Nice blog by the way. I didn’t peg you for writer of this caliber.

Some folks have interesting ways of approaching the problem of explaining that in the end, they’re just an NSP / BBG reseller. Take Speedfactory’s FAQ:

“Q: Do I have to have BellSouth as my local phone provider?”

“A: No. While Speed Factory has partnered with BellSouth (they offer the largest network in the Southeast) to offer you DSL, Speed Factory can deliver DSL on other telephone providers designated as authorize providers. This does not affect long distance.”

Very clever.

Running fibre is pretty capital-intensive, everybody knows that. The folks who leverage the most competitive advantage and returns to scale in doing it are either large ILECs operating as CLECs in other areas, or other suppliers that routinely dig and bury things. I would say that the provider of the physical media is very commonly in another stratum of the supply chain from the carrier, and this is true of ILECs too. Hardly does BellSouth own all the fibre it runs its network over, for example.

CLECs are very enthusiastic about and interested in last-mile loop options that bypass the ILEC and the UNE edifice. In substantial metropolitan statistical areas, it is very common for CLECs to lease fibre laid by carrier-neutral electric, water, and gas utilities. These folks typically know absolutely nothing about telecom, but they have the backhoes and do a lot of digging anyway, so they’re more than happy to make money essentially doing something they already do on a large scale. CLECs much prefer to buy up this kind of fibre over leasing Bell system network if possible.

Does this really enhance the overall penetration and footprint of the build-out that deregulation was supposed to be encouraging? Well, no, it’s just adding density to the mesh in urban areas for the most part. But I don’t know that this is something one should blame CLECs for per se, for precisely the reason that competitive carriers — even larger ones — seldom do that. They provide the transport equipment on both ends, they maintain the fibre, they troubleshoot it on the physical layer, and they put it to use, but they didn’t actually dig the trench. I don’t think Level 3 even a small percentage of the fibre that makes up its network, one of the larger IP transit overlays in the world.

That, combined with the very valid reasons you gave, probably gives a lot of expression to rage.

The other thing is, most of the hating that goes in small business goes on within relatively small trade organisations, associations, conventions, meetings, etc., so fashion trends have a lot of potential to amplify and enjoy widespread adoption, most especially if business is not going so well and someone proposes what appears to be a semiplausible object of blame.