can come in and build a network.

Google:

This is a policy proposal – not a business deal. Of course, Google has a close business relationship with Verizon, but ultimately this proposal has nothing to do with Android. 

I call bullshit. As though you can truly separate the two. It’s a policy proposal that’s good for Verizon more than Google today, and that is good for business in respect to Android (where Google hopes it’s future is).

You can spin it as hard as you want but it is too much of an about face. The old model was crumbling and with effort it could have been replaced. Instead it’s being shored up by one of the figureheads of the revolution. I guess Google’s aspirations for open wireless died with the Nexus One.